Day 8 - Friday, Sept 20 - In Ulaanbaatar

The hotel had a very nice breakfast buffet with just about everything you can imagine, salads, fruits, cheeses, sausage, yoghurt and hot foods.

The pollution this morning is making the air almost unbreathable – we can only see a short distance through the yellow-brown haze. Along the road are many apartments buildings under construction as well as what looks like partially completed buildings, empty concrete skeletons. Due to changing exchange rates and rising building costs, foreign investors have found it impossible to continue construction. A rather dismal sight.

More positively, as we headed out further, we are passing through grasslands where nomads are grazing their sheep, goats, cattle and horses. The bus regularly has to stop due to all of these animals crossing the road. There are gers (more commonly called yurts) scattered around the countryside.

Due to road construction, it took us over 2 hours instead of 1 hour to get to our first destination, the 131’ tall stainless steel statue of Genghis Khan riding his horse. The statue is said to be at the location where Genghis Khan found a riding whip which foretold that he would be a great person. The Mongolian name for Genghis Khan is Chiingis Khaan but the Persians who were writing about Mongolia didn’t have “Ch” in their alphabet and used “G” instead which has been carried forward. We went up to the head of the horse where there is an expansive view of the countryside.

Genghis Kahn Statue

In the basement there is an exhibit of the evolution of the ger from a conical grass structure to an animal skin teepee-like structure to the current structure. A ger has a circular wooden frame that can be easily taken apart with the roof and sides made of thick woolen felt. The felt is made locally by taking wool fibers and mashing them until felt is produced.

At the statue, there were also people showing off their Golden Eagles, camels and horses. For a charge, one could hold and have a photo taken with the eagle or ride the horses. The Golden Eagle is the “national” symbol of Western Mongolia. The image of horses is very prevalent in Mongolia as they were so important to the Mongolian conquests and area a symbol of national pride in horse riding skill.

Along the way, we stopped to see a small herd of yaks. Alexei, our Russian guide was taking photos of Tamara, our guide for the entire trip. Tamara is a stereotypical Russian woman, tall and distinguished-looking with a mane of blonde hair.

Tamara and Alexei

From there we went to a national park created to preserve the beauty of the countryside and the mountains although nomads who lived there are allowed to continue to live and maintain their lifestyle. There were also ger accommodations and traditional style restaurants for tourist where we had our lunch. One of dishes was mutton that is cooked by layering it in a cylinder with hot stones and allowed to cook with the residual heat, like a lobster bake. We also had Mongolian vodka that left a fiery feeling going down my throat.

At this place there was also a demonstration of traditional Mongolian skill at archery, wrestling and horseback riding. What was especially impressive were the riders who could reach down while riding full speed and grab hats that were on the ground and riders who could stand on top of the saddle while riding.

Mongolian Horsemen

On the way back, we made a stop at the ger of a nomad family and were able to try fermented mare (horse) milk and cheeses made by the mother. The milk is an acquired taste. We were also able to ask questions about their lifestyle. The children go to school in a local town where they stay during the week. Their 8 year-old son and 10 year-old daughter returned just as we were about to leave. The girl rode her bicycle to herd the cows back to where they were supposed to be.

Inside Ger

The trip back to Ulaanbaatar took over 2 ½ hours in terrible traffic. Our guide told us a joke about a man who was driving who saw his friend walking on the sidewalk and asked if he wanted a ride. His friend replied “no thank you” as he was in a hurry!

We eventually made it to the restaurant where we had Western Mongolian cuisine, fried breaded chicken with some gravy.

We got back to the train station around 10pm. Our train is 22 cars long, nearly half a mile. It was a quarter mile walk alongside the train to get back to our car. At 11pm the train started on the next leg to the Mongolian-Russian border.