Mongolia is the birthplace of Genghis Khan. The country of winds, lamb and steppes.
This is a review of a short independent trip to Mongolia. Rent a car with driver in Ulaanbaatar.

Mobile communications and Internet in Mongolia. Weather in Mongolia. Mongolian cuisine - what Mongols eat. National parks of Mongolia and photographs from them

Today is September 1st. As in Russia, in Mongolia this day is declared the Day of Knowledge. This day is celebrated with amateur performances, horse and camel racing, as well as a ban on the sale of alcohol in Ulaanbaatar restaurants.

Therefore, I, dear readers of this topic, am sitting, despondent, in the very center of Ulaanbaatar, with a glass of water and waiting for the grub I ordered.

Tomorrow I'll go eat meat stewed with stones. . And then .
By the way, they don’t sell, but there are plenty of drunken people on the street.

Traveling to Mongolia on your own

I wanted to make this trip from Ulaanbaatar.
Last time it was proposed to travel together from Tomsk or Barnaul. But I am such that I can’t stand depending on anyone - it was suggested that I go in the company of someone whom I personally do not know and with whom I have never traveled anywhere before.

And I am very sensitive to my travel companions and I have long sworn off traveling with anyone. Therefore, I only considered Ulan Bator and renting a jeep here in Mongolia.

It turned out that cars are rented in Mongolia only with drivers.
It turned out, literally before leaving, that the SIXT company, which provided cars for rent at the Ulan Bator airport, had closed its representative office.

Imagine the situation: I have in my hands tickets purchased for miles from the Aeroflot company, the tickets have already been postponed from June to September since plans have changed somewhat... and here it’s such a bummer.

What to do? Of course we go!
I am Vinsky and must show by personal example how true independent travelers should behave.

On the day of departure to Ulan Bator (August 30), I sent similar letters to several Mongolian companies found by searching for “rent car Ulaanbaator” via Google and from several instant responses I chose the one that suited me the most:

• by price
• in the absence of a request to pay something in advance (I can’t stand giving money in advance)

I note that the Russian companies included in the mailing list gave the most monstrous prices.
As I understand it, they simply multiplied the prices existing in Mongolia by two.

So, I have a meeting party 4 hours before departure.
The backpack contains a windbreaker, socks, a couple of T-shirts, as well as a laptop, tablet, and phone.
I'm ready.
In duty free you buy vodka in small packages for gifts and a package of cookies for the same.

Visa to Mongolia

The Mongolian visa was arranged in advance. Costs $100. Of the entire necessary list of documents (tickets, application form, photo, certificate of employment, copy of the first page of the salary), only the invitation is difficult, but it is done easily through a Russian company based in Ulaanbaatar. The invitation costs 800 rubles. For other issues, it is better to contact the Mongols directly.

Now you don't need a visa to Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar Airport

Mongolia greeted me with a sign “Sergey Vinskiy – Welcome to Mongolia” and a sunny morning.
The taciturn driver walked me to the ordered jeep - Land Cruiser 80 and handed me a SIM card from the Mongolian operator Mobicom, purchased at my request.

Mobile Internet in Mongolia

By tradition, I’ll tell you about mobile Internet in the country where you plan to travel.
I took the SIM card for a newly purchased Samsung tablet - normal size, not micro.
It didn't work on the tablet. Then I took his Samsung phone from the driver and created an access point on it.

All. Although the Internet was weak - GPRS - I had it.
I’ll make a reservation that in those places where I returned to Ulaanbaator this evening, there is no cell phone service at all. But on the way there, in small villages, you could check your mail.

Route in Mongolia

Since I had 4 days to do everything about everything (for the test, I decided not to risk it and fly to Mongolia for a short time), the route that I compiled using the English-language websites of Mongolian companies was logical:
– I don’t time Gobi
– lakes and fishing didn’t interest me for the first time
– Ulaanbaator didn’t interest me, especially

What is there within 300-400 km from the capital of Mongolia?
Eat Khustain nuruu– sand dunes (Elsen Tasarkhai), which in fact turned out to be a tourist attraction with Potemkin-like camel rides
Eat Kharkhorin– the ancient capital of Mongolia (you can spend 30 minutes exploring and then have lunch at Dream World)
Eat Orkhon valley– but this is already interesting.

First time in Mongolia

What you immediately notice in Mongolia is its identity as Russia: the same broken roads, an abundance of SUVs and trash along the roads. The same nondescript houses in the city - in Ulaanbaatar and on the periphery: I had a strong feeling that I was not in Mongolia, but in Buryatia or the Irkutsk region. Same.

