Tuushin Hotel Ulan Bator

... to Erdene Zuu Monastery. The monastery was founded in 1586, by Altai Khaan, Erdene zuu (hundred treasures) was the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. It had between 60and 100 temples, about 300 gers inside the walls and, at its peak, up to 1000 monks in residence. <br><br>Day 12:In the morning drive to Ogii lake.The lake is wonderful place for birdlife. Cranes and ducks, among other species, migrate to the area around late April.<br><br>Day ...

... with the nomads for one week (already narrowed down from two because of the cold), but ended up being there only one night. There wasn't really anything for us to do there for a whole week as it was winter, and it was so cold that we wouldn't have spent the whole time inside anyway. Since the grandfather and grandmother's family had come to help them move their ger for winter they were going back home to UB on the Sunday so we got a lift back with them ...

... in the States, but back for a visit, and traveling back to UB this morning in her brother's landcruiser, along with the brother, a sister and a Japanese friend... we couldn't wait two days there, she said... why didn't we take a lift with them? Score!!!!!<br><br><br> And so we squeezed into the last two seats, with our bags gathering dust on the roof, and returned to the capital, finding the six hour journey far more comfortable in a modern ...

... on deep tracks knowing one mistake puts holes in the fuel tank and exhaust made for some focused driving. I v never seen so many Toyota jeeps in one place, and now I know why.<br>That evening we camped near the lake. Or so we thought. We stopped the car and were attacked by swarms of mosquitos like iv never seen in my entire life. I put the c ar in gear and gunned it. We retreated to higher ground where there were slightly less and covered ...

... d expect, the bull made absolutely no difference. The<br>hugely more logical solution now dawned on our guide. Producing a<br>phone from somewhere, she called ahead to the ger we were expecting<br>to stay at, asking them to bring the horses to us.<br><br><br><br>They arrived an hour later<br>and we packed our things into the saddle bags. The horses traversed<br>the remaining rivers with no problem and we rode twenty kilometres to<br>the ger. I had a lovely passive ...

... The trans-Mongolian has opted for the latter so we were bumped and shunted around whilst the train was broken up, and taken into a massive warehouse. Once inside we had hydraulic lifters fitted below the carriages and were lifted clean off the ground (and our bogies) whilst they slid out the old set and rolled the new ones under. We had not been allowed off the train for this performance but Ritchie managed to ...

... me, turns out it is very popular and all of them had been there many times. About 10 of us met up, and we just hung out, talked and had a few drinks.<br><br> Around 10pm we all left caught a taxi over to a different part of UB to go to a disco club, again just being a dance club, nothing disco about it. We all got a booth ordered a round of Mongolian beer for everyone and then just danced and had fun. We only made it to ...

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... the street signs, and many people spoke Russian as their second language and German or English as their third. The first real moment of culture shock came in Ulaan Baatar, when we went to visit the Gandan Monastery. Walking through the pagoda-shaped gates and into the temple with the robed monks chanting, I realized that for the first time in my life I was in a country whose main religion was not Christianity or Islam, but Buddhism. About 60 percent of Mongolia&#8217;s ...