Naran Tuul market

I got to Beijing two days ago after 36 exciting hours of train, border-crossing bus and sleeper bus and have already been to the Great Wall and enjoyed the sight of Tienanmen Square lit up with fairy lights at night, but first: Naran Tuul market in Ulaanbaatar.

Women at the gate collected 50 tögrög from everyone entering. My first sight was of clothes stalls – bras, pants, bright t-shirts – and cheap stationery and jewellery. Nothing especially interesting. My guidebook had told me that the covered area contained traditional clothing, so I headed down there and found a row of carpets and a row of deels (a full-length robe/jacket) and jackets.

As shiny as this one row was – with boxes down the middle, combining the roles of seat and storage – I didn’t like anything I saw enough to join the locals in trying things on and buying. I wanted to see more. I walked through the large selection of modern clothes stalls until I reached the pots and crockery and brooms and buckets.

Scattered among them were stalls selling religious paraphernalia.

Nearby I found a row of toilet paper sellers, an area full of bikes and bits of bikes, next to tents and sleeping bags and other camping equipment.

Cool-boxes on wheels moved slowly along the market’s lanes, selling water and fruit drinks.

In the other direction, I found saddles.

I found the little antiques section.

I found giant rolls of felt, orange furniture, rolls of lino flooring, stoves, satellite dishes and solar panels. All you need to assemble a ger. Given the price of buying one – 500,000 to 1,000,000 tögrög, which is 230 to 460 GBP – many urban Mongolians choose to live in a ger rather than an apartment.

I came away with the blue fabric and some little badges from the antiques section. No item of clothing. That I found in the State Department Store’s souvenir shop: an off-white jacket with brown trim and excellent sleeves. It seems to be a modern riff on the older style. Now I need to get to a colder part of China so I can actually wear it! (Beijing = would you like your humidity and thick air pollution on a very warm day or a stinking hot day? I haven’t seen the sky since arriving. Just grey.)