Day 66: Ulan Bator – Mongolian Steppe

Moving out of Russia and into Mongolia, I’m finally back in Asia!!! In Mongolia, they use the Cyrillic alphabet just like Russia but the language, vocabulary, etc. are completely different.

Scenery on the train slowly turn Mongolian.

When we got off the train, there were heaps of people flocking over giving us pamphlets and hardselling hotels/tour agencies to us, they can get really pushy!

Welcome to Ulan Bator, baby!

We got picked up by our guide Eggsy (dunno if that is how you spell her name 😂), and our first stop is the Zaisan Memorial. After that hike in Listvyanka, I wizzed up these stairs in no time. 😂

This monument was built in honour of the Soviet soldiers killed in WWII.

The mural represents the friendship between USSR and Mongolia, depicting scenes such as Soviet support for Mongolia’s declaration of independence in 1921.

Here’s some information.

At the monument, you can get a panoramic view of the city.

With a population of 1.3 million, nearly half of the country’s population live in Ulan Bator.

Look at all those little houses far on the hill!

Nearby the Zaisan Memorial is a giant golden buddha.

Such blue eyes on the buddha!

Took a while for the bank to open and had to line up for ages since it was the only one open as it is public holiday. All the notes have Ghengis Khan on it and they don’t use coins here.

Made our way to the Chinggis Square.

Today is the aftermath of public holidays and you can see where they had events held here.

A decorative flower ger. 💐🌸🌷🌹🌻🌺

A statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar, one of the leaders of the Mongolian Revolution in 1921.

The Mongolian Parliament Building.

Mongolian Parliament’s version of the Washington’s Abraham Lincoln statue: the Ghengis Khan statue. 😂😂😂

The next stop is Gandantegchinlen Monastery.

It is a Tibetian monastery so here are those spinning sutra things.

More spinning sutra things.

Giant spinning sutra thing. 😂

A 26.5m statue of Avalokiteśvara. It costs US$5 to take photos inside the monastery… which I did not pay. 🙊🙊🙊

There are thousands of mini buddhas which are probably being sponsored by different people.

Leaving Ulan Bator, we were driven to our ger camp which is about an hour’s drive southeast of the capital city.

Our beautiful ger, home for the next two nights! OMGGGGGG!!! I can’t believe this is happening, I always thought coming to Mongolia and living in a Mongolian ger was one of those things I could only ever dream of. 😆😆😆

Nice and cosy inside, even equipped with a fire heater!

Love the decor. 😍😍😍

Lunch time! The soup in the top middle is made of lamb, has a very stong lamb flavour. The meat in the main dish is also lamb. 🐑

Cattle herd.

Oh. Em. Gee. There’s nothing I can say. The scenery here is just. Wow.

Our ger camp is surrounded by ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Wonderful, just what I’ve always dreamed of, to be surrounded by nothing. 💃

One of the most amazing landscapes I have ever been in.

There are like, a gazillion grasshoppers living in these open steppe, every step you take, about 3 or 4 will jump out from underneath your feet. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. I went to the toilet once and was washing my hands at the sink and saw in the mirror that I had one sitting on top of my head. I’m actually terrified of grasshoppers, especially ones that make that clicking insect sound but I managed to walk out alive whilst retaining my sanity. So come to Mongolia if you aren’t scared of grasshoppers or come to Mongolia if you want to overcome your fear of grasshoppers. 😂😂😂

Horses! 🐎🐎

Cute little dog house. 🐶

Our ger camp, still can’t believe I’m actually here!!! 😆😆😆

You know how you pay extra for rooms with better views, well here you are surrounded by THE BEST VIEW. I could just sit here and stare into the distance all day long.

Dinner time (already)! Lamb for dinner… again. Not that I’m complaining because I love lamb, haha.

There are no wild horses in Mongolia, they are all domesticated but they roam around freely to graze.

There’s another herd of horses. 🐎🐎🐎

Eggsy (our guide) and Maria in the distance.

We are here to visit a nomad family’s home and here we are closing in on their ger.

Motor bikes as transport and also for horse herding, so cool. ✨

The family consists of mother, father, grandmother, eldest son, twin baby sons and two girls are probably cousins or something.

When we arrived at the nomad family’s home, the mother was cooking while the father just came back from work and the grandmother was taking care of the children. Our guide interpreted for us and they were very friendly people who lived simple lives. The father is one of the horse herders who work with our ger camp and they move to the open area during summer to let the horses graze then retreat to a more sheltered area during winter to hide from the cold temperature.

I gave the children some jelly I bought from the supermarket while Maria gave them a sheet of Hello Kitty stickers she had brought with her. They had a great time with the stickers, eventually there were stickers everywhere, on the baby’s face, on the grandmother’s forehead, underneath the father’s foot. 😂😂😂

When the mother finished cooking, she left the biggest bowl of noodles for the father since he was the head of the household, then kindly offered us our share. Some neighbours (who I assume work with the father) joined in during dinner and they were also very friendly and asked us where we were from.

Erm, some kind of tea made with sheep’s milk??? It’s not really strong tasting or anything, just like slightly salty rice water or something.

Various cheese or condensed yogurt or something, it’s like a block of very hard yogurt.

The older brother and one of the twins eating the jelly I brought them.

Their version of noodle is made with flour cut into strips. Apparently all.Mongolian men loves this so if anyone out there is planning to marry a Mongolian man, learn how to cook this.

They use solar power for electricity.

Horses here to say goodnight! 🙋