Baruun-urt

Introducing Baruun-urt

Sükhbaatar’s desolation is nowhere more evident than in its capital, Baruun-Urt, a scruffy, one-horse town in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The city is poor but some locals have found employment at a nearby Chinese-invested zinc mine, or at the coal mine 7km to the northwest.

One surreal image you can get in Baruun-Urt occurs in the cold season when it’s possible to walk out into the empty, barren, frozen steppe and feel as if you’ve landed on the moon. The ground underneath your feet, however, contains high levels of sulphur, which has seeped into the local water supply – you are better off buying bottled water or filtering the tap water.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009