A Visit to the Original MO Town - Mongolia + my life traveling around China
Jun 1, 2018, 3:17 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: United 100K, Etihad Gold, Marriot Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 578
A Visit to the Original MO Town - Mongolia + my life traveling around China
Hi Flyertalk! Life sometimes takes a weird turn of events. In my case I was offered a ...... change of employment status and decided I would rather be bought out then putting up with that ..... So now I am an American living in China in the boonies of Caofiedian. Later this week I am visiting Mongolia for my visa trip, and will be traveling around the country side for 4 days, staying in Ger camps and hopefully keeping the MRS Happy.
Basic Plan:
Day 1: Fly to Ulaan Bataar, try to get a taxi to take us to the Genghis Khan complex.
Day 2: Head to Karokurum and stop at some sand dunes along the way to do some camel riding.
Day 3: Explore the Monostaries around Karokurm, and ruins of the old city which apparently suck. Then head to some hot springs and relax! Hopefully no shady Mongolian massage will be involved
Day 4: Head to the mountains and a lake.
Day 5: Spot wild horses, and head back to UB. In UB attempt to visit black market.
Some other activities completed around China:
- Visited the end of the great wall at Qinghaungdao and stayed at the Sheraton Hotel there :
Not use this toilet:
- Visited the Intercontinental at Tanshen, and visited the Eastern Qing Tombs which are ....ing awesome
- Visited Tianjin and stayed at the Courtyard Marriot
Stuff I have planned:
- Visit Qingdao and drink beer out of a bag
- Beijing
- Harbin
- Help DOnald Trump to negotiate with North Korea?
Thanks for reading!
Basic Plan:
Day 1: Fly to Ulaan Bataar, try to get a taxi to take us to the Genghis Khan complex.
Day 2: Head to Karokurum and stop at some sand dunes along the way to do some camel riding.
Day 3: Explore the Monostaries around Karokurm, and ruins of the old city which apparently suck. Then head to some hot springs and relax! Hopefully no shady Mongolian massage will be involved
Day 4: Head to the mountains and a lake.
Day 5: Spot wild horses, and head back to UB. In UB attempt to visit black market.
Some other activities completed around China:
- Visited the end of the great wall at Qinghaungdao and stayed at the Sheraton Hotel there :
Not use this toilet:
- Visited the Intercontinental at Tanshen, and visited the Eastern Qing Tombs which are ....ing awesome
- Visited Tianjin and stayed at the Courtyard Marriot
Stuff I have planned:
- Visit Qingdao and drink beer out of a bag
- Beijing
- Harbin
- Help DOnald Trump to negotiate with North Korea?
Thanks for reading!
Last edited by steveo; Jun 1, 2018 at 3:40 am Reason: bad link
Jun 1, 2018, 2:17 pm
#3
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
You go #1 on the left and squat to go #2 on the right. In some places in China with large bathrooms (especially outside of tourist areas) the squat toilet is just squatting over a channel that has water flowing through it, so you get to see everyone else's business pass you by if you're at the wrong end. Also privacy at some of these is...lacking, but at least there are some dividers in this example
Jun 1, 2018, 3:05 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: PVD, BOS
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,664
Are you flying PEK-ULN? If so, they’ve had some HORRIBLE delays on that route recently. I tried flying CA901 last week and got hit with a 10hr delay. Ended up cancelling the Mongolia side trip entirely. Looking forward to your experience though! Hope you have better luck than I had!
Jun 2, 2018, 3:47 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: United 100K, Etihad Gold, Marriot Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 578
Are you flying PEK-ULN? If so, they’ve had some HORRIBLE delays on that route recently. I tried flying CA901 last week and got hit with a 10hr delay. Ended up cancelling the Mongolia side trip entirely. Looking forward to your experience though! Hope you have better luck than I had!
Jun 17, 2018, 9:18 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: United 100K, Etihad Gold, Marriot Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 578
Air China Flight + First Day
I've just completed my trip to Mongolia and it proved to be ....ing awesome, a few notes:
- The people of Mongolia are super friendly, and very athletic. The women were fashionable and very good looking. I picture them riding around the steppes back in the day approaching their enemies with a big smirk on their face before slaughtering everyone. Sort of the captain smirk approach to sword fighting, where you defeat your opponent with your wit, not your sword fighting skills.