We left the airport and went to the city to pick up groceries for the road.
Since I went on a full inclusive course, they were going to feed me 3 times a day, provide overnight accommodation along the route, pay for any entrance fees and taxes, and also refuel the car.

The price was announced by email and I agreed with it: 5 days 4 nights = 1050 dollars, not including the hotel for the last night in Ulaanbaatar.

I tried to change money at the airport, but the driver said softly (I had a Russian-speaking driver who understood Russian):

- There is no need to waste time. If you need tugriks, I will give them. Then, upon arrival, you will give it back.

The Cyrillic alphabet in an Asian country looks awkward and funny.
Mongolian writing was banned here in the 30s of the last century, when Chaibalsan began to build socialism in Mongolia, following the example of the CCCP.

Such devotion was generously rewarded with the massive construction of Khrushchev-era apartment buildings, panel houses with blue tiles (a la Biryulyovo), factories, mines and power plants.

There are three of them in Mongolia. One is located at the exit to the city on the way from the airport - a monument to socialism. One on one smoking monster on the Moscow Ring Road in the Kapotnya area.

The stores are full of products from the Russian Federation, as well as local vodka (Genghis Khan, naturally) and beer.

I had vodka with me, and tried beer - the usual powdered rubbish like Siberian Crown or Klinsky.
Take the proven Tiger.

While they were picking up the food basket (in reality it was a basket full of canned goods), it started to rain. The sky turned gray and sank almost to the ground. It’s terrible - everything around is gray, and then there’s sadness and melancholy thrown on top.

We left the city along a completely broken road. Every minute someone tried to cut us off, there was a steady hum of horns, brand new Land Cruisers competed with broken Korean junk to see who could do who.

The only thing missing were loaves of bread and UAZ cars - they would show you Kuzka’s mother. But they were ahead.

Ahead was the real Mongolia.
This is how I imagined it: deserted, endless, cold, windy and incredibly beautiful

A little about driving culture in Mongolia

There is no culture. There is no respect. Pedestrians are schmucks. And they realize it.

Roads in Mongolia

The road to the west. Asphalt. In some places there are holes, potholes, potholes. The driver swears, mutters that asphalt in general is evil and there would be nothing better than it (asphalt).

All obstacles are driven around oncoming traffic or on the side of the road (more often). Despite the fact that there are more often more potholes on the side of the road than on the asphalt, apparently there is some reason for this - I often noticed cars on the side of the road with their legs sticking out from under them and pieces of a burst tire just after such potholes on the road.

They do work on the road, but not much. What is placed in the pits is placed in water, in a puddle, and after a couple of months it pops out like a filling from a rotten tooth.
I told you that a Mongol and a Russian are brothers forever.

Roadside cafes in Mongolia

Two hours on the road. We need to have breakfast. We stop at a roadside canteen.
Very curious, while they bring me the soup with dumplings I ordered, I look at the audience: the driver.

They use this canteen as a hotel - there are rooms on the second floor and having received bed linen right there in the canteen, they go upstairs, holding a rolled-up mattress under their arm.

Catering workers can't stop watching a Russian TV series with Mongolian dubbing. Channel Russia2.

I ask my driver:
– yes, people here love Russian TV series, and although there are Korean and Chinese TV series, they watch Russian ones and that’s why they go on prime time.
I say that a Mongol and a Russian are brothers forever.

Obo and hadak in Mongolia

In Mongolia, here and there there are heaps, and sometimes heaps of stones, mixed with banknotes and candies.
As a rule (or rather always), in the center of such a pyramid there is a pole to which multi-colored ribbons are tied.
I saw something similar in Buryatia. I asked the driver - what are these, shamanic lures?

“No,” he says, “this is already a Buddhist topic, it’s called about.” Anyone who wants to receive a blessing from heaven must go around the pile clockwise and throw offerings. Usually it's candy or vodka - vodka is splashed into the sky, and then on all 4 sides.
- And the ribbons?
- This is a bad thing. Blue means heaven, white the soul, red courage, yellow wealth.

However, a blue hadak wouldn’t hurt us now, I thought, standing in the drizzling rain. Then he took a bottle of whiskey from his backpack and distributed it to each side of the world... and also wet the heavens.

Lamb in Mongolia

The asphalt gradually ended.
Or rather, it ended in a village whose name I naturally forgot. One attraction is the airfield. Almost overgrown with weeds. But once upon a time (during the times of the USSR) AN-2s flew here from Ulaanbaatar.

We bought meat in this village.
Lamb, a kilo costs about 2 dollars.

“Somehow your lamb is too smelly.” I mean it smells like goat meat...
Let me tell you a secret: I am a big fan of lamb. Was. But after the soup with mouflon (goat) dumplings, which I ate in the canteen, although I washed it all down with plenty of vodka…. I feel like this smell is following me. And the sight of meat triggers my gag reflex.
- What are you talking about!...

And then an excursion into the process of cutting a ram or lamb carcass began.
At first it was said that Koreans, Chinese and other nationalities do not know how to slaughter cattle:

“They cut their throats and leave them tied upside down so that the blood flows out...

– Do you like to drink blood? – I couldn’t resist sarcastically, but the driver didn’t pay attention to it.

– First, they cut the skin of the sheep on the belly...

- Isn’t he in pain? - I interrupted again

- I don’t know, I’m not a sheep... So, after they made the incision, they put their hand in there and climb towards the spine. And there are two arteries there. So, you need to feel which is pulsating. Grab it tightly and tear it off.

“Oops...” was all I could say. I imagined it, winced, but didn’t back down.

- Well, why is this good?

“And therefore, look for yourself: our meat is red, because there is blood in it, but among the mountaineers it is white, because all the blood has flowed out.”

- Cool. I'll probably give up lunch today...

Wild Mongolia

And so began the Mongolia that I imagined based on the works of the film Mongol, Urga, the Territory of Love, the books of Chapaev and Emptiness... Although the latter rather concerns Baron Ungern - the driver was constantly tortured about him, however, like the treasure of Genghis Khan - this is generally from other sources.

I read a lot about Mongolia as a child.
Hills overgrown with spruce began, rivers began jumping over boulders, fields from hill to hill with lawn grass from the “golf” series began.

The jeep climbed steadily along the country road, skirting the black pumice of hardened lava that was thousands of years old.

This road is not asphalt. At every step, something new opens up to your gaze: a landscape, an animal, a bird, a hill. And how good it is that there are few people here.

Mongolian village

– Sergey, shall we have lunch? – the driver’s voice interrupted my admiration outside the windows of the jeep.
- Why not, and where?
- Now there will be a village. My friends live there - I warned them that we would stop by.
You will feel Mongolian hospitality at the same time.

Of course. That’s what I wanted – to be with a family. Not ostentatious, for tourists. But the real one. So, it's time to eat and drink bitter things.

The village is no different from what we saw on our last trip to Baikal: the same unpaved streets, multi-colored roofs, and all the trash in the yard, as if the village of the Plyushkins lives here.

The hut, or rather the house, is a solid one made of solid larch. The inside is predictably cheap with Chinese light fixtures on the ceiling and linoleum. But still better. than in our Russian wilderness.

And the people are not old women with drunken grandfathers: they are relatively young (by the way, I found out the age of the driver - he is the same as me, 46, but he looks like my grandfather (may he rest in heaven).

The hostess rustled when she saw us. She placed low stools next to the painted chest, covered with oilcloth.

A buuz threw an aluminum basin onto the table - this is a variant of Buryat poses and a plagiarism of Chinese jiaozi - steamed dumplings. Hole at the top for steam to escape.

A simple filling made from chopped lamb, but sooo fresh. Yes, fresh, but from the cold and rain near the cheerfully crackling potbelly stove. This is what we need.

I take out a Finnish check. Will you? As you wish.
I take a bowl of tea and pour it cold. Afterwards, I put a few buuz on my plate with my hands and on top of it the lecho I brought with me (my inclusion, however).

I eat the first one and burn myself with juice. Inserts immediately and without vodka.
I drink a bowl in one fell swoop and another bottle in my mouth.
The whole face is covered in tomato paste. The driver gives a rag - there are no napkins. Will pull.

So, while talking about politics, economics and women, we finish off a bowl and half a bottle of vodka...
Woo!!!
Now I’d like to get some sleep... But there’s still 50 km of difficult road ahead

How to cook marmot in Mongolia

Legend has it that there once was a brave warrior who could hit any target with a bow. And then one day he told everyone - I will shoot the Sun. And he took aim at the Sun, and pulled a tight bowstring, and fired, and the arrow would definitely have hit the Sun, if not for the swallow.

The swallow turned out to be the last because it knocked down the aimed flight of the arrow. Nothing happened to her - she flew off about her business. And the brave and accurate shooter swore:
“If I don’t kill this damned bird, I’ll cut off my thumbs and live underground.”

A year has passed.
The shooter was never able to hit and kill the swallow.
So the groundhog was born...

It is prohibited to kill marmots since almost all of them have already been eaten. Therefore, you have to contact poachers to repeat the cooking process with video.

The process of buying a groundhog is reminiscent of the process of buying marijuana: looking around, we go into the gateway. There they hand us a plastic bag with the carcass, take 45,000 and disappear.

