I've been laid low for a couple of days with a cough and general ache-ness, which hasn't been fun, but it HAS allowed me to see another aspect of Mongolian society that I would have missed otherwise. I looked up the web site for the US Embassy here in UB, where there is a list of English-speaking doctors. I chose the one that was described as the most modern clinic in UB and took a taxi over there on Monday. I first saw a Mongolian doctor whose English was officially adequate, but we couldn't seem to connect on some of the finer points of my complaint, e.g., he thought my cough was probably due to the dust and grit from my 5 day train ride, but I was sure it wasn't since I hadn't taken the train yet. He then took me in to consult with this lovely Scottish doctor, lovely accent and even more lovely visage, and we were able to communicate just fine. I wanted to tell him just to hold my hand and talk and I would feel better, but thought that might sound inappropriate, so I didn't. He told me what to get at a pharmacy and I was sent on my way.
When I got to the pharmacy, I found that prescriptions are unnecessary, even for medicines that are clearly marked "on medical prescription only". Not only is that aspect of the pharmacy business different, but also the pharmacist will open the box and dispense to you exactly how many pills you want.
By the way, the amoxicillin and the actifed I got at the pharmacy only cost me 2550 togrog, less than $2.
