Mongolia is Awesome: Names Edition

Before I came, I read in my guidebook that there are souvenir shops just about anywhere you look, selling t-shirts, tacky (probably Made-in-China) novelty items, and postcards. Of course, most people who know me know that I was on the lookout for postcards from just about when I touched down. But my first couple days, I was dismayed to see not a single postcard or souvenir shop in sight. It occurred to me that this was probably because I don’t exactly live in a touristy district. And having explored the centre of the city, I was confused as to where exactly the tourist district was.

 Then I noticed a particular street on the map: “Tourist St.” Oh. That’s right, the Mongolians have unabashedly named one of their streets “Juulchin Gudamj,” literally translated as “Tourist Street.” Well, they know how to tell it like it is…