So, what is there to do in Mongolia?

What happens when two young guys decide to visit Ulaanbaatar for Christmas?

Well the correct answer to this is probably nothing; I first went to Mongolia over the Christmas and New Year period a few years back. Why? You ask? Well I was in Singapore living at the time and I and my friend had left it late to book something to go away for the festive period, which in Singapore is a bad idea unless you want to pay mega bucks.

We looked and looked at the popular destinations like Bali, Phuket, Langkawi and Hong Kong but there was nothing. So we decided to look at further locations such as Hanoi, Tokyo and even China but still everything was so expensive! Literally we thought we were going to be stuck in Singapore over the holidays until we stumbled upon a little travel shop near parkway parade. 

As we sat down and spoke with the travel lady and she explained to us that really, we have to pay a lot of money to go anywhere popular which prompted the question from myself, what about obscure? Do you have anything that might be a bit more different from the normal requests...? She smiled and at first offered a Guided tour of North Korea's Pyongyang for 5 days but the price was still a bit high, although we really did consider what it would be like to spend Christmas in North Korea there were just too many connections and stipulations as well as the high price.

It really did seem like we were getting nowhere fast or even slow until she said "Ulaanbaatar" I was like "where now?" "Mongolia" she said....I had to pause for a moment and remember anything I actually knew about the country and then it call came to me, Genghis Khan! "That’s it! Sign us up! How much though?" Surprisingly the flights were not that expensive and the system was a bunch of recommended hotels in and around the capital Ulaanbaatar which sounded ok. The only down side was the long flights to Beijing then Ulaanbaatar and then Seoul on the way back but there was really no other option and I probably would find it difficult to have an excuse to ever visit Mongolia again so we paid and received our information.

The flight was ok and the wait in Beijing was not too long before we touched down in Ulaanbaatar, the one thing that hit me was... It was cold, freezing cold and probably the coldest place I had ever been. My Iphone told me it was -32 degrees and my friend needed to wait outside of the terminal to have a cigarette which seemed like the longest wait ever. We hopped a cab to the hotel that we had chosen, which was the Temuujin Hotel named after Genghis Khan himself located at the Bayanzurkh district of Ulaanbaatar. Which is considered the “old part of town” As if the rest of it is very new or something?

After settling in I met my friend down in the bar and the one thing that struck is was the large number of Japanese people we had seen in and around the hotel... This was odd. Anyway we got down to the business of wrapping up warm and walking around and exploring our surroundings. We completed this task in about 30 minutes as there really was not much to see. I and my travel buddy felt very disappointed and a bit let down so we decided to jump on the Wi-Fi and see what there was to do and where to seek out some dinner. After some looking around we came across a place called the Grand Khaan Irish Pub which to us sounded like the best bloody place we could have hoped for. So we burst in there like a bunch of wild idiots expecting to be warmed by a dark pub playing British music with Guinness on tap and some Irish strew on the menu... Slightly wrong of course, we had to settle for some local beer and the best western food on the menu we were told was the burger. After consuming a large quantity of local beer it hit me, this really should not be called an Irish pub it should be some kind of musical tribute bar with a lot of old instruments decorating the place but again, no complaints as the beer was going down very nicely indeed and the chat (in English) with the local bar staff was making it all the more better of an experience. The rest of the night becomes rather hazy however the faint memory of singing, card games and Michael Jackson dance moves remained.

 The bitter cold and the smell of old beer on my own breath wake me up. Hangover kicks in and I couldn’t possibly feel worse... Oh wait, I am in Mongolia. Fuck. If I was back in Singapore I would just hop on down to Boat Quay for a lovely big fry up breakfast and soak up this horrible feeling but what do I do? I know there is a mean burger at that Irish bar but I am also aware that a bunch of crazy drunk Mongol bar staff that now know how to moon walk there waiting for me, despair! Ah time for my secret weapon. I know someone in Ulaanbaatar, a Mongolian girl.... Probably the best looking girl I ever met and she told me to let her know I was in town. I thought who better to know where to find some really good food in this frozen city.

She arrived we got in her car and off we went, I was being taken to the best place for westerners to hang out and chill I was told. I was looking forward to this but as we arrived I realised I was being taken back to the Grand Khaan Irish Pub! I sighed "we were here last night, this is what gave me this horrible hangover" It didn’t seem to matter though as she convinced us to get inside and have a pint of Guinness (which I didn’t realise they actually served) and some more food. The menu seemed much better than the previous day. After hours of catching up and drinking we realised it was quite late, approaching midnight actually and my host decided that we should hit Mongolia's top nightclub. I really did wonder what this would be like even if I felt like I had been dragged though a hedge backwards. I decided to go along. We arrived at a place called "Flux" as far as I remember it was not expensive to get in, Around 15 USD for the 3 of us (15,000 Tugriks). Seemed like a bargain. The music was mostly Trance, the drinks were quite cheap and the people inside seemed friendly enough to keep me calm and not worried what could happen if I accidentally got too drunk again.

The night passed and I woke up again with a hangover and a powerful lust for some good food but I had promised myself to make sure I done more cultural things today. I called my friend up and explained that I wanted to see some of the sights around the city! "It’s too cold she said, why don't we just go back to the Irish bar?" I declined and pushed the issue that I had 2 days left and I wanted to see some of the sights. Eventually I got her to agree to pick us up in half an hour outside our hotel. That gave us 30 minutes to drink as much local beer at the hotel bar as we could. Challenge accepted.

