
ULAN BATOR -- Dozens of dusty residential and retail construction sites greet travelers along the road connecting Chinggis Khaan International Airport with downtown Ulan Bator. As the surrounding steppe gives way to the city, new condo towers poke out among Soviet-era-style apartment blocks.
Many more buildings are still little more than blueprints, including a skyscraper in the shape of an upright morin khuur, Mongolia's traditional two-stringed horsehead fiddle, that would be as tall as the Eiffel Tower and would house offices and shops.