Tourist Tatyana about her impression of Mongolia. Travel to Mongolia, only positive impressions! Nightingales are not fed fables
On this page I will try to touch upon the problems that a person planning to travel to Mongolia may encounter (http://tomgem-planeta.ru/?page_id=155).
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Western Mongolia. Khashaki-Daba pass 2561m
VISA. We received a visa at the Mongolian consulate in Yekaterinburg. And this is not an easy task; getting a visa to Germany is easier. Theoretically, this process takes two to three days, but in reality the person who does this is not there for weeks. To obtain a visa you need an invitation from the Mongolian side. We received the invitation here www.legendtour.ru/rus. It cost 800 rubles per person.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Western Mongolia. Mount Tsast-Ula 4208 m
CUSTOMS. We went through customs in Altai, in Tashanta. MONGOLIAN customs works from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon always, except Saturday, Sunday, holidays (Mongolian holidays), as well as several non-holidays. Lunch is from one to two, which, according to Mongolian arithmetic, is one and a half to two hours.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Sands near the village. Bogd.
To enter with your own car you need INTERNATIONAL driver license. They were of no use to us. In general, the transit time depends on the case. When entering Mongolia, the Russians processed us in ten minutes, but the Mongols tormented us for an hour, not counting the two-hour lunch. On the way back, the Mongols processed us in fifteen minutes, but on the Russian side we stood for about three hours - there was a long queue, the procedure itself took about fifteen minutes.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Lonely saxaul.
RELATIONS WITH LOCAL. We asked this question to the truck driver at customs. He told us in detail about fuel, roads and fords. And after the question about the attitude of the Mongols towards tourists, it froze... As it turned out, there was a reason. Most of the locals are of the “let’s come here in large numbers” type of tourists, that is, in best case scenario no way. Therefore, if anything happens, do not hope that the locals will pull you out of the sands and swamps. Mongols, with very rare exceptions, do not speak Russian or English, except at gas stations. However, if the Mongols get lost in their Mongolia and ask for directions, they remember Russian, English, and even sign language.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Weathering caves in granites.
We began to be perceived as tourists in Bayankhongor, and further east. But you can just feel crime, especially in northwestern cities. Archi, local vodka, everyone drinks a lot, drunk driving is the norm.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Stone partridge.
ROADS. Much has been written about the roads of Mongolia, but it is simply impossible to describe them completely. Imagine that a piece of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway, a couple of kilometers long, is being repaired. And there is a detour along a dirt road, with all the potholes, dust and other delights. These are the best sections of the Mongolian federal road. But the worst is the “washboard.” Its maximum manifestation is for 130 km in front of the city of Altai. The ripples on the road are gigantic. With a half-wave length of 40 centimeters, its amplitude reaches 20 centimeters. Cars just fall apart. Reducing your tire pressure as much as possible will help.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Sands of the Datsyn-Tsav tract.
New roads are being built in Mongolia, but... all at once. And you can often see a picture - on a hundred-kilometer section of a well-filled road, one single grader is busy leveling it, sometimes helped by one roller. So this is not a quick thing. But nevertheless, separate sections of asphalt, 20 to 60 kilometers long, already exist.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Jeyran.
And further. If you book a tour with a rented car, don’t settle for UAZs. Not only that, most likely you won’t get there. In forty-degree heat, you will breathe not air, but dust, and regularly deform the top of the car with your head. http://tomgem-planeta.ru/?page_id=155
FUEL. I will talk about diesel. It is available in almost all localities. We refueled at red PETROVIC gas stations. The cost of fuel is 45-55 rubles. Along federal highways, the quality of fuel is high, certainly better than in Altai along the Chuysky tract. And at a distance from federal highways, diesel is very bad; in the sand, the car boils on it. So in the desert it is better to fill the tank with fuel from stored canisters.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Datsyn-Tsav tract.
HOTELS. This is a very big problem. If this is an expensive hotel, from 1200 rubles, then, as the Mongols themselves say, they are “not for sleeping.” The girls scream all night. If this cheap hotel, you will listen to the showdown of drunken Mongols until the morning. We were lucky with housing only twice - the Seoul Hotel for $40 in Bayankhongor and the Khan Uul for $100 in the city of Dalandzadgad. These are real business rooms, better than business in Moscow's Izmailovo.
