Монгол улс - Mongolia

We visited Mongolia to visit Sarah, who was working in Ulaanbataar (known as UB) for the Arts Council of Mongolia. We spent some time in UB, had a four day trip across the steppes and had an fascinating time in Beijing, China on the way in and out of Mongolia. T'was a trip we'd highly recommend!

Улаанбаатар - Ulaanbataar

After 30 hours on the Trans-Mongolian Railway we
arrived in a bitterly cold Ulaanbataar (Улаанбаатар
in Mongolian cyrilic and to the left, as it would be
written in the traditional Mongol bichig)


The first thing we did upon arriving in UB was have
a much needed feed! Note the similarity between this
photo and one of the photos of Sarah in Istanbul
(August 2006 blog entry).


Adding to her collection of paper roses.


Samuel thought lunch was a great idea after 30 hours
of crackers and cheese.


The restuarant overlooked this old temple in the heart
of UB.


Central UB from the window of our rented apartment.


More UB from above.


Downtown UB. Busy, busy.


The State Great Hural (the Mongolian Parliament) on
Sükhbaatar Square.


The Mongolian flag flying high above the State
Great Hural.


The State Great Hural is guarded by an enormous
Genghis Khan ("Chinggis Khan" in Mongolian) which is
flanked by statues of his generals and descendants.


The big Ching presiding over the State Great Hural.
It's all about Chinggis in UB - Chinggis beer, Chinggis
vodka and he's even on the Tögrög (the national currency).


One of Chinggis' generals looking out over Sükhbaatar
Square.


Chinngis and his mates didn't deter other tourists
on Sükhbaatar Square from accosting Samuel.


Despite this little local fella's best efforts, Samuel
had already had enough of being friendly.


Entering UB by road.


Traffic control Mongolian style.


Wall art in UB depicting the Mongolian Empire.


More wall art, cleverly combining the
Mongolian warrior and goat.




a

Sarah at her desk in
the Arts Council of
Mongolia.


Suburban UB, known as the "ger district". As Mongolians
have become increasingly urbanised, many people have
settled on the outskirts of the city by setting up gers
and building more permanent homes. The city seems to
have sprawled with very little investment in additional
infrastructure.

Горхи-Тэрэлж - Gorkhi Terelj National Park

So that my parents would have a chance to get out of UB and
see the countyside we took a day trip out to Gorkhi Terelj
National Park (about 50-60 km east of UB). Gans' brother,
Ganbut, was our driver / guide for the day.


Samuel kindly offered to drive the van.



The national park's most famous landmark is Turtle Rock.
I wonder why they call it that?


We stopped for lunch just near the Turtle Rock and had our
first Mongolian culinary experience.


Little boy outside the ger in which our lunch was
served.


Yum!


Yep, he's everywhere.


Terelj monastery high up on a hill. We walked from the
bottom of the vallery up the the temple. The view was well
worth the walk.


Giddy up, dad!


Everyone enjoying the walk.


This is the caretaker of the monastery. He took great
pride in pointing out that the temple's door handles were
in the shape of two mice by pointing to the doors and
announcing - "mouse, mouse". He then dubbed Samuel
"mouse" and would call out "mouse, mouse" each time he
saw him.


Little boy looking pleased with himself.


The detail of the monastery was gorgeous and had
a particular Mongolia flavour to it. Note the winter scene
of daily activities outside a ger.


Poor elephant.


There are 108 (an auspicious number in
Buddhism) prayer wheels around the
monastery. Samuel insisted on spinning
them all...twice.


Buddhist graffiti above the monastery.


A family adventure, well worth the walk.


The view of Terelj from the Monastery.


Everyone having a rest before the walk back.


Priorities.


The little boy who lived down the lane, perhaps?


There were plenty of smiling faces along the way.


A family's ger and animals on the Steppes of Terelj. The
tire tracks leading to the ger were typical of the 'roads'
we travelled.


Along the way we stopped at another family's camp (note the
solar panel in the background).


We were invited into the family's ger for a cup of salty
milk tea - steamy on the ger's stove in the foreground.


Samuel unfortunately wasn't the most gracious guest.


The ball cheered Samuel up very quickly. Anyone who
has seen Samuel lately will be familar with Samuel's
fondness for balls of all shapes and sizes.


The family's trusty horse...


and his beautiful saddle.


Ganbut chatting to the family's calves.


On the way out of Terelj our van overheated. We
waited until it cooled down and moved on. If you take
in the landscape in the background, you'll get some idea
of the predicament we would have been in if it
hadn't started again.


Ganbut was surprisingly unconcerned
about the van losing its cool.


About half an hour from UB, we came across
this big Chinggis. You can't quite tell how big
it is from this photo but it's not far off Statue of
Liberty proportions. It's still under construction
but when it opens you will apparently be able to take
an elevator up to the horse’s tail and then take stairs
into ol'Chinggis' head where there will be an observation
deck.