I am currently living in Hong Kong. Over the past 3 years I explored most parts of East Asia and South East Asia. Hong Kong is a great hub if you are planning to visit East Asian and South East Asian countries. Globe Trekker TV series hosted by Ian Wright was my favorite show during my childhood. The series was hosted by a funny and youthful presenter Ian Wright. The show was about Ian traveling to different countries around the world. Every week you will get to see some new and exotic countries. In one of the episodes of the series, the country presented was Mongolia. I loved that episode a lot and I was completely amazed by the unique culture of the country. I also read about the country because of the great warrior Chinggis Khan who conquered almost half of Asia. Mongolia was in my travel bucket list since I was a kid.
During the Easter holidays in Hong Kong I got 4 days off from work. It was the month of April and April is considered shoulder season for visiting Mongolia. The peak tourist season is from Mid-May till Mid-September. The temperature plummet to extreme levels during the winter months. December, January and February are the coldest months in Mongolia and the temperature drops of 40 degrees below freezing. After doing extensive research I figured out that April is not that bad if you are planning to visit Mongolia. The accommodation is much less expensive because of less crowds but you might have to face cold weather and occasional dust storm.
I wanted to do a short trip around Mongolia that’s why I decided to Skip trip to Gobi dessert. Trip to Gobi takes about 6 Days round trip and costs about 600 USD. Mongolia doesn’t have good tourist infrastructure if you are going far from Ulaanbaatar. Your accommodation is usually arranged at the Ger and the toilet infrastructure is not that great. I watched lot of travel videos of people going to Gobi desert for the 1 week trip. The scenery becomes repetitive after sometime and if you have visited desert landscape before than it doesn’t make any sense to visit this remote part of Mongolia. Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world and it has one of the lowest population density. Almost half of the Mongolian people live like Nomads. Nomadic people live in Ger and they raise livestock such as sheep, horse, yak and cow for their food. The country has very limited arable land and farming is not possible throughout the year because of extreme cold weather. They import the vegetables from China. People of Mongolia consume horse meat during winter season. Horse meat increases the temperature of body and it helps people of Mongolia during extreme cold weather.
Ulaanbaatar is the coldest capital city in the world and almost half of the population of Mongolia live in Ulaanbaatar. Buddhism is the major religion in Mongolia and the country is well known for Nomadic culture. Horse is the most important animal in Mongolia and Mongolian people are very good horse riders. Horse meat and milk is a delicacy in Mongolia which is very unique compared to other parts of the world. It is a landlocked country surrounded by mountains on the North-Western side and Gobi desert on the Southern side.
My flight was scheduled to leave Hong Kong at 12 pm but it was delayed by almost 8 hours because of sand storm. Wind speed reaches very high during sandstorm in Mongolia because Mongolia doesn’t have high mountains to prevent the flow of wind. I booked my stay at Golden Gobi hostel in Mongolia and they also arranged 3 Days tour for me around Mongolia. You can book your tours at Goldengobi.com. Golden Gobi has extremely high rating in Tripadvisor and they are recommended by lot of bloggers. The plane landed at the main airport in Ulaanbaatar at around midnight and I already booked transportation to the hostel from the airport. Mongolia is very affordable country if terms of travel. The taxi ride from the airport to the hostel took me about 30 minutes. The weather was just below freezing level and there was no trace of snow. Mongolia has very less amount of precipitation because it’s a dry country and you will not find snow in Mongolia. Only during extreme cold condition, you will find snow around Mongolia. Most homes and hostels in Mongolia have heating arrangement because it can get very cold during winter season. People live in tradition houses like Ger around Ulaanbaatar and they don’t have proper heating mechanism. Suburb people usually burn coal to get the heat during winter season. High rate of coal burning is causing pollution problem around Ulaanbaatar during winter season.
Day 1:- Hustaai National Park Day trip
Hustaai National Park and Gorkh Tereji National Park are the most visited tourist destination of Mongolia. Hustaai national Park is a protected national park in Mongolia. The park is famous for wild Przewalski’s horse. My guide picked me up from the guest house and drove me to the bus stop. I got into a public bus and the bus was traveling to Central Mongolia. I was supposed to be picked up by my guide somewhere after 2 hours bus ride. We departed Ulaanbaatar at around 10 am. Hustaai National Park is situated by around 150 km from Ulaanbaatar. The bus ride was very scenic. After just 15 minutes ride I was introduced to the vast grasslands. The roads were almost straight because there is so much land to construct roads in Mongolia. You will likely see herds of sheep, cows, yaks and horses grazing around vast grasslands of Mongolia. The scenery was epic and you will not find these numbers of livestock animals anywhere else in the world.
