How to Cross the Street in Mongolia

The camel walk and the dragon walks. These are two walks I created to navigate UB. The camel walk is a useful walk to employee at night or when walking on uneven or slick terrain. It is especially useful for detecting the many manholes strewn about UB. It is also a good way to detect if a manhole is sturdy or not if you choose to find out if it can support the weight of a person. Of course sometimes it is best to just avoid the manhole if you can. If anyone has seen a camel walk, you know how to do the camel walk. You just raise your leg a good foot off the ground and put it down slowly and methodically. It looks a little goofy but it beats falling in any manholes. That happened to a good friend of mine and he got a rather good gash on his chin as a result of falling in. I showed the walk to some secret laughers (Mongolian women) and they found it to be quite funny.

The dragon walk is a useful method one can employ to cross one of the crazy streets in UB. What it amounts to is making yourself visible to other cars because Mongolian drivers will not stop for people wanting to cross the street. At the same time one should be able to leap out of the way and/ or run. Sometimes it is best to just wait for the light. I am usually able to get drivers to slow down or stop their car. It is alway a good thing to be mindful of where you're going and if you see a sudden lull in the traffic and you know that you need to cross the street; you should cross the street. There are probably another 20-40 cars coming all of whom will in all probability not slow down for you. I do not about Mongolian law on the matter but culturally Mongolian drivers have the right of way on the roadways.