Anyone been in Mongolia recently
 

About a week ago I pulled the plug on a standard award business class ticket in May on Korean Air and Alaska found by the kind folks at the Chisholm, MN now DL call center. It turned out to be the only thing available after looking at flights to Cartegena, Panama City, Buenos Aires, much of Europe and other assorted places.

Since this will be my first time in Mongolia, I am starting early in my research. I have six days and am looking for things to do, places to stay, places to eat and other assorted information. The internet is not brimming with recommendations for Ulan Baator and even less outside the capital. Hotel options seem to be limited. The visit is early in May when balmy spring comes to the country. Highs in the 40's and possibly sunny if there is not a cloud of pollution.

I am an experienced traveler with over 90 countries under my belt. Definitely not a back packer, yet thrifty-but not that thrifty, see my profile please. I expect that Ulan Baator will be similar to Prague in the early 80's (perhaps kind of grim) but perhaps it has some different things to pique my interest. BTW, I'm more of a meet the people, get to know the culture, visit markets, explore than organized visits with museums and that awful word-tourists type of traveler. I detest "bus people" with their flag waving, megaphone toting leaders.

Please help with your suggestions.

If you haven't already checked out the Northeast Asia branch of the Thorntree forum on lonelyplanet.com, you should do so. Even if you are not a "backpacker" per se. Focus on the "what to do" first. I think you're going to find two things that may limit your options:
1) Six days is kind of an awkward length of time--too long for just a stopover in Ulan Bator but too short to really see a lot of Mongolia's more worthwhile and more distant sites. And Mongolia is the kind of place where ultra-tight scheduling and heading out to the hinterlands don't really go together. Infrastructure is extremely poor.
2) May is still fairly cold, and some sightseeing options may not be easily available as in the June-August period. Or, due to a sparseness of other travellers to join up with, setting something up for a solo may be doable but expensive.

You might also look at the websites of adventure tour companies that deal with small groups--not to sign up for a tour, but only to see how their itineraries are constructed and get a sense of sights and timing to/from. Try www.journeys-intl.com and www.absoluteasia.com maybe also www.wildernesstravel.com. You will soon see why most visits to Mongolia are for two weeks not one. Then from the independent traveller sites like LP, bootsnall, virtual tourist, etc. you can get some specifics on local operators, guesthouses, etc. that you can contact directly to set something up. And one of the nice things about being a US passport holder (I assume from location that you are) is that a visa for Mongolia is NOT required for a simple tourist visit.

It's been nearly a decade since I've been to Mongolia, so take all this with a grain of salt.

Six days is enough time for a couple of excursions outside of UB. Kara Korum / Erdene Zhu (the ruins of the city associated with Chingis Khan) is worth a visit and you can stop at a National Park on the way where you can see the teki (Przwalski wild horse). Usually this gets done as a 2 day / one night trip, with the night spent at a ger camp.

With a Mongolian-speaking interpreter, you can drive up to pretty much any ger (the preferred word in Mongolia; yurt is a Tuvan word) and be invited in for a visit. Typically you have to eat dry cheese, drink araq (fermented mare's milk), and sniff your host's snuff bottle.

You could also fly to the Gobi for a few days to see the Flaming Cliffs (where Roy Chapman found the dinosaur eggs). Or fly up to Lake Hovsgol to visit reinheer herders.

UB itself is a depressing crowded Soviet-style city, but there are a few monasteries of interest in the outskirts and the people are friendly. Khan Brau (the local beer) is among the worst I've ever had, alas. The State Department Store is a good place to do souvenir shopping as you can buy traditional clothing there.

how/where exactly would you get an interpreter?

One hires one the same way one hires guides. Travel agencies are quite good at making the arrangements for this, though it can cost some money. Nomadic Expeditions is the major operator in Mongolia and can arrange pretty much any itinerary you want.

