Mongolia has much to offer tourists
By Janet Landfried
We continued our journey from China to Mongolia on a bright morning. We were all anxious to see what awaited us there. The flight from Beijing to the capital of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar was less than two hours.
Mongolia is a very large country with a population of less than three million. There are only three cities, with the capital being the largest and having about one-third of the country’s population.
We circled low over the city. A river meandered down one side but the landscape was devoid of trees and just a few hills broke up the flatness of the land. Construction cranes were everywhere as Mongolia plays catch up with urban areas in other parts of the world. In the mix of buildings were the traditional houses of the nomads, the felt gers. Russians called them yurts.
Mongolia is reaching out to the world and welcoming tourists. Sharing my row in the airplane was a man from Northern California who was arriving with about six others to indulge in the sport of fly fishing. The draw was the taimen, a species of salmon that grows to very large size and old age. Because the fish is in a vulnerable state, not yet endangered, it would be catch and release only by the fishermen. He told me the group had gone to Chile the previous year and would probably go to New Zealand next year. There is a niche market for every traveler.
We were greeted by a young woman who would be our guide for our stay. Hishi was 28 years old and spoke very good English. She was a “city girl” but her grandmother still lived on the land in a ger. She learned English in school and spoke other languages as well. Like most guides outside the United States, she took classes and took tests to prepare her to be a licensed guide. She did her job well.
The Soviet Union swallowed Mongolia in the early 1920s and remained in power over the country until the fall of Communism. So Moscow was in control for about 70 years. Today many Mongolians speak Russian and Mongolian and usually another language, primarily English or German. The Mongolian script, which we saw in the Buddhist temple in Beijing, has been replaced with the Cyrillic alphabet. The national drink is vodka and the Russians also introduced vegetables into the diet. Driving into the city, we saw examples of Soviet-style buildings and what looked like Russian words.
On the plane from Beijing, in addition to the fishermen, there were many men in business attire. Some were coming to economic conferences, we learned later, and to conduct business for the mineral wealth that has been recently discovered. No oil, but gold and copper apparently are found in abundance here. There are direct flights from Korea, Hong Kong and Bangkok now.
On the roads we saw a variety of cars — mostly Korean (Hyundai) and Japanese (Lexus, Toyota, Honda) and some American names such as Ford and Chevrolet, but made in Asia.
Ulaanbaatar is a stop on the Trans-Siberian railway. I’ve been to one of the train stations in Moscow and to the train station in Vladivostok. While taking that long train ride is not on my wish list, I like to think I saw one of the links of that exotic journey. There were several train engines on display at a museum yard, some displaying the hammer and sickle or a portrait of Lenin.
Our hotel was the Bayangol, a very modern and nicely appointed hotel with all the expected amenities, including fast Internet. We then went to lunch at a nice restaurant. While we all had some apprehensions, the food we were served everywhere was good, well prepared and varied.
Meat, either beef or lamb, was served often. Potatoes, carrots and cabbage, in the form of cole slaw, were Russian introductions to the diet.
Hishi asked if we wanted to visit a school and, of course, we did. So she made a phone call and then guided us to a store where we could buy school supplies or treats for the classes we would visit. We went to an “American brands” store, small but well stocked. There they were, lining the shelf — Kirkland brand products! Costco has made it in the world. In fact we also encountered Kirkland bottled water in South Africa. We made our purchases and went off to school.
School was a Soviet-style block building set in a dirt and rock field. But inside, the classrooms were busy with learning. The teachers were all nicely dressed and the children were adorable — the girls in their starched dresses with a large white bow or flower in the hair, and the boys in white shirts with ties and blue pants. All were in their seats in bright classrooms with an engaging teacher. The 6- and 7-year-olds were a bit shy, but not the 10-year-olds in their music class. They asked questions in halting English and then sang us a song they had learned.
We responded with a verse of “You Are My Sunshine.” Music is a universal language.
When one of our group asked how many had a computer, a few hands went up. But when asked if they had mobile phones, every hand went up. Twenty-first-century technology is making its way into every part of our world.
We shared our treats and said our goodbyes. This was a spontaneous stop, but we were to learn how hospitable the people are to visitors.
