On 29th of May Florian and I arrived in Ulan Baatar, Mongolia. Our Tourguide from Skyland Tours (I really can recommend Skyland Tours, they organized a perfect tour for us) picked us up at the train station and brought us to our hotel (Palace Hotel, one of the best hotels in Mongolia), a really clean and comfortable place. Later we tried to organize a russian Visa for Florian and me, that was quite a big act. You need 1000 papers and documents. We went there at 09:00 o' clock and were immediately sent away, foreigners may only come between 14:00 and 15:00 o' clock. So we went there again. First of all we estimated 30 USD for each visa, we needed it only for one day (from the airport to the city center and then to the bus station). Then we were told that each visa is 167 $$, we were really shocked. So we had to go to a bank and withdraw some $$. We came back to the russian embassy at 10 to three to give them our documents and the money. We had to wait some minutes in the queue, at 15:00 o' clock we were sent away because they close now. Great. So our tour-guide had to bring the documents the next day. Russian administration is so arrogant, I think this was the last time I visit Russia. 350 Euro Visa fees for three visits is enough. At least we had to pay 185 USD for this one Visa.
The first day we went to a good restaurant, went to Zaisan hill (a nice view point), to Gandan Tegchilen Monastry and in the evening we visited a really impressive show of THE MONGOLIAN FOLK AND DANCE ENSEMBLE. Never in my life before I saw so agile gymnasts.
Between 30th May and 02nd June we visited South Mongolia (see entry South Gobi), on 3rd June we visited Tereldsch, a nice nature reserve 60 km north of Ulan Baatar. The landscape is completely different from the desert that we visited the previous days. Nice mountains and valleys and rivers, it reminded me of Switzerland...! We were riding a horse and slept again in a yurt (ger). In that area of Mongolia you can see yaks and cranes. The 4th June we spent again in Ulan Baatar, I bought some souvenirs. Mongolia was one of my best trips ever......!! Ulan Baatar is not a beautiful city, but when you leave it after some km you will find beautiful landscapes. And it is no problem to spend two days in Ulan Baatar.
What I liked: People are really friendly. Everything is quite original, there is no mass tourismus. In every yurt camp we slept we were the only tourists. More to read at the entry "South Gobi" More thumbnails ...
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