In the summer of 2008 I went with my family to Mongolia. Came in by the transiberian to UB. The Three Camels in the Gobi is well worth it. It was the best place that we stayed at during our three and a half weeks in Mongolia. The Teralji Hotel outside of UB was definitely not. Waste of time in Mongolia.
Mongolia will mean very little unless backed up by reading before you go. In UB all hotels were pretty dumpy. Both the Museum of Natural History and The National Museum of Mongolian History are solid. See them quickly and bolt out of UB. You would prob fly instead of drive anywhere. You don't have enough time to bother with the long drives between places. The airline www.eznis.mn was well run and on time from my experiences. If you are a fly fisherman then 6 days in Mongolia is ideal. My husband had an incredible time with an exceptional guide. If you need the info I can get it. This was just a quick response. We actually covered a great deal so if you need it flushed out some more I wil be happy to fill you in.

I went to Mongolia in 2005 and spent about 18 days on the ground there. We were in UB for just about 3 days total, and spent the remainder of the time driving around the countryside in a giant loop (about 2200 km altogether). We first went south to the Gobi, then west, then north to wind up at Lake Khovsgol.

If you have only six days then it will be tough to do much (IMO the farther you get from UB, the better). I do NOT recommend tight scheduling of domestic flights. The one domestic flight we did, from Mörön back to UB, was delayed about 15 hours; I missed my flight out of Mongolia and had to pull every trick in the book to get out of the country and back home ($2600 poorer than I should have been, and in economy the whole way vs. the F award seats I had booked :(). The airline we were on, Aero Mongolia, had exactly one plane, and they apparently needed to take some local honcho's parents somewhere at the same time our flight was scheduled. So they just left all of the 50+ pax sitting there all night while they did it. This is the kind of place Mongolia is.

Getting a jeep/van with a skilled and experienced driver is a must. I did this online with a local hostel owner/tour agency before I arrived. You can do it on arrival if you want, but it can take a couple of days to find a guy and get outfitted for the trip, so you may not want to waste time doing that if you only have six days.

I set up my trip via Idre's Guesthouse. They did a good job setting up the tour, but the hostel itself in UB was pretty dreadful (although for $5 a night I had a hard time complaining). For our countryside trek in a Soviet 4WD van, we had a driver (an absolute wizard), translator/guide (quite poor), and a cook (good). The whole thing was an experience, for sure.

Thanks all for the replies. Now, at least I have some idea of how to proceed. Unfortunately, the six days on the ground resulted from award inventory so I have limited options.

Anyone have hotel recommendations??

Try the hotels near the University built by South Korea. I forgot the name of the school.

So, booking a RTW and wanted a different kind of destination so I was thinking about going to Ulanbataar for a couple of days. It'll be in February, so I'm well aware of the cold affect. Fortunately originally from Minnesota so I can handle some chill. Think two days is enough to see the city? Or should I find a different spot?

Chris

Honestly, if you are only going as far as UB, I would skip Mongolia altogether. The only real reason to go to UB is to eat good Korean food (which you can do much more easily in Korea!) and to get your trip through the countryside organized. There is almost nothing to see in UB itself outside some crumbling Soviet-era buildings (if you've been to any provincial city in the FSU you've already seen exactly the same thing), a temple complex, and a fairly dingy-and-dusty museum.

The real attraction of Mongolia is the countryside. I wouldn't even consider stopping in the country if you can't get out there. Wait until you have more time.

UB is also rather tricky to get in and out of, unless you are in possession of a Chinese or Russian visa. Without those visas, you can reach there from Seoul and (IIRC) Tokyo, but the flights only run on certain days of the week. The runway configuration also makes things tricky if the wind is blowing the wrong way--this happened to me--so you may end up stuck there. This could wreak havoc with a tightly planned itinerary.

hotel rating


std/sgl avg std/twn avg
1. Class a sunjin grand 132 163
ulaanbaatar 90 102
corporate 140 185
chingis khaan 80 103.3 102 128.8
khaan palace 98 121
white house 80 100

2. Class b bayangol 76 97
flower 74 96
continental 79 69.8 107 92.8
puma imperial 53 80
palace 67 84

http://chinggis-hotel.com/main/index.php
http://www.ubcontinentalhotel.com/

or you can find here

Was there not long ago. Bayangol Hotel in downtown UB is good (right across the road from the convention centre) and within walking distance of Sukhbatar Square and the main expat haunts. Just beware of the missing manhole covers when walking around anywhere. Constantly being stolen to get money for the metal!