The population of Mongolia is scattered around different parts of the country. It was a perfect day for sightseeing and the sky was clear. Apart from Ulaanbaatar you don’t need to own land in Mongolia. You can stay anywhere in Mongolia in a Ger and you can raise your own livestock animals. Mongolia has more livestock animals than people. I was initially shocked by this because it actually looks very illogical in most parts of the world. After traveling through Mongolia I have realized that it makes sense because Mongolia is sparsely populated country. There is so much land for everyone and anyone can go anywhere to set up their Ger. Now a days most Nomadic people are coming to live around Ulaanbaatar because they can make more money If they find job in Ulaanbaatar. Extreme weather conditions in recent years has led to death of live stocks around Mongolia. Issues like this are prompting people to leave their Nomadic style of living and they are rushing to the city for an alternate lifestyle.
Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the entire planet. I was able to experience vast empty landscape of Mongolia after traveling for only 30 minutes away from the city. There was no bus stop along the way and most people were requesting the driver to make a stop for them. Outside Ulaanbaatar people usually stay in small houses or Ger. Gers are usually located far from the main road and the local people have to walk at least 1 hour or may be more in order to reach their Gers. Only small percentage of the Mongolia people have their own car. At around 1 pm the bus stopped for me and my guide came inside the bus to pick me up. It was windy and the sky looked red because of the approaching sandstorm. I wasted no time and immediately flew my Mavic Pro drone. I captured some nice drone shots of beautiful straight roads and vast landscapes in the middle of an approaching sandstorm. The gust was becoming too rapid and I had to bring my drone down. The drone drifted almost 50 m from the starting point because of the high wind speed. Mongolia is a great country to fly your drone. There are restrictions to fly drone around National Park, National Monument and near the Airport.
Hustaai National Park was about 1-hour drive from the pick-up point. I was always fascinated about the unique food culture of Mongolian People. I discussed with my guide that I wanted to try horse meat in Mongolia. My Guide told me that Horse meat is usually consumed by Mongolian people during the winter months. Horse meat provides heat to the body which is necessary for the extreme cold weather conditions. Airag is the national drink of Mongolia. Airag is a fermented horse milk and it is usually consumed during the annual Naadam festival. My guide handed over to me pieces of Orom which is a dessert made from the Yak milk. Orom is a sweet dish in Mongolia and it has very high fat content. Horse milk has the lowest fat content among all livestocks. Horse milk is usually used to prepare Alcoholic drink like Airag. Yak milk has very high fat content and it is used to prepare cheese. We stopped at a small restaurant for late lunch. I tried local cuisine Gurital shul at the restaurant. It is basically a soup noodle with lamb meat. The taste of the soup noodle was excellent.
We reached the National park at around 3.30 pm. We stopped at the museum to know about the history of the wild horses living in the National Park. Apart from horses the national park has lot of unique species of plants and animals. There was no proper barricade to separate the National park from the grassland. The museum was shaped like a Ger. The museum showcased brief history of the National Park. They also displayed different varieties of plants and animals living around the park. The guesthouse situated near the museum hosts researcher from different parts of the world. Przewalski’s horse is the only wild horse species left on the planet. The wild horse species were almost extinct in 1970s because of hunting and harsh weather conditions. Only small groups of wild horses were kept in the zoos of Munich and Prague. The wild horses were reintroduced to the national park in the early 90s. We went to the main guest house to watch a documentary about the national park where they explained about the different plant and species of the National Park. We also saw a short film at the guest house particularly dedicated towards the Przewalski’s wild horses. There are more than 500 wild horses living in the National Park. The wild horses are protected species and Government of Mongolia spend lot of money for the restoration of the species.
We left the museum and started driving along the trail to spot some wild horse. It is prohibited to come very close to the wild horses. The wild horses are very aggressive species. After around 20 minutes ride we stopped at first viewing spot. I saw a group of wild horses grazing on the vast grassland of the national park. You will also find deer inside the national park. The wild horses looked very different compared to domestic horses. They looked much shorter than the domestic horse. Their heads are bigger than the domestic horse. Most horses in the group looked very identical to each other. They have a very uniform pale brown skin color. Old wild horses usually have darker shade of brown color compared to young horses. They have a black patch on their skin from the knee till their hooves. It is illegal to fly drone at the Hustaai National park. The National Park also features eagles, gazelles, deer, wolves and foxes. We were only able to see deer.
