Demystifying Mongolia (Part 1): A Peek Into Ulaanbaatar

Prologue:

- First things first - I had to go to (outer) Mongolia on a short notice because I was chosen as a the Philippine delegate for the "One Asia Youth Mongolia: XIII Asian Youth Council General Assembly," where the Asian Youth Council and other organizers and partner commissions were responsible in getting delegates from all over Asia to discuss the youth's role in the sustainable development goals. I think the theme was relevant to the current society, and I've been wanting to hear what professionals and delegates from other countries have to say when it comes to motivating the youth to be more socially aware and socially active. Apart from the general assembly, there were also two other coinciding events that were held alongside the assembly: the Youth Business Forum (for youth entrepreneurs) and the Northeast Asian Youth Symposium (for Northeast-Asian youth participants.) Initially, around 7 to 8 Filipinos were supposed to be chosen by the National Youth Commission of the Philippines to attend the assembly, but for some reason, I found out two days prior my departure that I would be the only representative of the country in the assembly of around 600+ delegates; apparently, I was the only one who confirmed.

- Preparing for the trip was a challenge. Not only did I have less time to prepare for the assembly, but I also felt the pressure of being the sole Philippine delegate; more importantly, I had the bigger pressure of maximizing my oh-so limited time in Mongolia. Although the organizers paid for my accommodations and meals during the assembly, I extended a few more days as what I usually do on my trips alone. Of course, I was pretty much on my own on the days outside the assembly. However, I always like the thrill of exploring a new place on my own, at my own time.

- Mongolia is definitely not the top on most people's travel list, that is, if the country makes it to the list at all. The country seems too foreign, too hidden, and too "mystical" that many people just do not bother to discover what present day Mongolia has to offer. (Again, this is outer Mongolia, a democratic country, and not Inner Mongolia, which is one of the provinces of China.)  Normally, people would only know about Chinggis Khan (aka "Genghis" Khan) and the Mongolian Empire, the gers (Mongolian traditional tents,) and the Gobi desert, as these are mostly the things textbooks, documentaries, and travel shows feature about Mongolia. Since Mongolia is one of the "road less traveled" countries, it was difficult preparing for the trip, because while there are some online sources regarding tourist spots in Mongolia (or at least in Ulaanbaatar, the capital,) there are but a handful of blog or vlog posts that show personal trips to and reviews of Mongolia. I always feel that travel blogs/vlogs present travel destinations more "real." Whenever I see or read these kinds of posts, I usually have a better idea of the place I'm going to. However, this is not the case for Mongolia. Apart from the lack of online sources (i.e. personal blogs, vlogs, etc.), those I have found would immediately make one anxious of travelling to Mongolia. Fortunately, I found out that I had friends who had gone or who knew people who had gone to Mongolia prior to my trip, and their comments pacified me a whole lot. As early as now, I'd like to say that I enjoyed my trip to Mongolia, and despite the bad things that some online sources may say about Mongolia, the country is generally a safe place.

- Here are a few facts about Mongolia before going to the trip itself, as I'd like to contribute something to the internet world for future travelers to Mongolia:

1. Mongolia is a landlocked country between Russia, China. It has some rivers, but the land there is mostly not suitable for growing plants, and therefore early Mongolians were primarily meat-eating nomads.

2. The country has winter for 8-9 months a year, with a brief spring period (cool weather, around 8-16 degrees average, with confusing weather patterns like when I went there,) and an even briefer summer period during the "Naadam" season (one of the biggest traditional Mongolian festivals) in July.

3. Days are long in Mongolia, as the sun rises around 6am, and sets around 9-10pm; it took some time for me to adjust to this, as I come from somewhere near the equator, where days and nights have more or less equal lengths. Mongolia is supposed to be in the same timezone as the Philippines and China, but Mongolia also observes daylight saving time at certain times of the year (like when I went there,) and so they adjust their clocks an hour ahead to maximize the sunlight (otherwise, they'd be having a 5am sunrise, and 9pm sunset.)

4. The large country has a population of a mere 3 million people, with almost half living in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. The general society is influenced by Tibetan (i.e. Vajrayana Buddhism,) traditional Mongolian (ex. shamanism,) Central-Asian, and Russian influences. As far as Ulaanbaatar is concerned, the city now looks like a quieter and more spacious Seoul (particularly the Jongo-Jonggak area for those familiar with Seoul.)

