Blogs from Mongolia, Asia - page 9

Geo: 47.9159, 106.918We are now back in Ulaanbaatar, the coldest capital in the world or so our guide says. The temperature ranges from -49c in winter to 38c in summer although at the moment it seems a comfortable -5c.Driving out of the city we noticed a car with red flags on it, "it's a car with no driver" says our guide, what she means is a learner.We visited the National Park about 50km from the city, it is a stunningly beautiful landscape for visitors although I am sure it is a harsh environment for the nomads who live there. In the winter they move their animals to lower pastures where they have stockades for the animals (there are predators like wolves), whilst there the children attend school. In the summer they move up onto the mountains ... read more

Geo: 47.9159, 106.918Ulan Batar, or perhaps Ulaanbaatar, depending on which atlas you read, is the capital of Mongolia. The country has a population of 3 million of which one million live in the capital most of whom are currently stuck in a traffic jam. There seems to have been a sudden increase in disposable income and insufficient road capacity to cater for all the cars. They don't have a metro system so chaos reigns. Mongolians nominally drive on the right but half of the cars are imported second hand Japanese cars which are left hand drive. By far the most popular model is the Toyota Prius, the only explanation our guide gave was because petrol "is so expensive in Mongolia", it's about 75p a litre so there must be some other tax break either here or ... read more

Crossing the Russian/Mongolian border took a long time. In total it was 7 1/2 hours of waiting at a train station in Russia before we could enter Mongolia. This was so the border control officers could check that we were allowed to enter the country. Firstly, we travelled to the countryside to a local get camp - Mongolian natives live here. I have to say that the experience was overwhelming. The scenery was breathtaking but what really astounded me was the local people's sense of community spirit. We visited a local family where they made us some traditional food. They made us feel so welcome. They don't have much compared to us and they live in very confined areas (one room for the whole family) but they are so happy and thankful for what they have ... read more

After 100 hours of train from Moscow, on the morning of 14th of October, we made it to Ulan Baator. A driver picked up us just before sunset to make our way to the Terelj National Park. In the city, it must have been something like minus 10 Celsius...it's already winter here! UB, aka Ulan Baator early morning looks like in the middle of a property boom...till, not sure I ever want to live here...but that will be for next blog. But we were not here to discover Ulan Baator...the plan, and it's the same for most tourists...was to discover Mongolia...or rather, it's beautiful countryside... Now the trick is...it's middle of October, the official season is over....we have just spent nearly 5 days on a train....Mongolia has a bad reputation for food...and it was out of ... read more

Mongolia has transformed fairly smoothly into it's present democratic state after almost 70 years of communist rule. But, the first stop on my whirlwind tour of Ulaanbaatar's few museums was the 'Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum', housed in the residence of Peljidiin Genden the former president (and prime minister) of Mongolia who was executed by Stalin for refusing to execute 'the enemies within'; the lamas. His house was turned into a museum by his daughter, Tserendulam. The wooden, two-storey house is very close to the parliament building. It looks old. The painted wood has faded and chipped, the grounds are overgrown with weeds, and when I try to get in the door is locked. An old man appears from around the corner, and we chat for a moment in Russian. He lets me in, and ... read more