contributed by Mark

Yes, September 15th, known across the world, well, across Mongolia, as turn on the heat day.  Yes those rumbles and gurgles are not my stomach but the heat coming into the pipes.What does this mean?  Well we will be sleeping with the windows open for the next six months or so while our apartment is heated by radiant heat to around 85 degrees. The downside is that mosquitos seem to be breeding in our apartment.  The heat comes via super-heated water from the industrial power plant (over the hill from us) and is swirled through radiators in the apartment buildings.  Its important to look for leaks- they fix them by putting in horse hair so it can coagulate with sediment and seal off the hole.   Can we turn it off?  Well there is a valve- so why not just close off the radiator?  The problem is that they are run in series so if we turn ours off it shuts off heat for everyone above us- something they will definitely let us know.  The good thing is we will be warm, and then some.