Ulaanbaatar's apartment

In Ulaanbaatar, I am housed in an apartment within a 10-storey new building in the eastern district. The metal doors to the building require an entry code. The building is stark, with cement passageways, a staircase, and two elevators. Lights automatically turn on whenever someone enters a passage or departs the elevator, because it is quite dark.

My apartment on the 6th floor is a standard design. The entry with a coat cupboard, leads directly into the kitchen to the right, the kitchen table straight ahead, and the living area beyond the kitchen table. The living area has a large flat-screen television and two settees. A doorway leads onto a narrow closed-in balcony, which people use as a storage room in most apartments. In any case, it acts as double-insulation against the cold. It's freezing on the balcony.

The kitchen has a large refridgerator, a modern stove, a bread maker, a microwave, a toaster, pots and pans, cutlery and crockery and a kettle. There is, however, no cupboards for storing food, but I either put items in the fridge or keep pasta, tins, fruit etc on a low bench or on top of the microwave. The landlord offers cleaning and cooking services, at an extra cost, but I've chosen to do them myself.

There are two rooms, one of which is a large bedroom and the other is a small study. The study just has a desk, but it does have rather reliable broadband connection (as part of the monthly rent). The bedroom has a double bed with two side tables, a bed-light, and a wardrobe.

The bathroom holds the toilet, washing machine, bath/shower, and sink. The bathroom contains a heated towel rail. There is constant hot water, but the electricity is prone to outages. The last outage was for four hours on a Saturday morning.

In the living room, the study, and the bedroom, there are oil heaters. With the current minimum temperatures ranging from -38C to -28C and the maximum temperatures ranging from -20C to -17C, I have the heaters on the maximum heat. In temperatures as low as -38C, the heaters have a hard job to keep the place warm, but they are adequate. I don't feel cold in my apartment at all.

The apartment block is relatively quiet. Most noise is from above - a woman walking with heels on a bare floor, and a person hammering. One evening, the sound of drunken revellers could be heard for an hour or so, and the next morning there were beer bottles in the street. The corridors and passageways are also usually littered with cigarette butts and paper. While this is a new building with "expensive" monthly rents, it wouldn't be regarded as luxurious by international standards. It's more serviceable, practical, "modern" and comfortable, rather than ornate, lavish, and deluxe.