get there before the tourists do! (Mongolia)

Member Name: corman

Product:	Mongolia
Date:	28/06/01 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: beautiful countryside, cheap, unspoilt so far

Disadvantages: amenities are poor, not easy to get to, difficult to travel round

I was in Mongolia for about a week on the middle leg of doing the Trans-Siberian rail trip. We stayed with a family in the capital Ulan Bator and also did some day trips as well.

We had booked with a small tour operator in the UK, it's gone bust now but I wouldn't recommend him anyway! It was the only way that we could have been issued with our visas, and it meant that our accommodation was pre-arranged, and a tour guide in Mongolia looked after us and took us on day trips. We were left to our own devices pretty much, and if you're there for shopping forget it. There's very little.

The main town centre is Genghis Khan square which is just basically a large dirt square with a statue in the middle of it. There are few shops given the state of the economy as it was struggling to establish a market having been a communist state for decades.

There are more and more western styles hotels springing up, which you don't necessarily have to stay in but the restaurants (although astronomical in Mongolian terms) are very cheap and the food isn't too bad.

Ulan Bator is a curious mix of nomads who have moved to the capital for work, and working professionals that could be from anywhere in the world. There is a temple which is home to the largest buddha in the world, the temple had to built round it it is so huge. There's the ancient royal palace which is in a shocking state, but is an intersting place to visit to find out more about pre-communist Mongolia.

Ulan Bator is in a valley on a flat plain, and once you get outside the city boundaries into the mountains it is absolutely gorgeous. There are still nomadic families living on the plains and it is custom that anyone who visits them must be given food & shelter (regardless of whether you can speak the language). Wildlife is all around, wolves, bears, and you can hear them all. There were places that we went to that made you feel as if you were the onl
y person in the world in the middle of rugged mountains underneath a clear, violet sky.

There are organised trips to the Gobi desert that you can take on archaeological digs for dinosaurs if that takes your fancy. It's probably advisable to do organised trips as there are still a lot of bandits around in some remote regions, and vodka is about the only currency that they'll accept!

The best way to get there is by train. Either from Siberia (where we came from) or Beijing (where we went to). There are flights there (as such). We went past the International Airport, and it consisted of a strip of dirt track that had cows wandering over it. Perhaps things have changed since then?!

It's a beautiful place though, and hopefully will stay unspoiled for a little while longer.

Summary: