Any Travels

Mongolia is mainly of interest to the visitor for the rough scenry and wildlife. Horse treks through the country with camping in the traditional tents are a perfect way of discovering the traditional Mongol way of life. Mongolia has a unique and durable traditional culture, centered around the herding lifestyle. Herders remain semi-nomadic, moving their animals with the seasons as they have for centuries. Half of Mongolia's population is rural, and herding remains the backbone of the Mongolian economy. Despite the popular image of Mongolians as nomadic herders, it is an increasingly urbanized country. More than one quarter of Mongolians live in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. The other major urban centers are Darkhan and Erdenet . In these cities, especially Ulaanbaatar there are still a number of Buddhist sites. Before turning communist this country was profoundly Buddhist.

Traditionally, Buddhist monasteries were centers both of learning and of power in Mongolia. In the 1930s, this power became the focus of a ruthless series of purges that reached a climax in 1937. Most of the country's monasteries were destroyed, and as many as 17,000 monks were killed. Today there just a few old monasteries you can visit and they have very beautiful artifacts, but Mongolia is once again embracing its Buddhist heritage. Monasteries are being restored and are once again crowded with worshippers. The Dalai Lama is an enormously popular figure and has visited the country several times.

Places to go:


Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator) is the capital city of Mongolia. The name means Red Hero in the Mongolian language. At 1,350 meters above sea level, almost 5000 feet, Ulaanbaatar sits in a basin surrounded by four mountains: Bogdh Khan, Songino Khairkhan, Chingeltei and Bayanzurkh. These mountains are part of the beautiful and pristine Khan Khentii mountain range. Ulaanbaatar's climate is sharply continental and experiences great extremes. Temperatures fluctuate between +38 degrees C in summer and -49 degrees C in winter. One third of the entire population of Mongolia lives in the capital, approx. around 1 million. High rise apartments, crowded suburbs, chaotic traffic are in stark contrast to the quiet, simple life of the countryside. In Ulaan Baatar you can find western standard hotels, a variety of restaurants, good art and history museums and a friendly and open populace.

Darkhan
Darkhan itself is not a prime attraction. It's a pretty normal mining town with hardly anything special. The ciy is located some 200 km northwest from Ulaanbaatar and is connected to the capital by daily busses and frequent express trains. However there are two monasteries that can be visited from here, but it involves some traveling. The small Haragiin Khid is nearby, the much more interesting Amarbayasgalant Khid. Getting there is half the fun and Darkhan is the place to arrange your jeep, guide and/or driver. The trip takes you past rivers and through forest, if things go your way you may make it in two days. If they don't, who can tell.

Four Holy Peaks
Considered holy, the four peaks surrounding Ulaan Bataar are the Tsetseegum, Chingeltei, Songino Khairkhan and Bayansurkh mountains and they correspond roughly to the 4 points on the compass. These peaks are popular for their hiking, forests, grasslands and stunning bird and animal life.

Tsetseegum Uul is easily the most magnificent. At 2260m (7400ft), it's the highest point in the Bogdkhan Uul range. The trip is only sensible from the beginning of June to the end of September and a permit is required, which you can get at the entrance gate to the Bogdkhan National Park.

Culture

The Mongolian way of life is nomadic and intimately connected with the ways of animals. Despite urbanisation, the traditions of the steppes live on. Even in the cities, most Mongolians continue to live in a ger, a large, white felt tent that can be moved easily and has a universal layout: the door always faces south; towards the back and a little to the west is the place of honour set aside for guests; the back of the ger, the khoimor, is the place for elders and most treasured possessions; and on the back wall is the family altar, with Buddhist images, family photos and suitcases. Get a local to explain the dozens of traditional, religious and superstitious rules and customs associated with gers.

Mongolians have always taken wholeheartedly to Tibetan Buddhism and the links between Mongolia and Tibet are old and deep. Once in a lifetime, every devout Buddhist Mongolian tries to reach the holy city of Lhasa; the Tibetans in turn have relied on various Mongolian tribes to sustain their power. In Mongolia at the time of the communist takeover in 1921, there were 110,000 lamas (monks) living in about 700 monasteries. Beginning in the 1930s, thousands of monks were arrested, sent to Siberian labour camps and never heard from again. Monasteries were closed and ransacked and all religious worship and ceremonies outlawed. Not until 1990 was freedom of religion restored. Since then, there's been a phenomenal revival of Buddhism (and other religions). Monasteries have reopened, and even some ex-Communist Party officials have become lamas. Monasteries and temples (sum) always have Tibetan names. There's a significant minority of Sunni Muslims in the far western regions of Mongolia, most of whom are ethnic Kazaks.

Mongolia's paintings, music and literature are dominated by Tibetan Buddhism and nomadism. Tsam dances are performed to exorcise evil spirits and are influenced by nomadism and Shamanism. Outlawed during communism, they're beginning to be performed again. Traditional music involves a wide range of instruments and singing styles. In Mongolian khoomi singing, carefully trained male voices produce harmonic overtones from deep in the throat, releasing several notes at once. Traditional music and dance performances aren't complete without a touch of contortionism, an ancient Mongolian tradition.

Mongolian, the official language, is a member of the Ural-Altaic family of languages, which includes Finnish, Turkish, Kazak, Uzbek and Korean. Since 1944, the Russian Cyrillic alphabet has been used to write Mongolian. The country has produced a huge literature, almost none of which is known to speakers of European languages. Only recently have scholars translated the most important text of all - Mongol-un Nigucha Tobchiyan (The Secret History of the Mongols) - which celebrates Mongolia's days of greatness.

An old Mongolian saying goes something like: 'Breakfast, keep for yourself; lunch, share with your friends; dinner, give to your enemies'. The biggest and most important meals for Mongolians are breakfast and lunch, which will usually consist of boiled mutton with lots of fat and flour and maybe some dairy products or rice. The Kazaks in western Mongolia add variety to their diet with horse meat. The Mongolians are big tea drinkers and the classic drink is suutei tsai (salty tea). Men who refuse to drink arkhi (vodka) are considered wimps, while herders make their own unique home brew airag, which is fermented horse's milk with an alcoholic content of about 3%. Many Mongolians distill it further to produce shimiin arkhi, which boosts the alcohol content to around 12%.

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