Hailing for Help

Introduction:

In Mongolia, people use lots of different types of transportation: cars, buses, planes, motorcycles and even horses and camels! Because Khovd is a smaller city, most people either use cars or just walk. For me, school is only a 15 minute walk away, so walking is an easy way to get to school. However, if I'm running late for class, or when I'm visiting the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, the best way to travel is by ninja taxi. Ninja taxis are not officially taxis, but rather people who are traveling the same way and will drive you to where you need to go for little money. It's a little bit like hitchhiking, but in Mongolia, it's a very common practice that is used by almost everyone, as licensed taxis are hard to find. 

How do people get around?:

Because Mongolia is such a big country but has so few people, it's important to have a form of transportation that can go long distances through rough weather easily - like a car. In that way, Mongolians are pretty similar to Americans, in that they love their cars. The cars in Mongolia come here from all over the world - America, China, Japan, Korea, you name it - so it's not uncommon to see the steering wheel on the left side in one car and on the right side in another. Driving is a big part of modern Mongolian life.

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