- There is a saying... .when the Yurt is rockin' don't come a knockin. Several times during the trip we had the yurt staff open our door without knocking to do stuff, which is not good when you are on a romantic trip. So maybe when the Yurt is a rockin you should come knockin! This is a nation full of the Cool Aid Man:
- Outside the cities... and even in the smaller cities there are animals everywhere. Hell even on the outskirts of UlaanBataar we had traffic jams because of cows crossing the road. Even crazier there are animal bones everywhere.....
- Likewise the infrastructure was pretty good for tourism, but it is still way off the beaten track and I hope it stays that way. Nothing worst than if this vast land becomes iceland. All of the attractions were empty, and although there were a good amount of tourists, especially germans and koreans there still aren't a bunch of douche back packers which is really nice.
Now onto the Trip Report:
After spending the last 2 months in China it was time to head out for a visa run. I figured Mongolia was the place to go to since I've been to most of the close by countries. I also brought my wife to join me since we have not seen eachother for too long. After a few delightful days in Beijng we headed to UlaanBataar on Air China:
Air China Flight 801 - PEK to ULH on a 737:
We arrive at Beijing capitol airport around 2 hours before departure for the 8 am flight to ULH. We couldn't find a dedicated Star Alliance Gold checkin area for Air China so we checked in at the business class counter. They let us check in, then scolded us for using the wrong line
Oops! After a quick check through security and immigration we were pretty hungry, but the options were limited in the international terminal. So we decided to head to the Air China lounge, which I should easily get into with my star alliance gold card. Of course I didn't actually have one because united decided they don't need to send you new ones. After a good 10 minutes of arguing they let us into the lounge. Talk about ...... lounges, but this was probably the worst lounge I"ve been too for the main hub of a major airline.
We were able to find two seats together and I searched for food. We found some gross muffins (which would later be served on the flight) but the rest of the food was meh. The only real redeeming quality was the western style toilet. However the urinals had a weird double mirror lay out so you could inspect your equipment very easily while urinating if you get me drift. The good news is we found some self service coffee and some coke zero, after hanging out there for 30 minutes we headed to the gate for our flight to Mongolia!:
Good liquor selection for a 8 am flight!
Self serve coffee - no line which was nice.
Flight to ULH was completely packed. After sitting on the tarmac for a good 30 minutes we were off! Pretty unremarkable flight except for the guy on the window seat. Sin number one was closing the window so we couldn't see the cool scenery. Sin number 2 was when he wanted to use the restroom he called the flight attendant over using the button, and told her to tell us to move so he can user the bathroom. The good news is I got a great photo of Gobi Desert:
Air China service was professional and flight attendants rail thin. After a drink service where my coke zero exploded onto the flight attendant (and a cute giggle) we were served a snack box. Note to air china: Ditch the sandwich in the snackbox, more on this later:
The snackbox contents. The juice cup was delicious, and chocolate pretty solid... the sandwich however looks like something out of a gulag....
Close up of the sandwich. We're talking white bread... this bread is so white it subscribes to golf digest. Now the filling.... I think it was "chicken" salad, but that term is purely academic. After a bite I was out. I'm pretty sure the chicken salad was 90% paper / sawdust / crap found on the road and 10 % "chicken", which is probably ground beak, feather, and maybe some rooster scrotum.
Luckily soon we were in ULH. Landing was easy, and we were off to customs. ULH airport is not a destination and is pretty basic. No visa requirements for Americans, so a quick stamp and we were ready to see ULH before heading to the country side!
We had a driver from Kempsiki hotel pick us up, which was easy but kind of expensive. After arriving we explained that we wanted to see the giant statue of Genghis Khan. For some reason they didn't understand that we just wanted a ride by taxi and kept trying to see us tours for 240$ for one day (no thanks!). Finally we got through to his head that we wanted a taxi. Luckily the taxi driver loved Mongolia, and may have had more fun on the trip than us. Basically took us to the Khan statue, then had a diversion to see Turtle Rock in the nearby park. Finally he dropped us off at MexiKhan, a local delicious mexican restaurant. This cost us around 90 US$. He only charged us for km driven, and had a great time at the park. Here are some photos from the journey:
On the way I held this Golden Eagle. I would see lots of these in the wild, but shaking my hand to annoy it was a very bad idea
After two hours or so we reached the statue... it was huuuuge!