5. Trips to the countryside and the Gobi Desert are also possible, but travelling to those areas would be best done by arranging the trip through one of the local travel agencies in Ulaanbaatar. The main forms of transportation within Ulaanbaatar are buses and taxis, although it would be difficult for foreigners to use the local bus, and taxis are not as frequent seen as in other countries. One alternative is hitchhiking; as they say, every car in Ulaanbaatar is a taxi. When one hitchhikes, the person should pay the driver depending on the pre-negotiated price. Another alternative, of course, is walking. Ulaanbaatar is a compact city, so most places are reachable through walking, especially when your hotel is located near the main city square.

6. The currency in Mongolia is the "tugrik," and as of 2015, you just remove the three zeroes at the end of the tugrik, and divide the remaining number in 2, and that's approximately the amount in US dollars (ex. 2,000 tugrik, remove the 3 zeroes, so you're left with "2," divide it by 2, so you get 1. Therefore, 2000 tugrik is approximately 1 USD.) Things in Ulaanbaatar can be quite expensive, especially for tourist-related things/services.

7. There are no street food like in most other Asian countries, so I had no choice but to either eat in restaurants, or buy stuff from the supermarket.

8. Philippine passport holders can enter Mongolia without a visa for 21 days.

I'll tackle more on these things later. For now, I think I have covered the very basics of Mongolia for future tourists. (Again, it's a nice generally safe country to explore.)



The trip:

- May 16-17, 2015, Saturday to Sunday.

- I left Manila around noon via Korean Air, and flew for 3.5 hours to my home-away-from-home in East Asia, South Korea, for a three hour layover. I flew to Ulaanbaatar for another 3 hours, also via Korean Air.  I arrived in Chinggis Khaan International Airport around 11:45pm. I was welcomed by Uuree from the Mongolian Youth Federation. However, before I could pass the immigration, the immigration officer told me to go to the immigration office to verify my passport, since she was looking for a Mongolian visa (which again, I did not need to enter Mongolia.) The officer inside the office just stamped the immigration paper as a form of clearance to enter the country visa free, and I also double-checked with the immigration officer that Philippine passport holders were visa free for 21 days. She said that I was correct. However, this little hassling experience gave me (and Uuree) quite a scare. During this experience, I learned that for those needing Mongolian visas to enter the country, visas-on-arrival can also be done (though visas prior to arrival are still less hassling.)

Hello Korea for three hours. Haha.

Sunset in Incheon.

- I also noticed how "big" our general assembly was in Mongolia. Just inside the airport, big "welcome" tarpaulins for the delegates were hung up or posted, and within the city, multiple giant "welcome" tarpaulins dressed some of the Russian/Soviet-inspired buildings as well. For a while, I was thinking what I have gotten myself into, but then again, I was already in Mongolia, and I gradually became more excited than anxious to make the most out of my experiences in the country.

The first welcome tarp I've seen.

The airport.

- I said my temporary goodbyes to Uuree for the night and told her that I will meet her again at the first day of the forum, as I had an extra day in Ulaanbaatar before the forum/assembly. I had booked an airport pick-up service beforehand too, and two nights at the Ulaanbaatar Hotel (my day of arrival and the night after) before moving to the venue of the assembly.

- This is also the first time that I booked myself in a proper hotel, unlike my usual practice of booking in cheap-but-outstanding backpacker hostels. Here's why: while there are some outstanding backpacker hostels in Ulaanbaatar, the number, content, and statistical frequency of negative reviews were in close match with the positive reviews, and so despite all the good reviews, the bad reviews made me decide not to book in those hostels. I decided the last minute (prior to my departure) to book in a centrally-located but budget-friendly proper hotel. This is what Ulaanbaatar Hotel gave me. While there were also negative reviews about Ulaanbaatar Hotel in trusted sites like TripAdvisor, the negative reviews were highly tolerable. Since the hotel also had some renovations in the recent years, the hotel itself looked more presentable than the expected "run-down hotel" that people speak of. Built in 1961, it is also the first "5-star" hotel in Ulaanbaatar, although contemporary standards might place it under a 3-star ranking. Ulaanbaatar Hotel is centrally located, which meant that it was closer to other tourist areas, but despite this, rooms cost far less than other new centrally-located hotels. The price of a single room per night is a bit less than 80 USD, which is cheaper than the 100+ USD per night for a single room in other hotels. For history buffs, here's a bonus: the hotel was also a venue for many political meetings (communists and democratic activists) in Mongolia in the early 90s, and some big historical decisions were done in the hotel. On top of this, Hollywood and Asian celebrities and other iconic figures (ex. the Dalai Lama) have also stayed in the hotel.