PRODUCTS. No problem. IN major cities There are plenty of shops with all kinds of products, and the prices are half ours.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Dunes Khongoryn Els.
PUBLIC CATERING. There are problems. Restaurants will most likely serve inedible local food. It’s easier to eat in cafes in markets. Here you can eat buuzas - sort of mantopelmeni, chebureki, rice with meat. It’s delicious, and 150 rubles was enough for the three of us. It is better not to eat in yurts between cities. Firstly, it’s not tasty, and secondly, it’s expensive. And it will take an hour and a half, since they will most likely start cooking from scratch.
TOMGEM PLUS VIDEO. Mongolia. South Gobi. Dunes Khongoryn Els.
CURRENCY. Along the southern federal road ONLY tugriks are accepted, and at banks ONLY dollars are accepted for exchange. In Northwestern Mongolia you can pay in tugriks, dollars, and rubles.
NAVIGATION. A map and a navigator were used to navigate the area. Map - overview map of Mongolia at a scale of 1:5000000 with schematically marked roads, settlements And mountain ranges. This turned out to be enough. There were maps of provinces with a bunch of roads and a bunch of villages, but in reality these were not villages, but migrating camps, and the Mongolian country roads are generally a mirage. That is, provincial maps are absolutely useless. One thing you can’t do without in Mongolia is a navigator. We had a GARMIN MONTANA-600 with downloaded General Staff maps 1:500000. He did not lead along the roads, but showed the direction. And there were enough roads in the area to follow these directions. In general, they did not fornicate, and even the lost Mongols were pointed with a finger where to go. And further. Mongols rarely imagine what is further than 50 km from their camp, village, or city. So it’s better to rely on your own strength.
CONTINUED HERE.
During a week in Mongolia, I still couldn’t understand what it was: from the outside it was the “sixteenth republic” former USSR", and inside - virgin Asia, or vice versa: outside - virgin Asia, and inside - the "sixteenth republic"? The main emotion of a traveler in Mongolia is a mind blowing, and at every step. The main emotion of Mongolia itself, its national motto - " no one cares!” Well, the Mongolian Altai, the valley of the Kobdo River in the Bayan-Ulgii and Khovd aimags is the farthest from the capital and the most atypical corner of Mongolia. In the first part I will tell you about the road there from Russia and about the local, mostly urban, specifics; for the second part I will leave the story about the life of nomads. But for all of Mongolia these impressions are typical, or only for its western corner - I don’t dare to guess yet.
There is also a plane, but the prices for it are completely different: from Ulgii to the capital by bus it costs 80 thousand tugriks (about 2000 rubles), and by plane - 350 thousand. The planes here are beautiful, all that flew over us were turboprops, such as this Fokker 50.
Specific transport (besides airplanes, of course) also gives rise to a specific attitude towards the toilet. There are not even the most miserable village toilets on the highways, there is nowhere to hide in the steppe, so a sanitary stop looks like this: half the bus gets out, forms a line and begins to relieve itself. Or vomit - judging by two trips along the Ulgii-Khovd road, a critical number of local residents have a weak vestibular system that fails at the passes. In a big way, you can sit down behind a stone, but that’s if there is one. Women in this sense are not much shyer than men, so Mongolian buses can be strongly recommended to adherents of urinophilia. Disgusted people (like Olya and me) will have to be mentally prepared for all this. For example, in Ulgiye there is a toilet without a door, facing the street:
With the appearance of its cities, Mongolia truly appears to be the “sixteenth republic.” The same five-story buildings, low-rise Stalin buildings and even wooden barracks, the same garages, rusty playgrounds and garbage cans, and of course balconies, glazed in whatever way:
Familiar landscapes, if you have seen them, or:
In some places there is also something else - barracks with unusually frequent windows and square-section pipes of yard boiler houses evoke in me associations with China during the time of Mao Zedong, which I have never seen.
In general, the Mongolian city looks more neglected and uncomfortable than even in Kyrgyzstan or the Russian North. In the same Khovd, paving stones and tiles were once laid, lanterns and benches were installed, but without daily maintenance, all this became covered with debris and dust. New buildings look especially contrasting - nowhere in the former USSR are there such cramped courtyards without a single blade of grass:
Mongolian entrances are completely post-Soviet - that is, musty, covered in writing and covered with advertisements. But on the right, pay attention to a small detail - from the threshold the staircase leads not only up, but also down: in the basements of the new buildings there are also apartments!
