Winding down and taking in the Soviet grandeur

  Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Thursday, August 18, 2005

We're now back in Ulaanbaatar, at the tail end of our thirteen-day visit to Mongolia. After our relaxing, but brief, visit to Terkhin Tsagaan Nuur, we commenced on the long haul across the central steppes back to the capital. The drive to Ögii Nuur on Sunday was mostly uneventful, save for a couple short stops on the way out of the national park. The last hour or so of the day took an interesting twist though, as the fading sunlight saw us racing a thunderstorm eastwards. Despite our fervent hopes though, it arrived at the lake before we did, so we had to high-tail it into our humble "hotel" in a torrential downpour. The flipside of things was that we didn't have to camp as planned and got to enjoy the relative luxury of beds (!) for once.

01: Fishermen at Ögii Nuur

Ögii Nuur is a much more low-key affair than Terkhin Tsagaan. Most of the surrounding landscape is rather featureless steppe, with a bit of boggy patches closer up to the lake proper. We fortunately awoke to a stunning morning, which allowed us to tramp around the shore before it was time to head off again. Apparently Ögii Nuur is well-known as a fishing spot, and sure enough there were four or five men out fishing just beyond where we spent the night. Of more interest to us though was the acclaimed birdlife, and we managed to catch a small group of whooping swans out paddling about. Typically, they were less enthused by our presence and after some prominent honking, they took to the sky - but not before I snapped a few pics from a distance.

02: Ruins at Khar Bukh Balgas

Monday's drive took us out of Arkhangai and across the border into southern Bulgan aimag, a northerly region that many visitors traverse en route to Khövsgöl Nuur. (Unfortunately, with our time in the country rather limited, we had to cut the famous lake from our itinerary.) About halfway across the lower section of the aimag, we came to Khar Bukh Balgas, the remains of Kitan settlement. Though entirely in ruins now, the remnants of this old fortress are fairly substantial given its age - inhabited from the 10th to the 12th century. With absolutely nothing around for miles though, its beauty lies largely in its utter desolateness.

03: A modern-age ger

Around five in the evening, we came to our final destination for the day - a nomadic family's encampment close to the town of Lun in Töv aimag. Since we had done a great deal of sightseeing already, this stop was purely for the cultural experience. Khongor had basically set this arrangement up for us so we could be treated to the unique Mongolian dish of khorkhog, as well as a final stay with a family. By this time,

04: Making khorkhog

we'd more than had our fill of goat meat, so when we discovered that khorkhog was just another way of cooking mutton, we weren't all that thrilled. In fact though, it turned out to be quite good - a steaming Mongolian barbecue of thick ribs and assorted vegetables cooked over hot stones. Even Mayu, who was never particularly turned on about mutton from the get-go of the trip, found it better than expected. Getting all the bits out of our teeth afterwards was less enjoyable, however.

After a final night in the comfort of a ger, we rose yesterday morning to make for the last destination on our itinerary: Khustain National Park. The 50,000+ hectare grounds are home to legions of protected animals, but there's one in particular that gives the park its claim to fame. The takhi - better known outside Mongolia as Przewalski's Horse - are the last of the world's great breeds of wild horse, and Khustain is the main center for their reintroduction to their once native, Mongolian environment. Discovered by a Polish explorer in the late 19th century, they were driven to extinction in their home country in the late 1960s. Thanks to careful management of the species and their environment, their numbers have increased to some 248 animals in the wild.

Well, wild horses as they are, they're rather tricky to spot. We did manage to find a group of four on a distant hill off the main road through the park, but they were so far away that it was nearly impossible to distinguish any of their features (much less get a good photo). The marmots of the park were a bit easier to snap pics of, but even they got pretty skittish when we so much as stepped outside of the van. So much for fantastic shots of the wildlife (but at least we saw a few things).

12: Drab concrete suburb

From there we drove on to the ugly industrial suburbs and crazed traffic of Ulaanbaatar. After a quick stop for lunch at a Mongolian "fast food" restaurant along one of the main thoroughfares (gad, more mutton!!), we then returned to the guesthouse. Bidding farewell to Mendee and Ganbaa (who were supposed to start on another tour within the next day or so!), we made it our first priority to have a much-needed shower. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes to be settled someplace!

05: Sükhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar

We started exploring Ulaanbaatar from about five in the evening. Having spent so long out in the middle of nowhere, it was a dramatic switch to be in a bustling city for once. Arguably the most striking characteristic of the place is how international it's become. Korean, Chinese and other ethnic restaurants outnumber Mongolian ones and practically every other face in the center is a foreigner's. On the surface though, the face of the city is distinctly Russian, with Neo-Classical edifices, yawning plazas and grandiose Stalinist structures predominating. But here and there one runs into a monastery or ger, and numerous more recent structures dot the downtown area, making for an increasingly cosmopolitan feel. It makes for a pleasant surprise when you consider how virtually unheard of the place is in the Western media.

09: Migjed Janraisig in Gandan Khiid

Mayu and I quite happily dined on Chinese last night, which was like a feast of ambrosia after all the redundant meals of bland Mongolian. For our last day then today, we took in the remaining main sites of Ulaanbaatar, starting with Gandan Khiid - the foremost monastery of the city (if not the country). Nosing about for a couple of hours, we then headed for the (rather time-warped) Museum of Natural History, with its fine displays of dinosaur bones. I had had it in mind to look into picking up a Chinese-style dulcimer (basically the Mongolian version of a yang chi'n), and the museum was conveniently located close to the Egshiglen Magnai National Musical Instrument Shop. I guess I never thought about how big the suckers were - once I saw the size of the model in the store (not to mention its price) I quickly reconsidered. Best to save that for another date, I think.

We wrapped up our day with a fantastic meal of North Indian at a restaurant just east of downtown. Yet another surprise - it turns out that Ulaanbaatar has far better and more authentic Indian food than Nagoya does! In fact, it was the best Indian I've had since I was last in the U.K. about three years ago. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must be for the Indian owners to get through a Mongolian winter, but I'm sure resident expats are quite happy that they do!

And now we come to the end of our visit to Mongolia. Tonight we fly back to Seoul and then onwards to Japan in the morning. In a couple days time, it'll be back to the teaching routine. In the meantime, I hope this will be only the first trip to this beautiful country, not the last. Someday I hope to swing through again, taking in some of the north and far west if I can manage it. It's been a fascinating experience and definitely among the most unique travel destinations I've been to.