- I explored near my hotel after breakfast as I was waiting for my car and driver for the day. Speaking of which, it's also another first in one of my travels alone. I had never rented a car with driver for myself before, as modes of transportation within the city are usually efficient (i.e. subways/metros,) but Mongolia does not have a metro system within the city, and some locations are quite far by walking. I rented a car (just for one day,) with an English-speaking driver who could drive me to the farther tourist areas of Ulaanbaatar, introduce me to a nice Mongolian restaurant for lunch, and accompany me to the Naran Tuul Market for my first whole day in Ulaanbaatar. Most importantly, I needed the driver to help me communicate with the Mongolians in Mongolian. I had no hopes of learning the Mongolian language in a short amount of time, as it is quite difficult for non-native speakers to learn. English may be spoken by younger people and those working in the tourist sector, but a knowledge of Russian may be more convenient. Russian used to be compulsory in the Mongolian education system due to the closeness of the Soviet-Mongolian bilateral relations. The relation was so close that Mongolia adopted Russia's Cyrillic alphabet, and modified it slightly to accommodate some Mongolian sounds that do not exist in Russian. The traditional top-down Mongolian alphabet is less used, in favor of the modified Cyrillic alphabet. Fortunately, I took a basic Russian class back in college, so I have a knowledge of survival Russian, and I had to adjust minimally to the Mongolian-modified Cyrillic alphabet. (Needless to say, conversing in English wasn't a problem for me.) However, I still tried to learn some basic Mongolian phrases like "hello" ("sain baina uu,") or "thank you" ("bayerla[laa]") just to show the Mongolians that I am keen in learning more about their language, culture, and society.

My hotel.

There was a statue in front of my hotel.

He's the founder of modern Mongolian literature.

- I did an initial ocular to Sukhbaatar Square (aka Chinggis Khan Square) for the morning, as I wanted to check the location (i.e. sunlight, camera angle, etc.) for my planned photoshoot scheduled the following day. To my surprise, half of the square was barricaded for the welcoming of India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Modi's arrival as the guards instructed us passers-by to move away from the barricade as Modi's car was arriving. Anyway, I had to go back to my hotel, since I had to meet with my driver for the day too.

Busy busy Sukhbaatar Square in the early morning.

View from the barricade.

The flags of India (left) and Mongolia (right.)

Selfie from the barricade. Dang, I'm so far away.

Handsome horses to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mongolian soldiers/guards in their official attire.

Sukhbaatar Square and the Parliament House.

Mongolia's horses are some of the best I've seen.

Modi's welcoming committee.

- My driver Unuruu first drove me to the Gandantegchinlen Khiid (Gandantegchinlen Monastery,) or Gandan Monastery for short. This Vajrayana Buddhist temple was built in 1809, and the surrounding temples and shrines were built around the temple one after the after in the subsequent years. The Gandan monastery was one of the few temples to have survived the wrath of the communist government in the early 1900s. Today, the temple is still a functioning temple (no entrance fee needed,) located in the middle of the Gandan ger suburb. The temple is also visited by tourists to see the majestic almost-27-meter high golden statue of Avalokiteshvara (Buddha of Compassion.) The statue is also currently the largest indoor statue in the world.

The giant Avalokiteshvara statue inside the main temple.

Close-up.

With filter.

- Because of the Gandan Temple's Tibetan nature, the temple reminded me of the temples and stupas I encountered in Nepal in 2011 (click here, here and here.) Tibetan temples are usually filled with colorful but daunting gods that destroy evil, heavy and metallic prayer wheels, and 5-colored prayer flags with each color representing one element of nature. I also got a chance to see the monks doing a morning ceremonial chant in one of the other shrines. Overall, the Gandan Temple impressed me a lot, and made me want to visit Tibet all the more. See, I always like visiting temples and other places of worship, because I discover how people from the ancient times make sense of their world from a socio-cultural perspective.

Bhairava.

Amitabha I think.

Spinning prayer wheels.

Plenty of Buddha statues.

A devotee spins the prayer wheels as she talks to someone on the phone.

The door to the temple.

A giant prayer wheel, and a middle-aged woman with her red deel.

Another prayer wheel, same woman.

From outside the temple. 

Without me.

There was a ger beside the temple. Not sure what it's for.

The temple facade from afar.

An elderly woman with her red deel, and probably her husband.

Roof of another shrine within the Gandan temple complex.

Chanting monks.