We left our first viewing point and drove for about 10 minutes to reach the second viewing point. We were able to spot the wild horses from very close range. You can also stay overnight at the National Park. The main building also provides accommodation for tourists. The main building also has a restaurant where they serve the meal. It was a great initiative by Mongolia Government to preserve the near extinct species.
It is very difficult to visit the park using public transport. The park is located about 30-minutes drive from the main road. I will strongly recommend to book your tour in advance if you are planning to visit the national parks of Mongolia. Our stay for the night was organized at a local family house situated near Ulaanbaatar. I asked my guide for a short break so that I could fly my drone to take some epic shots of the surroundings. My guide was very helpful and I was able to take some nice drone shot of the beautiful straight road and the surroundings. The drive from the National Park till Ulaanbaatar took us about 2 hours. We reached Ulaanbaatar at around 8 pm. I tried some home cooked buuz at our homestay. People usually consume Buuz with beetroot as a side dish. Buuz is a type of Mongolian steamed dumpling which is usually filled with lamb meat. The dumpling was absolutely delicious and I enjoyed it a lot. I really enjoyed the lamb filling inside the dumpling because lamb is my favorite meat. The accommodation was very basic and there was proper heating inside the room. At night the temperature plummeted to -15 C and it was really cold outside. During April you will normally see temperature ranging from -15 C till 15 C.
Day 2 – Gorkhi Tereji National Park & Manzushir monastery day tour
We started our day very early at around 8 am. We ate eggs, bread and sausages for our breakfast. I tried local delicacy dried curd during the breakfast. Mongolian people eat the curd by dipping it inside the hot milk tea. The dried curd has a little sour taste.
Manzushir Monastery
Manzushir Monastery was our first stop for the day. We started at around 9 am from Zuunmod which is like a suburb area situated near the main city of Ulaanbaatar. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the Monastery from our homestay. The Monastery was established in the year 1733. It was destroyed by the Mongolian communist in 1930s. The Monastery is situated in Bogd Khan Uul strictly protected area. The monastery is situated by about 1-hour drive from Ulaanbaatar. The road condition was not that great. Our guide told us that the road stays completely closed during the winter months.
The Monastery was located by around 30-minutes walk from the parking area. It was an uphill walk to the monastery from the parking location. We climbed up to a viewpoint located above the monastery. The view was amazing from the top of the mountain. It was a perfect place to fly my drone and I took some nice drone shots of the monastery on the background of beautiful landscape. The monastery has a huge compound and you will find group of horse grazing around the monastery. The ruins of Togchin temple is situated inside the monastery compound. Mongolia government has done really well in restoring the monastery to its old glory. Bogd Khan protected area contains plenty of wildlife, plants and streams. The area is considered as the oldest protected area of the world. We visited inside the monastery and we saw images of Buddhist deities and sacred inscriptions. The Monastery compound was much bigger in size before the destruction by the communists. The area around the Monastery is a popular place for locals for hiking and camping.
We also visited a museum which is situated at the entrance of the monastery compound. The museum showcased history of the monastery compound and different types of animals living inside the protected era. We saw preserved body of bear, deer and eagle inside the museum. The Mongolian bear is almost extinct because of change in weather and hunting activity. We returned from the monastery at around 12 pm. We stopped near the main road to take some beautiful shot of frozen stream. We returned back to our homestay for lunch. We tried Undukhti Khoro for lunch. The cuisine is prepared with rice, vegetables and meat. During summer season lamb or Yak meat is used and in winter months horse meat is used to prepare this delicacy. The cuisine resembles very closely with fried rice. We also had lamb bone with vegetable soup for our lunch. After finishing my lunch, I flew my drone to capture some nice shots of the beautiful suburb around Ulaanbaatar.
Our next stop for the day was Genghis Khan statue. Genghis Khan statue is located about 1hour drive from Ulaanbaatar. On the way to the Genghis Khan statue we stopped for camel riding. You will usually see Bactrian camel in southern Mongolia and Northern China. Bactrian Camels have two humps compared to one hump of traditional camel. Wild Bactrian Camel is an endangered species. I paid 5 USD for 20 minutes ride on the camel. The trail was not that long but I really enjoyed the ride. The ride was very comfortable because the back hump of the camel acts as a support.
If you are really keen to do long desert trails on Wild Bactrian Camel, then I will strongly advise you to visit southern Mongolia. People of Gobi Desert consume camel meat and drink camel milk. Camel milk has very high fat content and it literally looks like curd. I will strongly recommend to try Camel drink if you are visiting Mongolia. You can always purchase packaged Camel drink from supermarket stores in Ulaanbaatar.
