What is It Like Working As A Foreign Journalist in Mongolia?

On a winter's day in Sukhbaatar Square, I realize just how tough it is to be a journalist in the world's coldest capital city.The inside of my nostrils have frozen, a thick coat of white ice has formed on my eyelashes, I can't feel my toes and despite wearing two layers of gloves leather and yak wool mittens my hands have seized up and a sharp pain pierced deep into my fingers.

Getting a story takes on a whole new dimension in Mongolia when your pen freezes, your iPhone turns off and your body goes numbAs I try to record interviews, the bitterly cold wind seeps into my bones, and the ink in my pen has frozen, leaving blanks on my notebook.I pull out my iPhone to record, but it's not long until it too succumbs to the cold and turns off.

I'm meant to be here covering an anti-pollution rally but I can no longer concentrate on what my talent is saying, and my mind has turned to survival mode as I keep rolling my fingers up and down to check they're still alive.It's January and only about minus 30 degrees Celsius, which, in an Ulaanbaatar winter, isn't the worst it gets trust me.

In most places, covering an event as a journalist is a straightforward job turn up, find the organizers for an official run-down of the event, record a few interviews, take photos and return to the newsroom to write your story.But I'm beginning to see that even basic newsgathering is a gruelling activity for a reporter in Mongolia.

The snow begins to sprinkle and I retreat to a nearby coffee shop to recover and warm up.I'm joined by my fellow reporters and translators from The UB Post, Chintushig and Dulguun.

Both are young reporters with promising futures ahead of them. We order lattes and hot chocolates and go over what we still need to do.

Reporters Casey-Ann and Dulguun covering an air pollution rally on a freezing cold day in JanuaryWe're not finished yet and there's no way we'd head back to the office and face our editor, Khash-Erdene, without enough for a story, so we rug up with layers upon layers and head back with a promise to split and be done in a snappy 30 minutes and no more.The newspaper has its fair share of foreign journalists and interns who join the newsroom every year but by November, most clear off to avoid winter.

I'm told I'm one of the few who has stayed during the winter months.As with international trends, journalists here are underpaid and resources are tight.

Unlike Australia, we don't have a dedicated available photographer and journalists...

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