- After visiting the temple, I was driver to the south of the city to visit the Winter Palace of Bogd Khan, which is now a museum. The title "Bogd Khan" is synonymous to emperor, and the Winter Palace is only palace left standing in Ulaanbaatar. It was also in this palace that I experienced a common practice in most of Ulaanbaatar's tourist museums: entrance fees are usually inexpensive (around 1 to 3 US dollars for example,) but taking photos and videos are prohibited unless an extra fee is paid. As for me, I'd rather pay the (rather expensive) extra fee. Because of this, my total entrance fees (including the photo permit) in these museums cost me from 10-20 US dollars total. (Quite heavy in the pocket.) Despite this, the exhibits in all the museums I went to were all photo-worthy as the exhibits were all well-preserved.

- The Winter Palace was one of the residences of King Jebtsundanmba Khutagt, the last emperor of Mongolia, and was used by him and the royal family in the early 1900s. There are 6 temples in the palace grounds, and these temples have also been converted into museums. The temples contain golden religious statues and highly-detailed thangka paintings.

My awkward faux-royal pose. I'm loving my boots and my ushanka though.

The iconic Makhranz temple, part of the Winter Palace complex.

The Lavrin Temple, and the largest temple in the complex.

Statues in side the Lavrin Temple.

Previous thangka paintings.

Temple guards.

Details on the ceiling.

- Beside the temple compound is the actual Winter Palace, a Russian inspired building that is two stories tall. the small palace is also a museum that contains clothes, furniture, and other objects that were once owned/used by the Mongolian royal family.

The actual Winter Palace.

The emperor's chariot.

The ceremonial ger made of the skin of 150 snow leopards.

A fraction of the king's stuffed animal collection.

Ceremonial deels.

The king's elephant.

Pieces of furniture mostly made of lacquer.

The royal thrones. 

The queen's hair sheath (artificial hair as ornament.)

More ceremonial deels.

The fur coat made from 80 foxes.

So imagine me with long girly hair.

Made with golden threads.

The queen.

The queen's clothes.

Such detail. Her clothes are pieces of art!!

Another ger outside.

- To end my morning, I visited my farthest (and highest) tourist spot in Ulaanbaatar - the Zaisan Memorial. (No entrance fee is needed to visit the memorial.) The memorial was erected to honor the fallen soldiers during World War II, and to celebrate the Soviet-Mongolian friendship. The memorial is located in top of a hill, and visitors would need to walk from flat ground up. For those with cars (like me,) vehicles can drive until the parking lot, which is halfway up the small hill, and visitors would still need to climb the latter half to the memorial by stairs. There is nothing much to see in the memorial, appart from the colorful murals of the Soviet-Mongolian friendship, photos of great socialist/communist leaders like Lenin and Damdiin Sukhbaatar, the breathtaking view of Ulaanbaatar and the mountains that surround the city, as well as a small prayer mound behind the monument.

Zaisan Memorial.

Lenin and Sukhbaatar.

The giant golden Buddha beside the hill.

Murals in the memorial.

Soviet-Mongolian friendship.

My first panorama shot ever. Haha.

Prayer mound behind the memorial.

- As for me, I had an additional treat during my visit to the memorial. While looking at the view of the city, I noticed a fog that was covering the downtown area. Little did I know that the fog was headed south, where I was, and to my surprise, the fog was actually SNOW. Well, the snowfall only lasted aroudn 5 minutes, and the sky was clear in no time. It was nice to be visited by the snow though, and thankfully, I had my furry ushanka (Russian ear hat) and my gloves with me to keep me warm.

See the fog in the middle?? That's snow.

Soviet soldier.

If you look closely (choose parts of the photo with a dark background,) you'll see snow falling down.

After 5 minutes, clear skies!!

Something written at the side of the mountain. My driver says it's about revolution.

- After my visit to the Zaisan Memorial, my driver drove me to Modern Nomads, a casual-dining restaurant chain in Ulaanbaatar that serves traditional Mongolian food. I had a meat platter (horse, beef, and pork,) a plate of buuz (Mongolian new-year dumplings,) and Mongolia's version of butter-tea. The horse meat was not too exotic, just like beef with more meat. So far, nothing has topped my experience with snake meat in Taiwan last November (click here.) The buuz on the other hand tasted quite special. The large dumplings are commonly eaten by hand, and the trick is to bite a small hole into the dumpling and drink the rich beef broth inside, before eating the beef filling and the rest of the dumpling. It's the Mongolian version of the popular "xiaolongbao" of southern Chinese dimsum, only the broth tasted a bit like the Filipino bulalo, with a strong essence/taste of the bone marrow. As for the butter tea, it was less salty than the Tibetan version.