In the centers of Mongolian cities you can come across very good Stalin buildings, mainly administrations, hotels and cultural centers:
Twice - in Ulgii and Khovd - we came across a stone clock. At first we joked that this was a very clear expression of how Mongolians relate to time. But when we saw the watch a second time, we realized that the hands on it were in the same exact position. What time is imprinted on them? Revolution, declaration of independence, some kind of victory?
But the main “trick” of Mongolian cities is that yurts suddenly literally jump out of them from the most unexpected places:
Let's say a yurt on the outskirts of a college - maybe it's inhabited by workers doing repairs from somewhere in the steppe?
In Khovd, on the outskirts, there is a whole Yurt city. These are essentially slums - people come to the city and don’t build themselves a shack out of dung and sticks, but simply set up a yurt and live in it. Some settle down so well that they put fences around the yurt, enclosing areas, but I think most of the inhabitants of yurt cities come to the cities to earn money during the season:
Even in the courtyards of rich houses, a yurt can stand, at least serving as a summer kitchen, veranda or living room. This is Ulgiy - there is no yurt city here, but there are almost more yurts placed in the courtyards, and note that they are of a different design - in Khovd the yurts are Mongolian (ger), and here - Turkic (Kazakh-ui):
Mongolian cities are a very striking monument to what is called “false urbanization.” Here in Khovd on the lawn central square cow grazing:
42. Photographed by Olya.
And one of the “tricks” of Ulgiya is the regular cattle drive through the city:
Cattle are far from the only animal notable in Mongolian cities. I observed the same thing in Kosh-Agach, that is, this is apparently a common feature for Trans-Altai - here there are kites instead of crows:
They sit on wires, trees, roofs:
Circling over the trash heaps:
47. photo of Olya
They dive into yards, hunting for pigeons, puppies, kittens, or meat for the dog while she sleeps in the kennel:
48. photo of Olya
So it’s no wonder that repellers hang on power lines:
The Mongolian language is beautiful, although where we were it was represented mainly by inscriptions and stage music. I think “clear writing” suited him much more than the Cyrillic alphabet: all “holes bu schil ubeschuur.” But the meaning of the inscriptions is generally clear: “Come in, you’ll be amazed!”, “Everything is VERY complicated there, think before you do something” and “From the fire there will be TAMKHI-TATAKH-GARGAKHYG!”
The contingent in Mongolia, if it differs from Central Asia, Kazakhstan or Altai, is not much: there are both slovenly Selyuks and attractive, stylish young people. I don’t remember Gopniks here, and the police are friendly and not inclined to extortion - there have never been stories like the Central Asian ones in Mongolia. They say that it can be easy to run into drunk people here, but we have not had such experience, and from hearsay, drunk people are not aggressive towards tourists and, in the worst case, they will try to fight. Again, as I understand from other people’s notes, the situation here is much worse than with aggression, with theft - it’s better not to leave things unattended even at the borders.
