 | Mongolia Off the Beaten Path | Tips 1 - 10 of 45 |  |
Popular Off the Beaten Path | Other Off the Beaten Path Tips | All Tips (45) "Heun" or "hun" if you prefer, is the Mongolian word for "person". So, for example, an Englishman is an Angelheun and a Mongolian is a Mongolheun.
When the Mongol hordes invaded Europe, their response to the question "Who are you?" was, of course...
The name stuck. thus it was that Attila the (possibly very nice, if only they'd understood him) Person struck fear into the hearts of thousands of linguistically untalented Europeans. Leave a Comment
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Mongolia is famous for its contortionists. They are highly sought after by circuses all over the world. In Mongolian, they are known as uran nygralt, which means, "skilful deviation"!
They are usually young women under five feet tall and can twist their tiny bodies in unimaginable ways. I was told that it is every Mongolian man's dream to marry one. Don't shoot the messenger! That's what they told me.
You can see them perform at the Mongolian State Circus in Ulan Baatar. Leave a Comment
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Khustain Uul is a nature reserve made for the protection of the Takhi horse, otherwise known as Przewalski's horse. The Takhi is Mongolia's wild horse that nearly became extinct in the 1960's. Special breeding programmes were set up in the Netherlands and in the 1990's the horses were re-introduced in this special protected area.
Entry into the Nature Reserve costs 5000 Tugriks for foreigners. This includes a guided tour of the Takhi museum (a small ger with lots of information on the breeding programme) and a trip into the reserve to hopefully view the horses! As they are wild it is pot-luck whether or not you get to see them!!
Binoculars are advised! Leave a Comment
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The landscape near to Karakorum town is amazing, especially at the river valley next to the town. There is a tourist ger camp next to the river and you should spend a day here during some trekking (especially up the hill overlooking the Karakorum town and the river valley, which is simply amazing). Leave a Comment
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In the Mongolian case it may be easier to define where the beaten path is. That's easier to define than what is off...
- Ulan Bataar
- Terelj National park in Töv province just outside Ulan Bataar.
- Karkhorin/Erdene Zudd in Duörhangai.
- The loop UB-Mörön-Hövsgöl-Tsherkhin Tsaagaan Nuur-Kharkorin-Mongol Els-UB.
- Hövsgöl area, southern end
- Flaming cliffs, Bayandalai, Dalandzadagad, Gobi desert.
In these areas you can expect a fairly good or adequate tourist infrastructure to be in place, in the right season. So you should be ok on this track without too much of organisation and trouble getting to and fro. But such things as petrol and kerosene may still not be available. Leave a Comment
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The whole country is basically off the beaten path! realistically outside of UB, Erdenet, Darkhan you might be the first non-russian foreigners old people have ever met, and the first foreigners period for others.
The Peace corp has about 100 volunteers spread throughout Mongolia, even in Bayen Olglii(the westernmost Kazakh majority province), and many serve alone in their soum or aimag centers. The Peace corp has head office in UB, it might be possible to inquire where PCV's are located so if your in the area, you can say hi. Leave a Comment
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Undur Dov is about an hour drive from Ulaanbaatar's airport. Visitors can stay in Mongolian gers and the surrounding area is a typical steppe zone and horse back rides can be easily arranged. More photos of Undur Dov will be posted in my VT Tov Aymag page soon, so do keep a lookout for updates. Leave a Comment
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This stone, which our guide told us was a Turkish grave, was situated in the countryside a short walk from where the first nomadic family that we stayed with lived. This was between Ulaanbaatar and Tsetserleg and near what they called the Fake Gobi.
The head of this stone figure had been knocked off and was lying on the ground. Our guide said it was from around 700-800AD. I don't really have much more information but it was an interesting site. Leave a Comment
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Otherwise known as 'the big market', this market is in Bayanzurg District. You can get here by mini bus (200 Tugriks) from the train station, Sukhbaatar Square and other places. If you wanted to hail a car to get there it would cost you about 800 Tugriks from town. The market is quite dirty and dusty but interesting culturally.
The market is really cheap for clothes, boots, del, Mongolian hats, jewellery, silverware and other souvenirs.
You should be very careful because there are pickpockets everywhere. It would be best if you went with a Mongolian as you would be able to bargain better.
It is possible to take photographs in the market but don't get in anyone's face otherwise you could get in trouble. Leave a Comment
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This ovoo is located at the top of the Zaisan Memorial. An ovoo is a shamanistic pile of stones that is very sacred in Mongolia. These piles of stones can be found all over the countryside often with hadag (the blue cloths) draped over them. It is good luck to walk around the ovoo three times chanting a sutra. Leave a Comment
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