A traditional Mongolian game called "shagai." The 4 pebbles/rocks are supposed to look like animals. 

The restaurant.

Butter tea.

Mongolian food bucket list completed!! Butter tea, buuz, and horse meat.

Chubby kid eating his lunch.

He ate too much in one go!! Hahahaha. (He managed to eat all his food though. Good boy!!)

- After lunch I was driven to the Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs, which is currently takes up a small part of the former Lenin Museum. Before entering the museum, I took a short stroll at the small square in front of the museum, where plenty of kids were playing. There used to be a Lenin statue in front of the museum, but it was changed to the Independence Obelisk in 2011.

Wanted to take a photo of the kid roller blading. When I was clicked the camera, he fell, thus, the off-center shot. Disclaimer: He didn't see me so I know I wasn't the reason why he fell. He was just not too good at roller blading.

Independence obelisk and the former Lenin Museum.

Facade of the former Lenin Museum.

Chubby kid in a car. All kids in Mongolia are chubby and red-cheeked I swear.

- The museum's entrance is currently located at the side of the old Lenin Museum, and the whole museum is but a small room. It was worth the visit though. I got to acquaint myself with the Tarbosaurus Bataar, a biological "cousin" of the more popular Tyranosaurus Rex. Fossils of the Tarbosaurus Bataar and other dinosaurs were found in the mountains and deserts of Mongolia.

Yay dinosaurs!!

Tarbosaurus Bataar.

Another dinosaur unearthed in Mongolia.

Tarbosaurus Bataar vs. an Ankylosaurus.

And me, the friendly spectator. Haha.

- I spent the rest of the afternoon in the infamous Naran Tuul Market, which is located at the southeastern side of the city. I asked my driver to accompany me to the market, since it is easy to get lost in the market. Naran Tuul, also called "black market," is a large enclosed/walled marketplace where citizens buy everyday things for a cheaper price. (For those who live or have visited Manila, think of a walled Divisoria. As with Divisoria, bringing valuable items are to be avoided, or shoudl be held close to the body as pickpocketing and bag-slashing may happen.) It is one of the rare places in Mongolia where haggling is practiced. Apart from everyday items like toys, clothes, or things for the house/ger, it is also a good place to buy traditional Mongolian costumes and leather products for a lower price. While it is definitely cheaper to buy in this market compared to the department stores, the prices in the market are not that overwhelmingly cheap either. I did not see typical souvenirs like keychains or magnets being sold in the market though, so for these types of tourist souvenirs, the department store or souvenir houses in the downtown area will be good places to buy them.

In front of the market. Couldn't/ and didn't want to take photos inside because I was busy shopping, and didn't want to take out gadgets as much as possible.

- It took me a long time to buy the things I needed/wanted in Naran Tuul Market. I bought myself a (really heavy) deel (Mongolian robe,) a Mongolian vest, hat, and boots, and other traditional clothes. I badly wanted a pair of colorful Mongolian boots, but apart from being too expensive, almost none of the boots in the market fit my rather wide and stout feet. When I tried one pair, my feet almost got stuck in the boots so much so that the stall-owner had to help me pull the boots off my feet!! However, I was able to find myself a good pair of  brown Mongolian leather boots with etched Mongolian motifs. At least I know I'd be able to use the boots here in Manila.

- My driver finally brought me back to Ulaanbaatar Hotel, and to my surprise, a volunteer from the organizers, Gantsooj, was waiting for me, and offered to accompany me to anywhere else I'd like to go. Although I was tired, I took the opportunity to get to know Gantsooj, so I asked him if he was OK with accompanying me to the State Department Store so I could look at some souvenirs.

- Upon arrival at the State Department Store after a 15-minute walk from my hotel, we both went straight to the 6th floor, where all the souvenirs are. The State Department Store, the biggest mall in Ulaanbaatar, is actually quite small. Apart from the souvenir floor at the top of the mall, other floors have a supermarket, and other stalls selling branded clothing, gadgets, and typical things found in a department store.  

The biggest department store in Ulaabaaar.

- Gantsooj and I finished an hour later, and he walked me back to my hotel. I wanted to have dinner with him so we could speak more, but he had to go home to have dinner with his family. As for me, I had a quiet dinner inside my hotel room, while trying to organize all the things I bought from the day. My first full day in Ulaanbaatar was loaded with plenty of exciting things, and so I could not wait to discover more of Mongolia in the coming days. (Click here for Part 2, and here for Part 3.)