Another unusual property of Mongolia is perhaps the easiest and most painless transition to democracy in history. Until 1911, it was a province of China, in 1921-90 it was quite a totalitarian socialist country, and in the 1990s it became democratic - without unrest and pogroms, without a “father of the nation” with an iron order, without political hysteria. Since 2017, the country has been ruled by its fifth president, the Mongolian People's (formerly People's Revolutionary) and Democratic parties regularly replace each other in elections. Lenin in Ulaanbaatar was demolished only in 2012, but in Khovd, on one of the shops (!) hangs the Order of Sukhbaatar - apparently, there is socialist nostalgia here:
But the red star coexists peacefully with the swastika. Mongolia sent caravans with warm clothes and meat to help the USSR, tens of thousands of camel journeys from Khovd to Biysk. Maybe there were Mongolian volunteers at the front, but in principle the Mongols did not fight fascism. An important difference between Mongolia and the former USSR is that there is no stamp of the Great Patriotic War. Therefore, for the Mongols, the swastika is just a solstice:
Before the trip, I was sure that Mongolia had become a protectorate of China. But I would say it is sinicized to an almost greater extent. Tajiks are as thrilled at the mention of China as Ukrainians are at the word “Europe,” but the Mongols have a long-standing fear of the Celestial Empire, for which they can contact Russia. They say that Chinese influence is more noticeable closer to Ulaanbaatar, but Bayan-Ulgii and Khovd are definitely looking to the North:
I would estimate the command of the Russian language here to be approximately at the level of the most non-Russian-speaking places of the former USSR, such as Southern Tajikistan or the rural outback of Estonia. Every second person here can speak a couple of words in Russian, and in almost any crowded place there will be at least one person who speaks Russian almost fluently. Moreover, I heard about this from different people, - Mongols are very conscientious in their studies, so if a Mongolian speaks Russian, then it’s worth it. It is possible to explain yourself here in Russian, and in any case it is much easier than in English. Knowledge of English, it seemed to me, correlates with age (typical of young people), but knowledge of Russian, in my opinion, does not correlate with anything - among young people and yurt residents and among the older generation and townspeople, we came across all three cases in equal proportions. In general, the tension between the two great powers is very noticeable here. For example, we once met a woman whose daughter is studying in Beijing and her son in Tomsk.
A strange socket with different plugs in the Khovd hotel is clear evidence of the proximity of China with its cheap consumer goods to the whole world. Maybe that’s why Mongolia seems closer to the Anglo-Saxon world than the post-Soviet countries, with the possible exception of the Baltic states.
Another property of Mongolia is that almost nothing is produced there. Essentially it all comes down to mines and livestock farming, but the ore will not be sold in stores. According to statistics, 2/3 of imports into Mongolia come from China, 1/3 from Russia, but in grocery stores in Ulgiya and Khovda the proportion looks rather reversed. The geography of goods in a country that is not burdened with the support of domestic producers is impressive - on the shelves and display cases, a kaleidoscope of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Korea, Germany, Poland, Israel, Japan... I remember how before leaving we bought 5 chocolates - and all from different countries. But many products are simply not available in Mongolia, because the locals are not interested in them - for example, we did not see cheese in the stores.
Actually, Mongolian products are not numerous, but everything we came across was excellent. For example, here is the incredibly tasty and very natural fruit water “Goyo”:
Well, it’s no secret to many travelers that Mongolian stew is the best in the world:
And you will probably ask - where is Genghis Khan? So - NO. For a week in two western aimags we did not see a single monument to the Shaker of the Universe.
Mongolia is a country that can really surprise you. Here, for comparison, are impressions of the same year about Central Mongolia from Denis - see CONTENTS!
Mongolian Altai - there will be posts!
Land of Kobdo. First impressions of Mongolia.
Land of Kobdo. About nomadic Kazakhs.
Ulgiy. Capital of Mongolian Kazakhstan.
Ulgii-Khovd. Mongolian road.
Khovd (Kobdo). Oldest city Mongolia.
Mankhan. Land of Zakhchins and petroglyphs of the Stone Age.
Mongolian Altai. Road to Khurgan-Nur.
Mongolian Altai. Kobdinsky lakes.
Mongolian Altai. Back through Tsengel.
Non-Altai Kazakhstan - see CONTENTS!
Steppe Altai - see CONTENTS!
We offer 10 main impressions of Mongolia. We traveled many roads through this country, from Ulan-Ude to Ulaanbaatar, to Erdenet, Moron and to Lake Khubsugul. And here's what we learned from it...
1. Attractions
– this is not something worth going to Mongolia for. There are museums, archaeological sites of ancient people, the Gobi Desert - but all this and other places are very far from the average idea of attractions. In addition, such places are usually located on the outskirts; public transport It’s almost unrealistic, and given the huge size of Mongolia, chasing after attractions that are scattered in different parts of the country is completely stupid. 
It’s worth going to Mongolia for the sensations, for the pleasure of today. Enjoy the sun, steppe landscapes, Mongolian cuisine and communication with the locals. By the way, most of these “delights” are available on the road. All kinds of views of the steppe open from the car and bus; drivers and passengers relax, turn on their favorite Mongolian music, sway to the beat and sing along. 
