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Sometimes places are not what I expect them to be. I didn't know that ... in Mongolia
... it can be 36 degrees hot
... they have a full on amusement park with roller coaster
... there is no litter in the streets
... there are no dogs or cats to be seen
... they have loads of coffee shops
... they (mostly) obey the traffic laws, no honking
... there are supermarkets that sell everything from motorbikes, boats, generators, german crisps, chocolate and german beer ...
After our long flight and once we picked up our travel companion Kathy in Beijing, we finally arrived in Ulaanbataar. As usual Dillon survived the flight better than any of the adults. After we checked into our guest house (which had forgotten about my bed. so I slept on a mattress in the common area for the first night) we went and explored Ulaanbataar or UB as the locals call it.
Half the population of 3 million Mongolians live in UB. The legacy of the communist area can still be seen in the building style. Most people live in large ugly apartment blocks
Airline food. What can I say
Tasted beter than it looked....and the official buildings are grand. Electricity and all hot water is provided by 4 large power plants that are within the city. The hot water system is sometimes shutdown during the summer months which means no one has any for up to 10 days.
Apart from a grand square with an impressive parliament building, the usual (albeit good) museums and a monastery there is not much in the way of historical sights to be seen. Even the monastery is not that old. It was built as a show monastery for tourists as they purged and destroyed most of the real ones during the communist years. This one was converted in 1990 and now houses 600 chanting and robust monks.
However there is a bit more to keep us occupied. Loads of coffee shops and more importantly (if you travel with a 4 year old) amusement parks. Some are just in one of the many public squares where they hire out little electric cars but there is also the national amusement park. Think a small Disneyland (including castle) with a lot of rides to keep the small ones amused but also a proper roller coaster and ferris wheel.
Who would have thought?
After just one day we left the big smoke (literally) and went on a 3 day tour of the country side. We went to a rather impressive stainless steel statue of Ghengis Khan, Mongolia's most famous warrior/leader who went on to conquer half he known world back then. The building underneath the statue houses also the worlds largest boot. Something like 7 meters tall. Again who would have thought?
Mongolias country side is really like you imagine it to be. Loads of rolling hills, green grass everywhere.
A lot of mongolians still live a nomadic lifestyle tending to herds of horses and sheep and live in traditional Gers. Once outside of UB the country site is dotted with these tents and countless herds of horses, sheep and goats. Gers are the distinctive white round tents that you might have seen before. We found out that they are quite comfortable but I cannot imagine living in them in winter when the temperature can drop to minus 30 degrees. They have a small oven which doubles as source of heat and stove to cook on. The families move 2 to 4 times a
year mostly in spring and autumn to go between the summer grazing area and the more protected winter residence closer to the mountains.
We stayed 3 nights in Gers which are quite spacious and comfortable with "mod cons" like beds and TVs. However running water, showers or toilets have not made it to this part of the world. The shower is at best a bucket of water and the toilet is a hole in the ground with 3 makeshift wood panel walls for a bit of privacy. It was ok as long as wind blew from the right direction but not strong enough to blow the walls down as it happened to Kathy when she attempted to well "you know" in a short lived storm. Also slightly problematic if the neighbouring farmer is herding his flock of goat, sheep or cattle past the open side of the loo. The view out can be nice though.
The traditional food was really good. The highlight was a mongolian specialty where a stone is heated up until red hot and then put into a pot. Then it is covered with Lamb, cabbage, carrot and potato. The end result is a mix
between a BBQ flavour due to the stone burning the meat and the tenderness of a slow cooked piece of lamb.
Apart from staying in Gers we also visited some rare Przewalski horses of which only 400 still exist. 400 is not a bad number considering that the number of wild ones was 0 not too long ago. The ones that now exist are offspring of horses that were kept in Zoos and later brought back to Mongolia. It took an hour trekking up hill in 35 degree heat to hear a close by 'neigh' and discover two biscuit coloured beauties (Dillon and kellie watching with binoculars from the a/c land cruiser).
The highlight for Dillon was when we went to the desert to ride camels. The desert is only a couple of hundred meters wide. Didn't stop us pretending being Lawrence of Arabia while riding (with sore bums) on our trusted camels.... After that it was back to UB to start the next part of our trip. Russia
I am writing this while onboard the first leg of our trans Siberian train journey towards Irkutsk in Russia. It is hot hot hot and no
Entrance to our guesthouse
no expense is spared in this trip a/c and so we are really ooking forward to some friendly Russian border guards at 1 am in the morning .... to be continued
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Raelene
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Poor Kathy...
Too bad about the toilet wals falling down but sounds like you're having an exciting trip ?