Wife is liking Khan a little too much....
View from the top
On the way to turtle rock
OUr road was soon blocked by camals... a common occurrence for the next 4 days!
Kind of looks like a turtle right?
Meanwhile our driver decided to do some rock climbing
ANd I joined him
And enjoyed the great views.
Two hours later we were back in UB where we went to MexiKhan to enjoy some great Mexican food. Don't judge me, I"ve been in rural china for the last two months and have eaten more than enough chinese food. It was tastey, spanish was spoken, and they made great burritos and mojitos:
After a hard day we crashed at the kempsiki hotel which was enjoyed. Here is a preview of my favorite photo from mongolia, more to come later!
- The people of Mongolia are super friendly, and very athletic. The women were fashionable and very good looking. I picture them riding around the steppes back in the day approaching their enemies with a big smirk on their face before slaughtering everyone. Sort of the captain smirk approach to sword fighting, where you defeat your opponent with your wit, not your sword fighting skills.
- There is a saying... .when the Yurt is rockin' don't come a knockin. Several times during the trip we had the yurt staff open our door without knocking to do stuff, which is not good when you are on a romantic trip. So maybe when the Yurt is a rockin you should come knockin! This is a nation full of the Cool Aid Man:
- Likewise the infrastructure was pretty good for tourism, but it is still way off the beaten track and I hope it stays that way. Nothing worst than if this vast land becomes iceland. All of the attractions were empty, and although there were a good amount of tourists, especially germans and koreans there still aren't a bunch of douche back packers which is really nice.
Now onto the Trip Report:
After spending the last 2 months in China it was time to head out for a visa run. I figured Mongolia was the place to go to since I've been to most of the close by countries. I also brought my wife to join me since we have not seen eachother for too long. After a few delightful days in Beijng we headed to UlaanBataar on Air China:
Air China Flight 801 - PEK to ULH on a 737:
We arrive at Beijing capitol airport around 2 hours before departure for the 8 am flight to ULH. We couldn't find a dedicated Star Alliance Gold checkin area for Air China so we checked in at the business class counter. They let us check in, then scolded us for using the wrong line
Oops! After a quick check through security and immigration we were pretty hungry, but the options were limited in the international terminal. So we decided to head to the Air China lounge, which I should easily get into with my star alliance gold card. Of course I didn't actually have one because united decided they don't need to send you new ones. After a good 10 minutes of arguing they let us into the lounge. Talk about ...... lounges, but this was probably the worst lounge I"ve been too for the main hub of a major airline.We were able to find two seats together and I searched for food. We found some gross muffins (which would later be served on the flight) but the rest of the food was meh. The only real redeeming quality was the western style toilet. However the urinals had a weird double mirror lay out so you could inspect your equipment very easily while urinating if you get me drift. The good news is we found some self service coffee and some coke zero, after hanging out there for 30 minutes we headed to the gate for our flight to Mongolia!:
Good liquor selection for a 8 am flight!
Self serve coffee - no line which was nice.
Flight to ULH was completely packed. After sitting on the tarmac for a good 30 minutes we were off! Pretty unremarkable flight except for the guy on the window seat. Sin number one was closing the window so we couldn't see the cool scenery. Sin number 2 was when he wanted to use the restroom he called the flight attendant over using the button, and told her to tell us to move so he can user the bathroom. The good news is I got a great photo of Gobi Desert:
Air China service was professional and flight attendants rail thin. After a drink service where my coke zero exploded onto the flight attendant (and a cute giggle) we were served a snack box. Note to air china: Ditch the sandwich in the snackbox, more on this later:
The snackbox contents. The juice cup was delicious, and chocolate pretty solid... the sandwich however looks like something out of a gulag....
Close up of the sandwich. We're talking white bread... this bread is so white it subscribes to golf digest. Now the filling.... I think it was "chicken" salad, but that term is purely academic. After a bite I was out. I'm pretty sure the chicken salad was 90% paper / sawdust / crap found on the road and 10 % "chicken", which is probably ground beak, feather, and maybe some rooster scrotum.