2. Intercity transport
Mongolia has a poorly developed network of buses and a more accessible network of... cars. Yes, exactly passenger cars for which you buy tickets at the bus station, and as soon as they are full, you can go. Just don’t relax: after leaving the bus station, the driver begins to collect more passengers outside the city (bypassing the bus station) until they are like herrings in a barrel. In the end, we tried to get a promise from the drivers: are five people sure to go? But there are no guarantees here either, because children are not considered people: the driver nods and pushes three more children into the car. The only salvation we found was to shake the camera, say “tourist photo” and point to the front seat. Chances are they'll let you sit there and you won't have to cram in with five passengers in the back. 
3. Drivers
intercity transport is also an interesting sight. At the first bus station in Darkhan, we saw them huddling in groups, exposing their bellies and warming them in the sun. Apparently, the bigger the belly, the more respected the person is. And so it is at every station. It's a shame it's inconvenient to photograph. 
4. It is clear that nothing is clear– this became our motto in Mongolia. No matter what situation we tried to interpret, it turned out that we were wrong. For example, we are crowded into a car with the next passengers to go from point A to point B. A young girl and a grandmother are riding with us in the back, in front in the front seats is a driver and a woman of the same age. Everyone is chatting happily, the girl takes a bottle from the driver and drinks from it, nibbles two ice cream cones in the car at once, then lies down on her grandmother’s shoulder and falls asleep. From this we conclude that we are driving in a car with a family: mom, dad, grandmother and granddaughter, who drinks from dad’s bottle, who he allows to eat ice cream in the car, and who sleeps on her grandmother’s shoulder. Apparently they took us for a ride to justify the gas. However, upon arrival at point B, everyone goes in different directions and “dad” turns out to be an ordinary bomber. It’s just that in Mongolia it’s normal to drink from someone else’s bottle and sleep on someone else’s shoulder.
And so every time - without knowing the language and traditions - epic fail. 
5. Food
Mongolia is special; this set of products cannot be found anywhere else. First of all, this is meat, a lot of meat, heaps of meat in a portion - a vegetarian simply cannot survive here. Also rice, some potatoes, a lot of airag (mare's milk), tea (salted, with butter), almost complete absence of fruit. We heard a lot from foreigners about how terrible Mongolian food is, too simple and even primitive. At such moments they became very angry and could hardly restrain themselves from suggesting that they sit at home and eat their “complicated” food. In fact, even though nothing grows here, the variety of cooking methods and products themselves is amazing. The following photo is illustrative: this is food on the counter - to attract customers. 
6. Basic historical myth, on which Mongolian statehood is built, is the former power of the Mongol Empire and the associated figure of Genghis Khan. By calling the state idea a myth, we are in no way saying that it is false - on the contrary, it is interesting what kind of history becomes central to the self-awareness of different countries. Maps of former Mongolian possessions hang in Mongolian houses; they can be bought at any bookstore. 
Next to the cards there are usually various Buddhist paraphernalia and photographs of relatives. All this usually forms small altars - a set of main objects in the house. 
7. Another reason to be proud is that was found in Mongolia a large number of dinosaur skeletons. True, most of them are in museums abroad (for example, in the New York Museum of Natural History). Most skeletons of Tarbosaurus, a Eurasian relative of the American tyrannosaurus, were found in Mongolia and the Gobi. A museum in Ulaanbaatar tells more stories about Mongolian dinosaurs. 
8. Perhaps a negative point: Mongols have a difficult relationship with alcohol. Many people don’t know how to drink and become very aggressive, clingy and unpleasant. As we already talked about, many people from different ethnic groups do not know how to drink, but we still do not recommend approaching a cheerful foreign Mongolian company. But you will have to drink with new friends!
9. Khubsugul.
If you are still looking for attractions in Mongolia, we recommend visiting Lake Khubsugul: it is easy to get to, and there are places to walk and things to do around the lake. And stunning views are guaranteed. Here you can stay in a yurt or a hotel, but it’s much more interesting and romantic to stay in a tent on the shore of the lake. 
10. Weather.
It may seem that Mongolia is Central Asia, a piece of which is desert, and there is drought all summer. However, unlike, for example, or, in Mongolia they often go summer rains, sometimes torrential and for days. So it’s worth taking waterproof shoes and a raincoat with you. 
