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Terelj National Park, Ulaanbaatar, 976, Mongolia
Visiting a Nomad Family
Inside Modern Nomads, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Gandan Monastery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
State Department Store, Ulaanbaatar
Looking for advise on train travel between Ulaan Baator and Beijing.
I am in the process of organising a three week train trip from the Netherlands all the way to Beijing (we'll fly back). Obviously we want to make a few stops along the way, but we won't have a lot of time. I read somewhere that there aren't many trains between UB en Beijing and because August is a busy season it is advised to book train tickets ahead of time. What do you think? Should I use an agent to get tickets for the UB - Beijing stretch to make sure we don't get stuck in Mongolia waiting for a train? We do have a plane to catch in Beijing and we don't have much leeway. Is there an agent you would recommend? Or do you think we should be fine if we buy the tickets when we arrive in UB two or three days before we leave again. Are there alternatives to the transmongolian trains? (In case it matters - we want to depart UB on August saterday 18th or sunday 19th.)
Your advice is much appreciated.
Niekie
Never did that trip but I know that Eurocult in Utrecht is a good agency/travel agent for that part of the world. In the past they helped me very efficiently.
Hi Niekie
There are train leaves Ulaanbaatar to Beijing only twice a week and there is no alternative to Transmongolia. Train to Beijing leaves only on Thursdays and Sundays /this train is Moscow-ULN-BJS train/. I'm sure u have to book the train tickets at least one to two months ahead, because during the high tourist season /June to September/ it is always booked ahead and difficult to get. U better use an agent in UB to get the tickets. If u wish to have any other advice let me know.
It is true that the transmongolian train passes through UB only twice a week. And getting tickets on this train from UB to Beijing can be difficult. But there is an alternative. There is a train that leaves every evening for a chinese bordertown. From there you can either take an onward train (with a switch in Datong if i remember correctly) or take a nightbus to Beijing. In this case you haven't done the whole transmongolian trip but i can tell you, being on a chinese nightbus is also quite an experience.....
Thank you all for responding. We still haven't decided what we want to do. We will be traveling by train from our hometown in the Netherlands, so it would be a nice conclusion to our trip if we were to arrive in Beijing by train. On the other hand, taking the local train and nightbus option also appeals to me because it will give us more freedom and sounds like an adventure. I'll let you guys know what we decided.
Thanks for the input,
Niekie
Day one of the Naadam Festival (July 11th) starts at about 9am with a fantastic, colourful ceremony outside the State Parliament House at Sukhbaatar Square. Chinggis Khaan's nine yak tails, representing the nine tribes of the Mongols, are ceremonially transported from Sukhbaatar Square to Naadam Stadium to open the festivities.
15 minutes by car you can reach city outskirts and see families who live nomadic way of life, you can talk to them (better with guide), you can try some food specialities (for small fee), make photos with them, play with children, horse riding. Very non-western atmosphere.
This place, like many other in Ulaan Baatar makes yummy bread and pastries. It speciallizes in apple schtrudels, pretzels, bread, that sort of thing. It has also a big array of German herbal teas and serves cappuccino coffee. It has tables outside by the roadside and also a sitting area inside. Very cosy with nice music. The staff are very helpful.
When we went there we were so shocked to find real sweets and coffee and herbal teas - after a particularly strenuous trip around Asia - that we ordered a hot drink and a desert each and then had a repeat of everything. The Mongolian waitress seemed a little puzzled at first but brought everything we had asked for with no further enquiries.. Described by Lonely Planet as the best bakery in north-east Asia.
On our tour in the Terelj National Park we visited two nomad families. At the first family we were invited inside their temporary home - a ‘ger’ - for tea. A ‘ger’ is a kind of Mongolian tent made of canvas or felt, draped over an ingenious frame to make it an easily moveable home. Smart because Mongolian nomads normally move 2-4 times a year to find fresh grass for their livestock.
At lunchtime, we visited another family who was living at their winter site, and therefore stayed in a wooden house. Here we had lunch, and the menu was fantastic. First we had a very tasty and nutritious soup as a starter, and the main course was homemade meatballs wrapped in dough. It tasted great!
Both families were incredibly friendly, and we were told about their life as nomads. No one in the family spoke English, and because we were a little rusty in Mongolian, our local guide had to translate the conversation for us. It was a great experience to visit the families and get a glimpse of a life so different from ours in little Denmark…
This is a must-do in Mongolia!
The huge empty Sukhbaatar Square in the centre of Ulaanbaatar is surrounded by many imposing governmental and cultural buildings, allthough by the large scale of the square they look to reduce in size. The buildings are a mixture of different architecture styles and colours.
In the north is the grey Government House, in the north-east the tall and modern Palace of Culture with the Art Gallery, in the south-east the salmon-pink State Opera & Ballet Theatre, in the north-west the yellow building with a bank and a clay-red building of the former Children's Cinema.
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Q: Going to Mongolia "We've always wanted to go to Mongolia, and Ulaanbaatar, during Ulaanbaatar's Naadam festival. The airfares, however, during that..."
A: "August 15th is the Gobi Nadaam Festival held at Khongor sand dunes in the southern Gobi desert. It's a much smaller (thus less touristy) affair."
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