Eagle hunting is a tradition in Mongolia where the hunters use the eagles to hunt for animals. Eagle hunting is also practiced as a sport in Mongolia. I indulged in some tourist pics by holding a full grown eagle with my hand. I was expecting the eagle to be much heavier because it was huge in size. They are very light compared to their body size. Vultures are bigger in size than eagles but they are not that aggressive compared to eagle. The eagle was constantly moving over my hand and I had to bring it down after holding it for a minute. I was wearing leather gloves when I was holding the eagle.
After driving for another 10 minutes I saw the first glimpses of the Genghis Khan statue. It is the biggest Equestrian statue in the world. The height of the statue is 40m. The statue is built on a site where according to the legend Genghis Khan found a golden whip.
The statue points towards east which is the birth place of Genghis Khan. The statue is situated over the visitor center. The visitor center houses souvenir shops, museum and an auditorium. You have to pay USD 50 if you are planning to do drone photography of the statue. I first visited the visitor center where the guide told us about the history and the purpose of building the complex. We took the lift and went to the viewing point which is situated on the top of the horse head. After exiting from the lift we walked towards the head of the horse through the chest of the statue.
The park around the main statue is still under construction and they are planning to place around 200 Gers in the surrounding area. The observation deck gives you a brilliant opportunity to see the beautiful landscape of the surrounding area. We went to the main auditorium and we saw a short movie about the construction of the statue. Around 5 million USD was spent in constructing the complex. Steel is extensively used in the construction of the statue complex.
The museum has exhibition related to way of living of people during Genghis Khan period. You can also take some touristy photo by wearing traditional Mongolian attire and sitting on a throne. Mongolia culture is very unique and it is still very unknown to rest of the world. I was little disappointed because I was really keen to capture some nice drones shot of the Ghenghis Khan statue but I couldn’t fly my drone because of the bad weather.
Gorkh-Tereji National Park
We reached Gorkh-Tereji National Park after just 20 minutes ride from the Genghis Khan statue. We stopped our car couple of times on our way to the National Park. I took some nice photographs of herds of Yaks and horses. I also flew my drone to capture the beautiful untouched landscape of the surroundings. Gorkh-Tereji national park is the most visited place in entire Mongolia. The area was established as a Protected area in the year 1992. Gorkh-Tereji National park is popular among tourists for hiking and camping. People usually do overnight stay at Ger camps located around the National Park. The park is located just about 1 hour drive from the airport so it is very convenient to visit the National Park from the capital city.
I will strongly recommend to book tours if you are visiting Gorkh- Tereji National Park. Tours are very cheap in Mongolia and you will not save that much money by doing individual booking. The park is also known for huge granite blocks and cliffs. The most prominent rock inside the park is Turtle rock. Our first stop inside the park was Turtle rock. The rock resembles the shape of a Turtle. The rock is situated near the main road inside the park and it is carved into a turtle by wind and rain water. You can also climb to the top of the rock for the beautiful views of the National park. The climb was fairly steep and it takes about 40 minutes to do the entire round trip trail.
The park is fairly developed and most parts of the trail is easily accessible by road. Your visit to Mongolia is incomplete if you didn’t do Horse back riding. My guide organized a horse ride for me till the Aryabal Meditation temple. The horse riding to the Buddhist temple took about 30 minutes. I saw lot of construction around the park. Small section of the park is being developed for restaurants, souvenir shops and Ger camps. The park is also famous for varieties of animals and plant species. The horse riding was highlight of my trip to Mongolia. The view of the adjacent valley and the flora fauna surrounding the trail was epic.
The entrance to the Aryabal Meditation temple was closed because we were late when we reached the entrance. The temple is situated at the top of a mountain and you get to see beautiful views of the National Park from the viewing point. I was not that unfortunate because I was carrying a drone and I flew my drone to take some nice shots of beautiful valleys of the national park. After sunset we left the temple premises and went to a local Ger family for our overnight stay.
Gers are symbol of Central Asia for more than thousand years. Gers are round shaped houses which are used by Nomadic family of Mongolia. Gers are very beneficial to Nomadic family because they can easily assemble and dissemble the tent. In Mongolia Nomadic families are allowed to set up their tent anywhere they want. Gers are portable so it helps Nomadic family move around different parts of the country because of change in weather condition. Wooden columns are used in the construction of the Ger. Wood is extensively used for the outer structure of the Ger. Sheep wool, Horse tail, Camel hair is extensively used for the outer cover of the Ger. Most Gers have only one entrance door. There are no windows inside the Ger. Gers are very helpful for extreme weather conditions. Some Families burn coal inside Gers to get necessary heat during winter months. Each Ger has a chimney poking out of the top. The kitchen is usually situated at the center of the Ger or near the entrance of the Ger. Entire Mongolian family usually stay inside one Ger without any privacy because there are no walls inside the Ger.