Also at night the temperature drops significantly, so if you are going to sleep in a tent, it is better to take a warmer sleeping bag. Well, in general, it’s worth taking a sleeping bag to Mongolia, unless you’re staying in five-star hotels: in average hotels (as well as in backpacker hostels), they don’t really change their linen.
In general, to these 10 impressions you can easily add 10 more! About stoic Mongolian children who never seem to cry and how much time Mongolian fathers spend with them. About yurts, yaks, gophers, mare's and camel's milk. About folk costumes and eagles constantly soaring across the steppe. About a copper mine and a Catholic mission in Erdenet, led by a priest from the Congo. All the stories are yet to come!
— The idea of going to Mongolia arose after our very picky friends visited there. Usually they stay in hotels of at least 4 stars, but suddenly Mongolia! We lived in yurts, have been to Khubsugol three times already, and always talk about our travels with delight. At the same time, there was still a visa - three thousand rubles. I was incredibly sorry to pay 12,000 for my family, and this year visas were canceled, and we decided to celebrate my birthday in Mongolia, because a holiday in Thailand, beloved by many, has become very expensive.
As it turns out, there is very, very little information about travel to Mongolia. Where to stay? What to see? What are the nuances when crossing the border? I literally collected information drop by drop. I thought the most important thing was placement. That's what I did first. The choice is very, very limited. The most famous are the “Earth’s End” and “Silver Coast” bases. Both are nearby. “The End of the Earth” attracted us due to the presence of comfortable rooms, which we still did not use. But the free-standing, well-appointed toilets, washbasins and showers were used to their fullest. We didn’t book the base through well-known sites only because they simply don’t have any offers for Khubsugul. By the way, the weather in a given place is also not so easy to find out on the Internet. The phone app cannot find the lake or the village of Khan Ha, but claims that Khan Ha is a city in the Chai Nat province of Thailand.
So, we are going big company— 9 adults and 6 children, the youngest is not even a year old. We are planning to travel in 4 cars. For a married couple of two people, I book a 3-person yurt (800 rubles per person per night). Two families of 2 adults and 2 children each in a 4-bed yurt (700 rubles per person). However, payment is only for adults. Children under 7 years old are free. My fourth yurt is for a group of 3 adults and 2 children.
So, at the beginning of May everything is booked. By the end of the month, 20% of the declared amount was paid. The rest is at the base. We leave on July 2nd and return on the 6th. What to take? What to buy? What kind of products? I'm reading customs regulations: Raw meat is prohibited from being imported, and only lamb and yak meat can be purchased locally. But we are somehow more accustomed to pork in kebabs. Next, you can carry 1 liter of strong and up to 5 liters of weak drinks. I recommend taking vegetables and fruits, they are not there at all. Looking ahead, I’ll say that the kitchen tent, camping chairs and tables were also very useful; in general, you need to be equipped like you would for Lake Baikal - you can’t go wrong!
We set off on our journey at 7 am. The first car went far ahead due to unforeseen circumstances. We correspond via SMS messages and applications, we learn that at a checkpoint near the village of Shaluty, where they collect money for travel to Arshan, friends were asked for international passports. To make sure that they are really going to Mongolia, and not to Arshan. They also asked us for our passports, but they didn’t look.
Now some numbers. The distance from Irkutsk to Lake Khubsugul is about 330 kilometers. You need to go to the village of Mondy, the road is asphalted. From the village to the border it is approximately 10 kilometers. It is necessary to fully refuel the car in Kultuk and refuel in Kyren. In Mondy, refueling is not guaranteed. That's what they write. But we refueled there, in Monds. On Khubsugol you can only refuel in the village of Khankh, but only with diesel fuel and A-80 gasoline. From the border to Khankh there are 22 kilometers of gravel road.
In Mondy, at the checkpoint they take away passports for about 10 minutes. There, at the border, we met a huge horde of spiders, so it’s necessary to take sprays. Columns of cars are passed one by one. First on one side of the border, then on the other. Our travel time was 2-2.5 hours. Drivers fill out declarations if they are carrying something heavy, more than 50 kilograms. My husband paid a fee of 70 rubles - all drivers pay it. Passengers fill out a declaration; if they are carrying something that needs to be declared, they will tell you about it at the border.
At the Mongolian border they filled out a registration sheet. The driver additionally fills out a sheet, which is marked by customs and border guards. They will tell and show you everything. The border checkpoint is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week.