Luckily soon we were in ULH. Landing was easy, and we were off to customs. ULH airport is not a destination and is pretty basic. No visa requirements for Americans, so a quick stamp and we were ready to see ULH before heading to the country side!
We had a driver from Kempsiki hotel pick us up, which was easy but kind of expensive. After arriving we explained that we wanted to see the giant statue of Genghis Khan. For some reason they didn't understand that we just wanted a ride by taxi and kept trying to see us tours for 240$ for one day (no thanks!). Finally we got through to his head that we wanted a taxi. Luckily the taxi driver loved Mongolia, and may have had more fun on the trip than us. Basically took us to the Khan statue, then had a diversion to see Turtle Rock in the nearby park. Finally he dropped us off at MexiKhan, a local delicious mexican restaurant. This cost us around 90 US$. He only charged us for km driven, and had a great time at the park. Here are some photos from the journey:
On the way I held this Golden Eagle. I would see lots of these in the wild, but shaking my hand to annoy it was a very bad idea
After two hours or so we reached the statue... it was huuuuge!
Wife is liking Khan a little too much....
View from the top
On the way to turtle rock
OUr road was soon blocked by camals... a common occurrence for the next 4 days!
Kind of looks like a turtle right?
Meanwhile our driver decided to do some rock climbing
ANd I joined him
And enjoyed the great views.
Two hours later we were back in UB where we went to MexiKhan to enjoy some great Mexican food. Don't judge me, I"ve been in rural china for the last two months and have eaten more than enough chinese food. It was tastey, spanish was spoken, and they made great burritos and mojitos:
After a hard day we crashed at the kempsiki hotel which was enjoyed. Here is a preview of my favorite photo from mongolia, more to come later!
Last edited by steveo; Jul 5, 2018 at 10:16 am Reason: links didnt work
Jul 3, 2018, 9:46 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: United 100K, Etihad Gold, Marriot Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 578
Mongolia Day 2: Camels
Day 2 of the trip began my official first day of my tour of Mongolia. All the items going forward take please west and south of UB. After a great night sleep in the Kempiski hotel we had a delicious breakfast, including custom made pancakes and were ready for our adventure around Mongolia. The tour agency we used allowed us to rent a car with a driver and guide, which was a nice combination, and had a comfy Toyota SUV to take us around the country. It was kind of a "campy" trip with a constant loop of 80's hits like "Rasputin", and unlimited water. On that subject the bathroom situation around the main roads was really good, but in the country side your choice would be agross outhouse or just do your business on the ground. The outhouses were more like pits dug into the ground with a 2 x 4 to stand on while you do your business!
Our first day of the tour was..... a ton of driving, all the way to Karakorum. Basically drove 4 hours, stopped to see some cool sites (see photos in a minute people!), road some camels, drove probably 3 more hours, then visited the Karakorum museum, played some Mongol "games" which consist of a bunch of bones.... and slept in a Ger (yurt) camp. Overall a good day but probably the least exciting of the trip... just because the other stuff we did was ....ing awesome::
GOATS!!!!!!! Kept causing traffic jams
These stone piles are all over Mongolia.... some have animal bones in them, and gifts of milk, vodka, ect. This one had a bunch of mice living in it, none the less its polite to walk around them 3 times for a good journey
This is a shaman, and he had two wolf pelts tied around him!
We stopped at this great gas station maybe 2 hours from UB. Great bathroom, coffeshop, store full of vodka and beer, and of course random goats!
After a few hours we stopped at this Ger camp to get lunch, and ride some camels!
The bear pelt is a nice touch.....
And some traditional masks on display that look like smartasses to me!
Ger Camp.....
mobile ger
Next we did some camel riding around the dunes. This was ammusing since we had to track down the "nomad" who had the camel pens. After getting introduced he invited us into his Ger where we had our fortune told by rolling some horse bone dice. Very dungeons and dragon-esque. After ingesting some various substances made of Mare's milk we were ready to ride!
The landscape does change fast....
But riding a camel through a desert would be much more badass without a guide yapping on his cellphone while directing us!
After a goofy ride we were off to Karakorum. Karakorum was the capital during Ghengis Khan's time, but quickly fell on hard times, and was sacked.... and sacked.... and sacked. And now all that is left is a monastary built by the remains of the ancient city, and a "modern" town that actually has some legit hotel options. But we decided to stay in a Ger Camp. This evening we went to the museum and played some Mongol games:
In this game your flick this bone at the pins, kind of like bowling. Pretty fun game!
