Last day in Mongolia

It’s my last full day in Mongolia! It’s been a great trip, but will be good to go somewhere warm. Today we went sight-seeing again. First, lunch at a small hostel called the Oasis. The owners have set up a few gers and built a small guest house that caters to people coming to Mongolia for biking, hiking, fishing, and other outdoor excursions. There were people there, even now when it is so cold.

Next, off to Bogd Khan’s Winter Palace. Bogd Khan was the emperor of Mongolia and spiritual leader of Mongolia’s Tibetan Buddhism from 1911 until 1924. The architecture of the palace reminded me a little of Japanese and Korean architecture, but not quite so ornate. Inside the various outbuildings were examples of Mongolian art including sculpting, painting, weaving, and other fabric work. Couldn’t take any pictures of the inside because they charged to be allowed to use a camera, and I was too cheap to pay what they were asking. I did get some pictures from outside the fence, and I’ll try to post those later.

Next we went to the Zaisan Memorial. This monument sits on top of a high hill on the outskirts of the city. It was built by Russia as a memorial to Russian soldiers that were killed in Mongolia fighting the Chinese during WWII. To reach the memorial, you have to climb some fairly steep stairs from the lot to the top. The climb doesn’t look that hard at first, but as you get closer to the top, your reminded that the city of UB sits about 4300ft above sea level, and your climbing several hundred feet up! Inside are paintings showing the friendship between Russia and Mongolia (from the Russian perspective). You also have a beautiful view of all of UB and the surrounding mountains. Today was a beautiful clear day. The temperature dropped last night, and the wind and snow picked up through the morning. When the snow stopped, the sun came out, and the wind had blown all the smoke away (smoke from the ger fires). What a beautiful place!

Just down the road from the monument, past the President’s palace, is the UB Ski Park. They have three runs on manufactured snow. I think our local skiers would laugh at the “black run”, but it is very popular here. We saw many families at the sight, which was surprising because people here don’t make much money, even in the city. We asked about cost, and for a middle class family, it is affordable. A family of 4 can rent skis and boots, get lift passes (a quad lift, amazingly enough), and have a meal in the restaurant for under $80USD. They also have a great sledding area, complete with a lift back to the top of the sledding hill. I thought sledding for a while would be fun, but I couldn’t convince my hosts that we should do that. Then I found out they do not rent sleds.

So, back in the car, and our host decides we should see what it is like to go off-roading in Mongolia. Now keep in mind, there is about 6 inches of snow, and much deeper drifts. He heads off, and finds a track that someone has been on before. We drive up a very big hill (more like a mountain) following this track, and end up at the Mongolian Astronomical and Geothermal Institute. We couldn’t go into any of the buildings, but it’s amazing what you can find in the mountains while off-roading.
We managed to get back down the mountain on the ice and snow, and then time to go back to the hotel to finish packing and get ready to fly out to Australia tomorrow. In my next post, I’ll share a few other observations of Mongolia (food, driving, people, etc.). Thanks for travelling with me!