Here we are in Mongolia, we are driving away from the border, and there is some kind of checkpoint with a barrier. People in uniform collect 100 rubles per adult for visiting the national park. If you don't show your receipt on the way back, you'll have to pay again. Another important point is registration. When entering or leaving, you need to register with the village administration for 170 rubles per person.
When exchanging opinions with other travelers to Khubsugol, it turns out that someone paid for the children too. Someone paid not 170, but 300 rubles. In general, there is no clarity on this issue.
There is a gravel road from the border, closer to the village we see signs with the name of our base and now we are already in front of the gate. We spend some time looking for an administrator and go to get acquainted with the placement. And then it turns out that everything is in order with three yurts, and the fourth yurt is some kind of Khan’s yurt. Let's go have a look. This is the most extreme yurt, secluded, with its own territory. It has a huge double bed, a folding sofa, a table with chairs, a wardrobe with hangers, two bedside tables, two chests of drawers, a stove, and a heater. There are 4 sockets in the yurt. Regular yurts also have a stove and a heater. Nobody warned us about this yurt, but it costs 4,000 rubles per day - we somehow didn’t expect that kind of money. But during the payment process they tell us that it’s 4,000 rubles for two adults, and you’ll pay an additional 1,500 per day for the third, and in the end they agreed on 4,000 for the yurt.
On the second day of our stay, we went to explore the surrounding area, with relatives acting as guides, who were not in Mongolia for the first time. So, we leave the base in three cars. We are driving along some incredible road, all covered in stones. The only worse road is to Khoboy on Olkhon.
We are approaching the coast of Khubsugol. Lonely tent. If you want solitude, a break from everyone, then you should definitely go to Khubsugol. No one around! Not a single soul. Simply ringing silence! And we are going for grayling, which you can catch with your hands while standing in the river! At least that’s how our relatives caught it last year! We go with anticipation, we arrive, and the river is half dry, and there’s not even a smell of grayling there. We went to another lake, but there were no fish there either. We did not despair and had a picnic.
On the way back we stop at Khankh. He's just on the way to our base. In one cafe they tell us that only khushurs are available. I am surprised to learn that in Mongolia, khushurs are chebureks. Let's move on. The other cafe has a richer selection. We stop. We order poses for 30 rubles and try the national dish for the first time - tsuivan (150 rubles). These are noodles, potatoes and meat. We ordered a medium portion, but it was too big for one person.
The acquaintance with local cuisine continued the next day. On my holiday I wanted to surprise the guests with something, and the administrator of the base suggested horhog. Lamb is used to prepare it. The meat on the bone is cut into pieces. Ten to twenty smooth stones the size of a fist are placed in the fire. Meat and hot stones are placed in a metal vessel, which is often a milk can, and salt and spices are added. Often prepared with vegetables (carrots, cabbage, potatoes). Next, the required amount of water is added, the vessel is closed with a lid and placed on fire. Extinguishing occurs with heat from fire and hot stones. The dish takes half an hour to prepare. The contents of the vessel are divided into portions, and hot stones are given to the guests. During cooking, they absorb fat and become black and slippery. Khorkhog is usually eaten with hands.
We also tried a local delicacy - fried lamb liver wrapped in lard. It's very greasy for my taste! As for the horhog, I got a hard piece of meat, and my friends got soft ones. Overall, I didn't like this dish at all. By the way, during the cooking process, our khorhog was taken away with the words “it will be faster on the stove.” Somehow inauthentic. According to the rules, everything must be done at the stake and with stones. I am completely disappointed with this dish. Cooking a whole lamb costs 8,000 rubles, half - 4,000, and a quarter - 2,000. We ordered the latter, and there was more than enough for everyone.
Of course, we also tried Mongolian tea. And this is how it is prepared: boil water in a cast-iron cauldron, throw in tiled green tea, add milk, boil again until fully cooked, then add salt, butter, toasted flour, lightly fried lamb tail fat, and sheep bone marrow. Tea with such ingredients often serves as the only food for nomadic pastoralists for many days. A thin layer of fat floats on the surface of this tea. Drink it without sugar. As they say, it’s better to try once, although for people with weak stomachs such “tea drinking” may be fraught with not very pleasant consequences. To be honest, this tea is more like soup.
