Mongolia's been high on my excitement list for a while - what an unexpectedly beautiful country! To be honest I hadn't really considered Mongolia except as a stopover on the Transiberian, but it turned out to be a great highlight. Something like 80% of the land is technically unused, and Mongolia has a ridiculously large landmass for just 3 million people - in fact, unlike China just over the border, the Mongolian government is actually encouraging more children! In any case, it leaves a lot of beautiful scenery to be enjoyed. The land may be so harsh that the Mongolian diet consists primarily of meat and few vegetables if any (chicken and fish are also considered 'vegetables') but it's incredibly beautiful in the summer, and a lot of fun to explore!
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| Also I guess I got to hang out with some pretty cool people - that helped! |
We arrived in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar to be greeted by Odka ("vodka without the v"), our incredibly energetic, funny and expressive guide. This was pure luck as she's normally assigned to 'harder' tour groups, but thank goodness she requested a VodkaTrain one this time! And with study in Melbourne next year, you lucky Aussies might catch her around...
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| Our group even named ourselves the Odkins after her. |
After checking Ulaanbaatar out in a Lonely Planet guide on the train, we were super keen to see the International Intellectual Museum, dedicated to puzzles created by a Mongolian prodigy from the age of 11. No such luck though - when we arrived half an hour outside of town, they told us it was under construction for 10 days! In high season! Words cannot express how disappointed I was...
Instead we ended up at a 'black market' nearby, where they basically sold everything from electrical plugs and cables to fake designer handbags and clothes - the usual, you know. Not a bad stop, especially since bargaining is not necessary here. A lot of the cheap merch was from China, but I managed to pick up a great Mongolian-made leather sling bag for just $15.
That night we caught the Mongolian Cultural Show, which I had my doubts about - ended up being incredibly impressed by the contortionist, and some neat folk dancing (though the masks were a bit scary...) Would rate it as one of the most interesting cultural displays I've seen. No photos unfortunately as we had to pay extra, but I picked up my Mongolian 'shot glass' here, handmade from animal horn.
The real excitement began when we left for the ger camp the next morning. Even the 2 hour transit felt short compared to our train journeys. At one detour we saw a mound of rocks about 3m high where, throwing our own rocks on, we circled it 3 times and made a wish as was traditional (although only tourists seemed to be at this particular mound). Also stopped to pick up my new pet eagle ($2 to hold for more than long enough - those birds are heavy!)
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| EEEEEAAAAGGGLLLEEEEEE!! Probably not as JD meant in Scrubs... |
Then we hit the ger camp in the middle of Terelj National Park. Let me explain (finally): gers are traditional houses that are easily packed and unpacked, so the Bedouin people can move with freedom. We saw many gers leading into Ulaanbaatar, often in what looked like people's backyards, but this was our first time inside one.
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| From this... |
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| To this! |
We spent 3 pretty sweet days here, horse riding right into a storm, drinking beers by the fire, taking photos in traditional costume, and exploring the 'mountains'. These rocky hills don't look so steep, but when you start the climb you'll be puffing before long... More than worth the effort (and the spiders and thorns) for the incredible view though. Look out for the sacred trees - which could really be any tree you like, as long as there's a blue scarf tied around it.
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| That's our ger camp through the trees on the right |
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| And on the other side of the hill, an even better sight ... |
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| Beware - it's steep going down too... |
We also took advantage of the ridiculously cheap alcohol - even at the accommodation's doubly expensive prices, a 500mL bottle of beer was still just $1 - or an impressive 3000 tugriks. We were pretty grateful to have ice-cold beer again too, after putting up with warm beers for two days on the train. Made for two great nights in our ger, with the addition of another VodkaTrain group and their Russian vodka (smooth and hangover-less, by the way) and a telling game of Two Truths, One Lie.
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| One wad of cash = one beer |
Back to town to party - and for culture too, of course. "There is not much to do in my city," Odka warned us - but Mongolia has plenty of nightlife it seems! We had a feast of Mongolian food, a round of Asian karaoke fuelled by vodka, and finished the night dancing with locals (and a couple of odd expats) to live covers of English pop songs at a bar called Strings.
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| See, we're cultured - giant Genghis Khan statue on the way back to Ulaanbaatar, built where his whip was found since his body has never been recovered... |
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| Vodka, Odka and karaoke. |
Awesome live cover band!
That night came to a crashing end as we foreigners were effectively kicked out at 2am, but it was pretty memorable fun nonetheless. We jumped into a random car, as apparently Mongolia follows the Russian 'every car is a taxi' way, and rested up for one more day in Mongolia.
Our last day held another taste of Mongolia, as we visited the National Museum and savoured our last meal, Mongolian BBQ. The National Museum is worth stopping through for a couple of hours (although it won't teach you much about Genghis Khan, who we were most curious about by then). And BD's BBQ is definitely a must-do: these guys did fancy little tricks as they chopped and threw around our food with two long metal tongs, and it tasted fantastic! Plus we got to stock up on vegetables as we added our own ingredients, unlike a lot of the meals we'd ordered.
Often they'll save one piece of sausage or broccoli, to flip up and catch on the plate before serving you.
And so, well-fed and in touch with nature, we spent our last night watching Genghis Khan documentaries (incredibly understated in history considering he had the largest land empire BY FAR) and headed out on the train again.
More meat please!
Ahh, food. Although Mongolian BBQ was a highlight, almost every meal was delicious - and cheaper, at maybe $5 a meal even in our hotel, compared to the almost $15 (buffet) BBQ. We discovered the two types of 'dumplings' in Mongolia, which come in meat with extra meat, or vegetarian (probably only in the more touristy restaurants). Also a fan of the handmade 'flour' or noodles. Food in Mongolia is typically limited by what's around, so food tends to be salty and not so sugary. Even the treats made for kids are made from curd - healthier, but not one bit tasty to us foreigners...
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| Fried dumplings - like an empanada but less crispy. |
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| Steamed dumplings - same filling, slightly different kind of deliciousness. |
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| Handmade flour - noodles that are more appetising than they look, I swear! |
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