Words: James Soo

The last great unexplored wilderness in Asia, Mongolia is the adventurer’s destination. With only 3 million people in a country about a quarter the size of the whole of Europe, you could travel for days without seeing another soul. And unlike the rest of Asia where traditions and customs have become Disneyfied for tourists, in Mongolia nomads still live in much the same way as they have for thousands of years. Which means it’s not for the faint-hearted. But if you’re brave, and willing to learn to speak a few words of the fiendishly difficult language, you’ll be invited into the homes of these fiercely proud, but also passionately warm people.

GETTING THERE
MIAT now flies direct between Hong Kong and Ulaan Baatur three times a week. Alternatively, you can fly Air China via Beijing, and you can also take the train from Beijing – the last section of the Trans-Mongolian railway. Don’t forget though that for much of the year, the country is comatose under metres of snow with temperatures around −30C, so summer is probably the best time to visit.

SLEEP
In Ulaan Baatur (UB to locals), your best bet is to stay in one of the numerous guesthouses that cluster around the center of town. There are a few business hotels as well, but the guesthouses are the main meeting points for travellers, where you can find out about tours or meet a few like-minded people for an independent Gobi adventure. Outside of UB, you’re pretty much reliant on either tourist ger camps (traditional felt tents), that tend to have a few more mod-cons than true gers. There will be a few hotels in the major aimag (region) capitals, but you shouldn’t expect their facilities to be much beyond what you could find at a ger camp (i.e. hot running water is definitely a luxury).

Zaya’s Hostel
www.zayahostel.com
Probably the best bet in town, Zaya’s Hostel is always full, and usually full of interesting people as well – if you’re after a bunch of 20 year old partiers though head to the Golden Gobi. Owner Zaya is a wealth of knowledge about Mongolia, and will happily chat to you for hours about it.

Golden Gobi
www.goldengobi.com
The hostel that everyone else seems to be staying at. It always gets full about half an hour after the train from Beijing arrives, so make sure you book or get there early. Very helpful, and if you can get a room in their annexe round the corner, you can avoid the crowds of dirty backpackers.

Corporate Hotel
www.corporatehotel.com
Just south of the main square, this is probably the best of the business hotels in town. While the others are usually crumbling relics of the Soviet era, this feels relatively modern and has good facilities.

EAT
Mongolian food boils down to preserved dairy (yoghurt, dried cheese, curds) and preserved meat. Vegans need not apply. However, UB has a number of decent eateries, including a few vegetarian restaurants which will be a god-send if you spend any time in the countryside where vegetables are limited to the odd green potato. Korean restaurants abound, as many Mongolians go to Korea as guest workers and many Koreans have invested in Mongolia. But you can also find traditional Mongolian food, the best of which have to be the buuz, or Mongolian dumplings. The rest is definitely an acquired taste for the hardy traveller. Few memories have been so indelibly burned into my brain as when the father of my host family dragged a goat to my ger and slaughtered it in front of me by slitting a hole in its belly, reaching in and stopping its heart. It was then stripped and boiled inside a metal bucket, from which we’d grab a piece to cut off with a flick-knife.

If you’re dying for some Western food, the supermarkets are a good choice, especially the one at the State Department Store in the centre of UB. Michele’s French Bakery is a godsend in the mornings with beautifully baked croissants, and the Grand Khaan Irish Pub seems to be a popular choice for locals and visitors alike.

SEE
UB has a couple of interesting sites. My favourites are the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, which has been relatively well-preserved amid the concrete towers. A highlight is the daily tsam-mask dance (traditional Tibetan/Mongolian Buddhist/Shamanic fusion ceremony) at 5pm. Gandan Khiid is the main functioning Buddhist monastery and temple, and is well worth a visit, although the attendants are a bit rude. A number of interesting museums are also worth a visit – best are the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts, which holds a superb collection of Buddhist thangkas, and the National Museum of Mongolia.

However, UB is, and should be, just the start of your Mongolian adventure. Either through your guesthouse, through one of the many independent tour organisers, or if you’re feeling very brave, by yourself, UB is the gateway to the rest of the country. Be warned that there’s really only one functioning road outside UB – between the capital and Kharkhorin. The other arterial roads tend to peter out 50km outside of the city, leaving only dirt tracks that dwindle into dusty paths through the countryside.

It probably isn’t fair to say that there are particular destinations in the country that have to be seen. Certainly the ruins of the ancient capital of Kharkhorin (Karakorum), built by Genghis and Kubilai Khan, are a poignant reminder of the demise of ancient empires. But the real joy is setting out from UB in a battered Russian jeep with no suspension and taking off into the distance. If you can, try to stay with a nomad family for at least one night. Most tours will include a cook (who is usually also the driver), which will be much appreciated after the first couple of days of Mongolian food. But it’s by living with the rhythms of this ancient people – getting up at dawn to milk the goats, helping to churn the milk down to make yoghurt and the dozen other dairy products that are a staple during the rest of the year, riding across the steppes on the small but tough Mongolian horses – that you really get to the heart of this country.

One event that is unmissable is Naadam, a huge Mongolian festival every August (the dates vary each year from district to district) where for three days people flock to their district capital for Mongolian wrestling, horse-races (the riders are all children between the ages of 6 and 9) and archery. The Naadam in UB is televised, and is held in a large stadium, so if you want a slice of real Mongolian life, head out to the provincial capitals where the Naadam is just an excuse for a huge party, where nomads who have barely seen each other in the past year can catch up, gossip and get drunk.

NIGHTLIFE
UB has plenty of bars, nightclubs and karaoke spots – the Mongolians certainly aren’t averse to drinking. So much so that once a month there is a national dry day where no establishment can sell any alcohol. While airag (fermented mare’s milk) is well known outside the country, arkhi is the killer. Distilled from milk, this vodka-type drink goes down surprisingly smoothly, but is hard to get except as homebrewed moonshine.

Mongolia is one of the world’s greatest unexplored countries, but it’s not for the faint-hearted. But if your body has the courage to live without some of your modern comforts, your soul will be richly rewarded with memories and experiences that will last a lifetime.