Gers look small from outside but from inside they are very spacious. Mongolian people eat their dinner in the evening and they wake up very early in the morning to take care of the livestock animals. The Mongolian family had two Gers and one livestock animals shelter inside the compound. The family has sheeps, horses, yaks inside their compound. One Ger was completely dedicated to the guests visiting the family. The Ger for the guests was used only for sleeping purposes. The main Ger was far bigger in size and it was used for dining purposes. All the five family members were living inside the main Ger.
We arrived at the house of a Nomadic family after sunset. All the family members of the house greeted us and we went inside their main Ger. They served us some home made cookies, milk tea, dried curd and some other local snack items. They served us Yak meat Khorkhog for dinner. Khorkhog is a traditional Mongolian barbeque dish prepared using hot stone. Khorkhog is made by cooking pieces of goat, sheep, yak or horse meat. Horse meat is usually used during winter months. We tried Yak meat khorkhog during our stay at the Nomadic family house. The dish also contains potatoes, carrots and some other vegetables. The dish is prepared inside a container having water and hot stones. The food was extremely delicious and the preparation method is very unique to Mongolia. You will not find this kind of food preparation anywhere else on the planet. I will strongly recommend to try Khorkhog during your visit to Mongolia. Vegetarian people might have tough time traveling Mongolia. I love barbequed food because of their simplicity. I was trying Yak meat for the first time and it was extremely delicious. They served the barbequed food on a huge plate and everyone was directly eating from the plate. Mongolian family usually eat like this because they think it helps to improve bonding within the family.
Day 3 Ulaanbaatar City Tour
Sukhbaatar Square
My hostel was located very close to Sukhbaatar square. Sukhbaatar square was previously known as Chinggis Khan square. Sukhbaatar square is the central square of Mongolia. The square features large monuments of Genghis Khan, Ogedei Khan and Kublai Khan. The Government palace is situated in front of the square. Equestrian statue of Sukhbaatar is situated at the center of the square. Sukhbaatar square was a prominent place for gathering during the socialist period of Mongolia. Annual civil, youth and military parades were organized at the square until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The group tours usually arrive at the square at around 10 am. I will strongly recommend everyone to visit the square before 9 am. The square is surrounded by important government buildings. . Sukhbaatar square is also an important gathering place for locals. You should visit the square when it is less crowded so that you can feel the huge size of the square.
Zaisan Memorial Hall
Zaisan memorial hill is situated near the Chinggis Khan Airport. The memorial is situated on the top of Zaisan hill towards the southern part of Mongolia. The Memorial was built in the memory of the Soviet soldiers killed in World War II. The memorial is situated over a hill and it takes about 20 minutes to reach the memorial from the parking spot. I visited the place early morning during weekday and it was not that crowded. You will see beautiful panoramic view of Ulaanbaatar from the memorial hill. The memorial hill also consists of circular memorial structure which depicts friendship between Mongolian people and Soviet era people via different paintings.
Gandan Monastery
The Monastery complex is located not far from the city center. You can hire a private taxi to visit all famous tourist destinations located within the city. They charge entrance fee of USD 2 to foreign tourists. I didn’t want to pay additional 5 USD for photography so I didn’t take any photographs of the Monastery area. The architecture of the Monastery is very unique and the Mongolian Government has spent lot of money in the restoration work of the Monastery. There is a statue of 28m high golden Buddha inside the monastery compound. Gandan Monastery is a busy tourist location in Ulaanbaatar. You should definitely avoid taking photographs of the monks if you are visiting the monastery.
Bogd Khan Palace
Bogd Khan Palace is situated very close to Zaisan hill. The palace compound is situated very close to a busy road section. Bogd Khan palace is the oldest museum of Mongolia. The palace is one of the four palaces of Bogd Khan situated in Ulaanbaatar. Bogd Khan palace is also called the winter palace. You have to pay a nominal fee of USD 2 for the entrance. The cost of the photography was USD 5. I felt the cost of the photography was too high so I decided not to buy the photography ticket. The architecture of palace was very unique and it is one of the prominent tourist site in Ulaanbaatar. The size of the palace compound is very small and it takes about 1 hour to visit the entire compound. It takes about half day to cover all the major tourist destination of Ulaanbaatar.
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