In the capital there are paved roads and traffic lights, with pubs, cafes, supermarkets and gas stations, hotels and karaoke bars. There were no McDonald’s restaurants, but the first KFC opened three months ago. It will be interesting to see how it does, as chicken is not usually on the Mongolian diet. We went to an ATM to exchange our dollars for tugrik, one U.S. dollar for about 1,700 tugrik.
Unfortunately the natural history museum was closed for renovations and at the one museum that was open, we could see only the historical artifacts on one floor. We planned to visit it again when we returned to Ulaanbaatar in a few days. We also left for our return trip a visit to Genghis Khan Square in the center of the city, dominated by a huge statue of their revered great khan.
We rushed a bit because the school visit had taken some time and we needed to be at a cultural show on time.
As with most initial tours of a country, there will be a show somewhere that highlights the dances and songs of the country. This is a good way to introduce newcomers to some of the culture. The troupe was lively and costumed beautifully. Their dances were colorful and some reflected their Russian origins.
A unique form of singing in Mongolia is throat singing, in which the sound comes not from the formation of the mouth and air pushed through the lips but from deep within the throat. To us Westerners it did sound odd but not unpleasant.
After one night in the hotel, we got ready to leave on a four-day trip to the countryside. We left our larger suitcases and took just the necessities. We piled into our bus, decorated with purple curtains, piled our luggage in the rear, and were ready for the road. With our guide and bus driver we also had a cook and her supplies. That should have hinted to us about amenities for the trip. We were to drive about 365 kilometers that day (about 225 miles).
Oh, the traffic! Is there any city in the world where you can avoid it? We started north on pavement. The streets were wide and the traffic lights worked. But all too soon the pavement gave way and the dirt roads began. The traffic thinned out considerably.
Spread out before were the steppes of central Mongolia. There are few hills, absolutely no trees, but small shrubs and little grass. In the spring the steppes are green and lush, but we were at the end of the season. Mongolia has two seasons — the summer of July and August and maybe September and the winter of the rest of the year. We had pleasant days but the nights were cold.
Also spread out before was the blue, blue sky with few clouds. They call this place the Land of the Eternal Blue Sky and it is easy to see why. Rainfall is minimal on the steppes and the altitude and openness to the Siberian winds make for extreme weather conditions. It reminded me of Montana, Big Sky Country, but without the mountains and trees.
We bounced along the dirt roads and sometimes cut across hillocks and vales. If there was no road, the driver made one. We asked Hishi how the driver knew where to go, as there were no road signs anywhere. She said the drivers memorize the routes and landmarks much like ancient mariners on the open ocean navigated by the stars.
Everywhere we saw the five animals of the nomadic herders — horse, goat, sheep, cattle and Bactrian (two-humped) camel. We also saw yak but those are not usually on the steppes. All these herd animals belonged to someone and provide the mainstay of the family’s diet and other needs.
We also saw wild animals in abundance. There were the little ground animals that scurried into their dens as we approached. Foxes were out chasing after prey. There were swans in the few streams that crossed the plains. Ravens were swooping to bide their time. Hawks were perched on rocks near the road waiting for a meal; some were so large that they must have been eagles.
We chanced upon a huge wake (the word for feeding vultures) of vultures, doing what scavengers do, cleaning up the carcass of a horse. Hishi and the driver were awed by the sight as they said you seldom see them and especially so large a group near a road. There must have 30 or 40 vultures.
We did stop for gas at one point and we were made aware that there are no restroom facilities outside of the city. Here there was a structure that looked like a four-horse stall. Each compartment had boards for one to straddle; bring your own paper, please. A sheet of plywood was fastened about three feet in front of the stalls to provide some privacy from the road.
Otherwise there were no trees, no shrubs and seldom a blade of grass along side the road, so we did what we could and remembered our best camping techniques in the wilderness. Smile and look the other way. Our ATC host said he never thought to ask about facilities at rest stops.
It was something he — or we — had never encountered.
Join me next week as we visit a family of nomads and sleep in a ger in sub-freezing temperatures.
Janet Landfried taught social studies at Redlands High School and Redlands East Valley High School for many years and retired in 2001.
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