The fourth day in Mongolia was devoted to trips around the surrounding area. So we saw that manure was dried - they used it to heat the stoves in the yurt, but ours used firewood. We are driving without a guide, at random, and then we stop at a very interesting place, by the way, similar to Olkhon. Obo is a sacred Mongolian place. The shamanic sanctuary of Arvan-Gurvan-obo, literally translated into Russian as “13 obo,” is located on the protruding rocky Khanginsky cape. This place was consecrated in 2005, at the same time 13 new stones were built from large white boulders, which were brought on several trucks, and the whole village carried stones and built the sanctuary. Shamanic rituals are still practiced at this place, fresh fire pits and skulls of sacrificial animals can be seen next to the central observatory.
Later we walked along the rocks above the shore - the view was like the Maldives. I’m also just sure that when you’re abroad, you don’t think about how your phone calls the place where you’re staying. And this is funny. For example, we are on Khubsugul, but the phone thinks differently. A similar situation was at Phi Phi Island in Thailand.
This concludes my story about Mongolia. She is truly both distant and close. The country is located a little more than 300 kilometers from Irkutsk. But she is so far from us! By development, by customs, by standard of living. Although they say that in Ulaanbaatar everything is completely different. I'll probably want to check this out someday. Do I want to go back? More likely no than yes. At least not in the near future for sure. Do I recommend visiting Mongolia? Definitely yes! To form your own opinion about this country.
Good afternoon. I live in Khakassia, 600 km to the border with Mongolia, 720 km to the nearest city. Therefore, we are on May holidays literally rushed for a week. We got there without any problems. The Khandagaity checkpoint is a mega-respect, everything is cultured and polite. They planned to go to the city of Ulangom - 28 thousand population.
Hotel 1500 nights - room for three! The food is inexpensive and there are many unfamiliar dishes. We don’t have a lot of sea buckthorn juice, also a new product. The meat is all tough, but cheap, it’s better to buy Buuzy in tsai shops, by the way, you quickly get used to Tsai, especially in cafes where they make him look normal. We were on Lake Khyargys Nuur, and on Ubr-Nuur, huge lakes, on the shores of the safari - a lot of unafraid game, a lot of yaks, geese, herons, etc. There was a Russian-speaking guide, but it’s better to know the basics in English and have a Russian-Mongolian phrasebook. We walked around the city at night, it was very safe, everyone said hello, invited us to visit, a lot of smiles. In general, it was a very positive ride; if you have any questions, I will answer with pleasure.
Once upon a time there was a small military unit of the Soviet group of forces stationed in Ulangoma. The part was small, since the direction was not “tank dangerous”. I will say that in that area the officers’ service was like at a resort: hunting, fishing. Army control is far away - by the time they arrive they can restore order several times. And it is truly a pleasure to relax there. Of course, in more than 20 years, when Soviet specialists left the MPR, many people forgot the language. But at one time, even in such small settlements, up to 50% of the population spoke Russian. Even if there is no guide, you can always find local resident, who will be happy to tell and show you protected places. Well, a representative office of the Republic of Tyva was opened in Ulangoma. Therefore, even if problems arise, it can all be solved through them. For lovers of outdoor recreation, this is a wonderful place. :hlopet:
In 2007, we also traveled from Khakassia to Mongolia. Although there were no relationships (at the state level), the Mongols remember very well the kindness and help of the USSR for the formation of their state. We also passed through Ulang and also visited the lakes. They ate geese, herons, yak meat and horse meat. By the way, the majority of residents (middle-aged) speak Russian tolerably, and understand it in general, 100 percent. I remember their attitude towards the USSR, and towards us (former Soviets) - warm, welcoming, almost family. They didn’t talk about Russia at all then, but called our country in the old way - the Soviet Union.
We did not see any poverty, or even less destitution. This is a normal way of life for the Mongolian people. If the family is settled, then they live in a house or apartment like ordinary rural people in any country. If the family is nomadic, has its own livestock, pasture plots, then the lifestyle is correspondingly nomadic. Hence, national housing, clothing, food... Therefore, you should not be afraid to go to Mongolia on a safari. You just need to decide for what purpose and where you can go in Mongolia, to the steppe, or to a city-village?