And this one you toss a pile of bones and hope for the best!
After an exhausting day we were ready for dinner and some rest, and not be in a car anymore . We stayed at a Ger camp, not sure if it even had a name. There was one next to it called wonderland that is owned by a sumo wrestler but was sold out! We were actually the only people staying in the camp, and was the worst one we stayed at while in Mongolia. However we got good sleep, the food was good, some nice walks nearby, we kept getting raided by goats, and it had excellent shower facilities:
The camp
inside the Ger
A structural cinderblock
And our stove had some poop smeared on it.... but overall a great night sleep, and lots of good walks nearby. Unfortunately still had a cell signal so I kept getting hit with work emails all night!
Our first day of the tour was..... a ton of driving, all the way to Karakorum. Basically drove 4 hours, stopped to see some cool sites (see photos in a minute people!), road some camels, drove probably 3 more hours, then visited the Karakorum museum, played some Mongol "games" which consist of a bunch of bones.... and slept in a Ger (yurt) camp. Overall a good day but probably the least exciting of the trip... just because the other stuff we did was ....ing awesome::
GOATS!!!!!!! Kept causing traffic jams
These stone piles are all over Mongolia.... some have animal bones in them, and gifts of milk, vodka, ect. This one had a bunch of mice living in it, none the less its polite to walk around them 3 times for a good journey
This is a shaman, and he had two wolf pelts tied around him!
We stopped at this great gas station maybe 2 hours from UB. Great bathroom, coffeshop, store full of vodka and beer, and of course random goats!
After a few hours we stopped at this Ger camp to get lunch, and ride some camels!
The bear pelt is a nice touch.....
And some traditional masks on display that look like smartasses to me!
Ger Camp.....
mobile ger
Next we did some camel riding around the dunes. This was ammusing since we had to track down the "nomad" who had the camel pens. After getting introduced he invited us into his Ger where we had our fortune told by rolling some horse bone dice. Very dungeons and dragon-esque. After ingesting some various substances made of Mare's milk we were ready to ride!
The landscape does change fast....
But riding a camel through a desert would be much more badass without a guide yapping on his cellphone while directing us!
After a goofy ride we were off to Karakorum. Karakorum was the capital during Ghengis Khan's time, but quickly fell on hard times, and was sacked.... and sacked.... and sacked. And now all that is left is a monastary built by the remains of the ancient city, and a "modern" town that actually has some legit hotel options. But we decided to stay in a Ger Camp. This evening we went to the museum and played some Mongol games:
In this game your flick this bone at the pins, kind of like bowling. Pretty fun game!
And this one you toss a pile of bones and hope for the best!
After an exhausting day we were ready for dinner and some rest, and not be in a car anymore . We stayed at a Ger camp, not sure if it even had a name. There was one next to it called wonderland that is owned by a sumo wrestler but was sold out! We were actually the only people staying in the camp, and was the worst one we stayed at while in Mongolia. However we got good sleep, the food was good, some nice walks nearby, we kept getting raided by goats, and it had excellent shower facilities:
The camp
inside the Ger
A structural cinderblock
And our stove had some poop smeared on it.... but overall a great night sleep, and lots of good walks nearby. Unfortunately still had a cell signal so I kept getting hit with work emails all night!
Last edited by steveo; Jul 5, 2018 at 4:29 pm Reason: bad links
Jul 3, 2018, 9:12 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: United 100K, Etihad Gold, Marriot Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 578
Anyone else having trouble getting the photos to load? Coding looks ok on my end (as in I can't find a problem, but I really don't know what I'm doing!"
Greetings from the ...... Star Alliance Lounge in Beijing!
Greetings from the ...... Star Alliance Lounge in Beijing!
Jul 4, 2018, 1:13 am
#11
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 336
None of the photos are loading for me. Right from the first post till your last.
Jul 4, 2018, 1:42 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: United 100K, Etihad Gold, Marriot Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 578
Can you all see the Yaks? Apparently a problem with Imgur. Let me know if this worked then I'll get the photos uploaded. Thanks for your help!
