Nomadic lifestyle: Mongolia

After a transfer in Beijing, I arrived in Ulaanbaatar- the capital of Mongolia!

I was welcomed by the tour leader cum boss of Dream Mongolia:Doogii. I found dream Mongolia after researching on several other agencies. Doogii's replies were always quick and clear and her price was also reasonable.

Since it was only a day in Ulaanbaatar, I settled for a cheap but convenient accommodation at Kaiser Hotel. The hotel’s exterior looked tired but the interior was decent and lightings were newly renovated. There was no elevator and I was given a room on 3rd level. Fortunately, there was a porter who helped with the luggage so it was good.

It took around 20 minutes to walk from the hotel to the city central where Sükhbaatar square is. I had my lunch at a restaurant known as Broadway and the chicken breast pasta was surprisingly delicious. After lunch, I walked over to the state department store which is supposedly the largest mall in Ulaanbaatar. Level 6 consists of a souvenir section. There were tons of stuffs but I felt very suffocated in the mall since the air cons were all off.  I also visited the Sükhbaatar square where the famous Chinggis Khan statue is. There is a ballet theatre and a museum at the sides of the square too. Opposite the street is Choijin Lama temple- with an entrance fees. It did not look very well-maintained and there was no tourist in there. After that, there was basically nothing else to see in Ulaanbaatar city. I found a massage place near my hotel and did an hour of massage. After that, I headed back to the central for dinner and had pizza at roundhouse restaurant - pretty good though.

Day 2 is an exciting trip to South Gobi! Since young, I have always been wanted an 'expedition' to the great Gobi desert! It was a bad start as the early morning flight was delayed but I got in by noon. Doogii brought us to Gobi Sands hotel for lunch and we drove to Yolynn Am- the vulture canyon. This was a magnificent valley where we trekked for 1.5 hour. Along the wavering valley are patches of green which was unusual for a desert.

Along the walk, there were so many adorable ground squirrels popping in and out of the holes, collecting food- it reminded me of the "Hit the mole" game! Near the river, I saw an injured mountain goat and I snapped some pictures of poor animal. The river flowed along the valley but most parts were still frozen from winter. I managed to walk on part of the frozen river before turning back. It was a great walk, marvelously peaceful and beautiful. Near to the entrance of the valley was a small museum, exhibiting the different animals in Gobi.


Along the way, I stopped to snap more pictures of the goats and sheep. There were more than 700 of them and it was so beautiful. Also, we stopped to visit nomadic families and experienced their lifestyles. Their gers were very simple and they sleep on the carpet (there is no bed). Their gers were also equipped with comprehensive cooking utensils and some had television sets as well.

We spent overnight in Gobi Mirage which was a nice tourist ger resort. There were only 20 gers in this resort and only 2-3 other guests. Light dinner was served- salad, vegetarian dumplings and deserts. The gers were located in the middle of nowhere so the surrounding views were bare lands and mountains. I managed to catch sunset before talking a cold shower! Night was freezing cold.

A gloomy morning today and we visited the famous Khongoriin Els sand dunes today. Along the way, I stopped by at street stall selling different kind of rocks. The ranges of rocks were amazing and I bought a crystal, a rock with plant formation in it and several ancient coins.

We also stopped by to view the Gobi Saxo trees which are amazing plants in the Gobi Deserts! They are able to survive and strive in such harsh condition!



It is also known as the singing dunes as it was said that the dunes make a humming sound when the sands slides down. The weather was not good and had been pouring since early morning. We took the chance to ascent the sand dunes when the rain got lighter. It was slightly easier with the drizzle when the sand is hardened with the moisture. I was very lucky as the dark clouds started to clear and the sun came out! The unfortunate thing is that it was not an easy task to get to the peak of the dunes! I stopped many times along the way. At one point, I even gave up and laid my canvas raincoat on the sand for a rest while admiring the view. A couple walked past me and reminded me that I was almost there so I should not give up. Hearing that, I decided to give it another try and I got to the peak! The scenery at the top of the sand dunes was magnificent. The sand grains were fine and warm too. I sat at the peak for quite awhile before embarking on my next challenging task of heading down. I'm lucky to be assisted by my helpful driver who also helped me up the dunes.

Next was the camel ride that I had been anticipating. Excitedly, I got on the camel and went on a ride with the owner on one camel and handling another one that my friend is on - so she was handling 3 camels a one time. Everything went well at a start and the ride was fun. However, after awhile, the camels started to get too close too each other and me being in the center, got hit by the camels on both sides. My camel got agitated or scared and it shook me down the ground. Ouch, if was a painful fall from the camel. I couldn't move but I held on tight to my camera. The owner came down to help me up immediately. I suffered slight injury on my neck, back and butt. After the fall, I walked back to the vehicle :( It wasn't a good day for me. I popped some medication and headed to bed early that night.

Today we drove long hours to the Bayanzag flaming cliff. This is where they found the dinosaur fossils back in 1920s. The cliff is not huge and the rocks are formed by red hardened clay which appears to be flaming especially sunset.

There was a small stall at the cliff and I bought a hand-made camel to commemorate my fall. Along the way, we spotted many camels and we stopped to snap many pictures of these beautiful animals.

We had lunch at a tourist ger near to the cliff and drove on to Ongi area. We checked into a beautiful tourist camp known as the secrets of Ongi. The ruins of the Ongi temple were only 10 minutes walk away. There was barely much to see except that this was a huge temple which was destroyed by Russian Communist. For some reasons, the temple has never been restored. The shower facilities were good do I took a quick shower before dinner started. After dinner, we strolled to the Ongi river which is a rather long but narrow river. The camp offered massage which cost around USD25 but it was lousy.