Since my school days and learning stories of Genghis storming around Asia taking over country by country with his mental wife Borte by his side, I always wanted to know more about one of the world’s most hidden countries. It was best our first port of call was the Natural History Museum of Mongolia which was an interesting place to visit, lots of good information and warmer than being outside. I had managed to shake off my hangover in the hotel bar so I was able to focus and take in a lot of information. Well worth a visit if you have time. Next on the list we pulled off the internet was the HUGE! Genghis Khan square near the centre of the city. It was a bitterly cold and crisp day so we could not spend too much time looking around before we ducked into a nice little coffee shop for a warm up. Next up and last on the list for the days cultural exposure was the Gandantegchinlen Khiid temple. Very much a hidden gem in Ulaanbaatar and must see if you like to see local monasteries and such. A very enjoyable five or six hours learning about the history of Mongolia.

After we were done we went back to the Irish Bar for some dinner and a few more beers before our host decided to give us a very nice surprise and offered us to stay in their house over night and sample what local life is like for the average Mongol! "YES! that sounds like a bloody awesome idea" I told her. So we shuffled back to the hotel, packed up some stuff and headed over to her house to meet her family and share some local dinner, drinks and general amusement at the two silly western people sitting in their living room. One thing that hit me almost instantly upon entering her house was the extreme cold these amazing people can deal with and think it’s actually quite comfortable. We soon got shown to our room which had some very nice single beds in them with very heavy blankets and a little electric heater. We settled in then headed into the main room to meet everyone and get the introductions out the way, very awkward as I was not quite sure we were fully invited by everyone, or maybe they did not know we were coming. With my friend doing the translations we started explaining what our hometowns were like and that we lived in Singapore and that Mongolia was a cold but naturally beautiful country, we had also managed to procure some gifts from the hotel to give to our hosts which broke the ice nicely. 

Dinner arrived along with some milk like alcohol (I still have no idea what it was) but it tasted very similar to Japanese sake which I really didn’t mind. Dinner was a simple beef soup, rather tasteless with large chunks of vegetable and lots of meat that took a lot of chewing. It was very bland but again not offensive. Surprisingly the house started to heat up (or it was the milky booze) and the jokes, card games, general photo sharing and information swapping continued. It must have been around 3 am before we actually managed to head off to bed which again was extremely comfortable. We were allowed to sleep in until around 12 when our host told us breakfast was waiting for us. We came back into the main room to find some eggs and bread was waiting for us which we ate quickly before thanking all of our wonderful hosts as we heading back to the hotel.

Our last day in Mongolia was going to be a quiet affair; we did make one more trip back to the Irish pub to say goodbye to the people there which turned into 4 hours of drinking with them again but it was enjoyable and worth it. We headed back to the hotel for dinner and to reflect on our few days, questioning was it worth what we paid, the answer was a straight yes... Well worth it and really enjoyable. The next day was Christmas but we really didn’t care. In fact we were in such a good mood we called up our local friend again and asked her to take us clubbing which knowing her she was right up for. Back to Flux we went, a little more expensive this time but we also got some free drinks with our entry which was cool. Again, the night passed so quickly due to meeting interesting people and having an awesome time in general which was really not expected? We arrived back home knowing we had an early morning flight and decided not to go to sleep as the thought of missing our flight terrified us, however we could have easily extended our stay if it was at all financial possible.

The next day came; we checked out and hit the airport saying our goodbyes to the friendly Japanese speaking Mongols working in our hotel. We boarded our flight to Seoul and then on to Singapore sleeping most of the way and just generally thankful that we even got to visit Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

To summarize it really is a worthwhile place to see, maybe it would have been nicer if it was a lot warmer but again somehow that added to the charm of it. Here are some of the goods and bads in my opinion...

Goods -

• Once in a life time place to visit and see
• Great cultural experience and such a historical place
• Some of the best looking woman I have ever seen in my life, imagine a cross between Russian and Korean
• Cheap considered to the majority of Asia countries
• Lovely people, so friendly and welcoming.
• You can get Guinness and there is an Irish pub, I was also told there is a few more but I didn’t visit them.
• Naturally stunning, such a beautiful country visibly. Unlike anything I have ever seen.
• Although the weather is cold, it’s a very crisp cold and a welcome change from the polluted cities in Asia

Bads -

• Not the easiest or cheapest place to get to. 
• It is very cold, so cold in fact that it hurts.
• There seems to be a lot of young violent men, so be advised when speaking to local girls.
• Food - it’s not great if I’m honest and even their take on western food severely lacks taste.
• English level is not all that great, not as bad as some places but it’s difficult unless you know someone there.

So to sum it all up it was a fantastic idea rather than the usual Phuket or Bali. I will never ever regret going there and actually because of that I went back the following year for a bit more time and to see my hosts again. Like I said I was really not expecting the cold and was not prepared for how cold it actually gets which is really my fault. I can't speak highly enough and would recommend anyone to see the city before it becomes rich from natural resources and changes, you can already see that happening with shiny new office towers going up in the centre. I would advise you try to learn a bit of the history before going as the people really seem to like the fact you know about their country. 

As always I will end this post with saying I hope you enjoyed or found the information above useful, again it’s not meant to be a tour guide or anything but what it was like for a young 20something to experience it his own way.

As always, if you have any questions please just ask!