It’s an early start this morning. Our flight to Mongolia leaves from Incheon at 8:00am and it’s an hour to the airport. Mom has booked us a mini van as the trains don’t start running until 5:23am and we are worried that won’t get us there in time.
In typical fashion, the van doesn’t arrive at 5am as planned..we don’t panic immediately…but nothing like a little stress first thing to get everyone all a little excited!
He does finally show up and is very apologetic. Another example of how pleasant it has been in Seoul. The people here have all been incredibly kind and polite. In other countries we have visited, this would have gone down very differently.
The ride to the airport is uneventful and security is very efficient and we are through in record time. Other major cities should take note!
Time for coffees and a snack and then we are boarding and on our way.
The flight to Ulaanbataar is just under 4 hours. We are flying Korean Air and the meals are good and they have thought of everything at your seat, there is even a small hook for hanging a bag.
The immigration line is long in Mongolia, but there are no issues and we are warmly greeted by our tour guide “Sarah” once we are through.
We successfully manage to take out some local currency and then head outside to our driver. The exchange rate is around 2700 CAD to the Tugrik, so we are feeling flush with cash. Lol.
The weather is amazing after the heat of Seoul. It’s cool and crisp and such a welcome change. The airport is located in what honestly feels like the middle of nowhere, it is surrounded by rolling hills filled with horses and sheep and speckled with gers (yurts).
The drive into UB is peaceful and Sarah tells us about life in Mongolia as we drive. They face incredibly harsh winters here, UB is apparently the coldest capital in the world. It means that once the temperature finally warms, they have a short few months of a flurry of construction activity and fixing and maintaining roads to prepare for the next winter.
They burn coal here as their primary heating source and apparently the air quality in the winter is quite bad. We see the soviet looking coal power plants as we drive into the City.
There are half constructed buildings everywhere and the mix in architecture is vast. With so many influences over the years, you see Gers next to Soviet style buildings, next to modern buildings. The City is clean, however the traffic is bad and there are huge pipes running above ground everywhere which is for the steam that heats the buildings in the City through the winter. There are certainly moments of beauty in UB, but overall it’s not a particularly beautiful city. That being said, the people are warm and friendly and people here dress in a very casual way and honestly look no different than if you were walking down the streets of Vancouver.
After a quick stop at the Cashmere factory we get to our hotel and have a great lunch before we are off again to visit the City.
Sarah’s son Johnny joins us. He is 15 and loves history and mom is showing him the ropes. He is a lot of fun and his English is amazing. Self taught off the internet. The kids do not learn English in school and he doesn’t speak fondly of the school system. His desire to learn and eventually study abroad pushes him to teach himself about Mongolian and other world history.
We visit the Monastery first, and the history of Mongolia is long and complicated and I won’t get everything right here, the bottom line is that in 1990, they built this amazing statue that is 25m high. It is filled with soil from all corners of the country as well as other Mongolian items that symbolize their culture and lifestyle. It is a very important landmark for the people here.
When we step inside it is honestly breathtaking. The building from the outside is fairly plain so that when you step over the threshold, you are struck with the absolute enormity of this beautiful statue. We walk around a little and then visit the newer and more modern monastery. Approximately 40% of the population here is Buddhist, but it is practiced in different ways. For Sarah and Johnny it is part of their daily lives and it’s more a philosophy of doing good to others and living in the moment. The more I listen to them speak about it, the more I’d love to learn more about it.
We then head to the Chinggis Khan Museum which is beautifully done. It’s Johnny’s favourite museum and he spends hours here. He excitedly walks us through each floor describing the history of his people. Given what Mongolia has been through over the years, including living under communist rule for 70 years, it’s amazing how much they were able to find and preserve.
We then make a quick stop at the main square and then head for dinner at a hot pot restaurant called “The Bull”. It’s delicious and we eat a feast and then head back to the hotel. We have to leave our hotel by 3am in order to catch our flight south to the Gobi so we need to get some shut eye.
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