Early morning, we set off again and drive almost 7 hours to Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia. According to history, Chinggis Khan's grandson moved the capital from Karakorum to Beijing which was also one of the reasons that lead to the downfall of the empire. Most of the city has been destroyed by the Chinese military during the second half of the 14th century. Part of the Erdene Zuu monastery remained and is surrounded by 108 stupas. The monastery had some tourists and locals but it wasn't crowded.

It was said to be much bigger before it got destroyed. We drive to the turtle rock as well- it was said that there are 4 turtle rock around this capital which the local believed that it would protect their territory. We visited a new sophisticated museum wrung the history of this ancient city. The museum staff was very knowledgeable and was able to provide very clear information to this ancient city. This is one of the few museum tours that I have enjoyed!

It was a rainy morning and we had to drive for long 8 hours. The rain starred since morning and didn't stop even when we arrived at Khustai National Park in the late noon. Our drive to the park was almost cancelled due to the rain but miraculously, the rain stopped! I woke my guide up quickly to bring us to the park. This is definitely a lucky day! We spotted the rare wild horses. There are only 500 of them left in the world which is a good start since they were almost near to extinction a decade ago. These horses are supposedly stronger and faster than the normal horses. The weather was cold so the horses were still when we spotted them. The national park guideline prohibits visitors to stand too close from the animals so I was observing them from a distance. We drove off and spotted a marmot which squired away quickly. The sky was dark again so we turned back to the camp. Shortly after we got back, the rain started to pour heavily again. It was a chilly night so I skipped my shower and tugged into the extra blankets.

Waking up at 4am, we took the early morning flight from Ulabataar to Murun via Hunnair. I was lucky to be in a flight with a musical performing team from different countries. They sang and played instruments during the short flight.. How cool was that. Our guide wanted to show us to the local market but most stores were closed even when we got there at 1030am. We drove straight to the tourist ger and stopped halfway at a village for lunch. On our way, we spotted a reindeer family! I was excited since I was looking forward to see them. The reindeers looks uncomfortable so I snapped only a few pictures of them and left after paying MNT2,000. First day was slow but we got a spacious and beautiful ger which is facing Lake Khusvugul. I also got to walk along the calm and peaceful lake, accompanied by tons of goats, Sheep, yaks and horses along the way. Down with a running nose, I settled for an early night with no shower again.

Rise & Shine! The day was looking great and sunny although the forecast predicted rain. No rain and the temperature were in fact much warmer than Gobi! Today was an exciting day.. After breakfast, we drove off seeking the reindeer camp. Every summer, some reindeer families bring their reminders down from the mountains for some tourism bucks- I know that this is pretty cruel since the reindeers live in cold temperature so getting down from the mountain make them feel uncomfortable. I'm upset seeing the flies hovering around them as well and destroying their furs :( Nonetheless, I wanted to see them since it's impossible for me to trek two days up the mountains to visit the real reindeer’s families. It's physically impossible for me to climb a mountain :( anyway; we found an abandoned camp so it seemed like the reindeer family has moved elsewhere. We drove off and found ourselves surrounded by herds of beautiful horses. Thus, we stopped, got dims and admired the horses.

After driving a distance, I spotted the reindeers! I exclaimed excitedly so my driver had to brake immediately to let me down. This group of reindeers seemed livelier and was grazing grasses. I managed to snap some pictures with a white pretty reindeer as well as shoots of other reindeers. It cost MNT1, 000 to take pictures with them.

Our guide found a boatman and we got to enjoy a short cruise around the lake. It was cool and relaxing on the boat while enjoying the scenery. We headed back for lunch. After lunch was archery and horse riding activities. Of course, i did not excel in archery but it was "fun" firing a few unsuccessful shots at the target- a dried camel skin:(.

Horse riding along the lake was really fun and I'm glad that I didn't fall off!

We flew back to UB and flight was delayed for more than 3 hours. We got there only at 5.30pm, and drove straight to the Chinngis Khan equestrian statue. It was an amazing and grand statue of Chinggis Khan, established in 2010. We were able to take a lift up to the horse of the statue and admired the view from there. The statue is facing towards the east of Mongolia which is said to be the birth place of Chinggis Khan.

After that, we drove toward Tereji Park and it was almost 8pm. The sun was setting soon and we stopped to snap pictures of a huge rock that looks like a turtle (natural formation). We also hiked to the top of the temple on the hill. By the time we descended, it was almost dark. We got to the tourist camp and had dinner at 10pm.

Today was the last night so I was starting to miss the tranquility and serenity of this place. Having no phone connection and wifi access is good for such a vacation. My eye vision had also seemed to improved during that 10 days so I hardly browsed through my iPad and IPhone! I had a good night slept. We got up early morning and set off to the airport after breakfast. Goodbye Mongolia!

Tips: Weather in Mongolia is truly unpredictable. It was said that Gobi is warmer than Lake Khusvgul but it turned out the different way. Also, when the wind blew, the temperature seemed to be reduced by another 10 degrees Celsius. Bring along both light and warm clothing – you will need light tees for warm and humid days and thicker sweaters (socks are recommendable – I had to buy a pair from a village on my 3^rd day as my feet were frozen) for cold mornings and days. Apply plenty of sun block on your face and body every day and remember to bring along moisturizer for the face and body. The air is extremely dry so lip moisturizer is a big must! A rain coat is also required for rainy days – the weather is so crazy that it may be shining at one moment and pouring the next minute. I was skeptical on how unpredictable the weather could be in Mongolia but when I was there – that is really true.