The Black Market of Ulaanbaatar

We went to the Black Market. The tour guide was very careful to let us know that Black Market is the name. It’s not an illegal market. It’s the largest, best known market place in Mongolia.

Part of it is open-air, as you can see from the sunglasses for sale in front of the main entrance above. You can find just about anything there from fresh-picked fruit to fashionable boots, furniture to prayer scarves, bolts of brocade to electronics.

The hats to the left are traditional. I thought at first they were just for tourists, but the Black Market isn’t oriented toward tourists at all. It’s the first place people in Ulaanbaatar think of when it’s time to go shopping for new school clothes and supplies or when stocking up.

Part of the market is under the blue arches. Frankly, with everything packed together so closely and the ceilings being so high inside, and tarps running over much of what is outside, I didn’t really notice when we were indoors and when we were out.

For instance, I didn’t realize the furniture was out doors, even though it was raining on us.

About the furniture, most of what we saw was either blond wood, or painted this particular shade of orange. Apparently historically Mongolians couldn’t find pigments that would get them any closer to the color of the sun than this. Much as blue is considered powerful because of it’s relationship to the sky, so is this shade of orange. By the time yellow became available, orange was already established as the traditional color for furniture and for the internal parts of a ger’s ceiling.

This is not to say other colors aren’t used. One place had a ceiling done in red, white, and blue. Some furniture was painted red. But most places use the traditional colors.

You’ve probably already guessed that the Black Market isn’t one big store. It’s simply a place where people can sell their stuff. Some sellers bring their wares in each time they set up their stall, which they rent from the market. Some keep their wares on premise.

Those who keep their wares there are assigned wooden boxes. Each night they must put everything in their specific box, which is numbered. The boxes all go into locked storage containers every night. The boxes are assigned to specific containers, and can only be stored in the correct one. Apparently they are quite careful about this.

This might be in part because theft is a serious problem there. We were rushed through too quickly to do much in the way of shopping, even though it was an off day with no where near the normal crowds. We were also told to leave everything in the bus because pick pockets were a serious problem.

There is another market being built across the street. This one is entirely indoors. Considering how cold and wet it can get, you’d think people would be all over that, but apparently the place hasn’t made a name for itself yet, so many merchants are unwilling to move.

Perhaps they find it more convenient or less expensive to sell from a shipping container.