We need to check to see if the groundhog is sick. This is done by visually inspecting the paw pads. If they are black, everything is fine and the marmot was as healthy as an ox. Well, if they are red, then there is a chance of contracting some kind of plague or anthrax.

But we still screwed up - we were treated like students: we definitely had to make sure that the groundhog was shot in the head. This is done like this: you inflate the marmot like a balloon through the place where the head once was (do not confuse it with the opposite!) and it becomes clear whether your animal is airtight or not. Ours turned out to be full of holes like a sieve.

They hit him with shot, no less... But this can also be treated: we patch it with improvised means - such as a tourniquet for car tires.

Karakoram

The ancient capital of Mongolia - Karakorum
Is it worth visiting?
Not worth it. Nothing very interesting to travel 350 km from Ulan Bator here.

If only you stop for 30 minutes on the way. Take a photo of the wall, weeds on the territory and several buildings of non-original “pagoda” architecture.

Well, if you are a believing Buddhist, you can spin the drums with mantras, and also look at the large bronze pot in which food was prepared for 200 monks.

There are several restaurants nearby: Dream World (at the time of my visit here it was closed and the guard waved a broom in front of my nose, upset about something) and a couple more at the campsites.

Old men and women from Europe and the USA are brought to the campsites, so that they can live a little in the shoes of the Mongols. Yurts with air conditioning and heating. Tourists walk with their mouths open at a model of a Mongolian warrior in armor standing in a restaurant.

The food is disgusting - complex. The service is such that the staff are apparently so tired of these grandfathers that the smile has been erased from their faces forever and hatred towards visitors drips onto the floor like Botax

Instead of visiting the ancient capital of Mongolia, the city Karakoram, I would advise you to try milking a yak.
I'll tell you an exciting activity.

Gorkhi-Terelj National Park

It takes 30-40 minutes to drive from Ulaanbaatar. The main thing is to leave Ulaanbaatar. Traffic jams here are worse than in Moscow.

Having paid the entry fee and entered the park, you instantly relax after the capital. There are few cars here. Beautiful nature. There are many places to stay: I recommend the UB-2 golf hotel. Not expensive - about $80 for a single. In the forest. There are women standing on the road selling berries (blueberries are now available in Mongolia).

Using UB-2 as a base, you can wander or ride a horse around the area during the day. There is a lake and a river in the park. I don't know about fishing. I haven’t seen it - Mongols don’t fish.

The valley through which the road passes is surrounded by beautiful rounded rocks. Here is the famous turtle rock, near which annoying traders will offer you to take a photo with an eagle for 1000 tenge.

In general, you can spend day and night. Suitable for those who are transiting Mongolia and want to check in there.

Horhog

At this point I decided to try horhog. This is a national Mongolian dish of stewed lamb with potatoes, milk and cabbage. Made in a can.

Made for 6-10 people.
Since I ordered it for myself, they made me a light version.
I know what I did was wrong.
But more than the taste of the dish - I know this dish well as lamb under sachem in Montenegro and Croatia, or as kuerdak in Kazakhstan - I was interested in:

Why put hot stones in a pressure cooker if the meat is stewed on the fire anyway?

This question was never really answered. I suspect that earlier, when pressure cookers were in short supply, the Mongols actually cooked meat with hot stones, as they do or goat (they don’t make ram with stones, since its bed bursts from the heat).

It was prepared by a family that owns a plot of land in the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park. WITH
I inform you that every Mongolian has the right to a free plot of land measuring 70 by 70 meters.

This does not apply to land in Ulaanbaatar and national parks.
This family was just lucky that their ancestors lived here. The family rents out yurts to city residents who come to the park for a picnic.

One of the women squats by the road with a GER poster and, if there is interest, escorts guests to the place.

I don’t know why, but the Mongols are attached to these very yurts.
When we come for a picnic, it’s customary for us to sit in the open air, and they sit and lie in these same yurts.

Many yurts are equipped with a satellite dish and a solar battery. But I didn’t see a shower or toilet in any of the yurts.
Flaw. The Mongols need to work on this issue.

How to cut up and eat a lamb's head

Written in a separate article: .

5 /5 (9 )

Road trip around Mongolia

It’s done, we visited Mongolia.
We are me, Alexey, 56 years old and Stas, 31 years old - workers of one of the Perm factories.
They started thinking about a trip to this country about six months before it took place, having read stories on the Internet about almost virgin nature, sparsely populated areas, and excellent fishing in the cleanest lakes and rivers. I wanted to see everything with my own eyes and, as they say, experience it in my own skin.
Due to lack of time (we only had a two-week vacation) and the limited capabilities of the available car, we decided to take the shortest route from the border and, as it seemed to us, the easiest route (how wrong we were!!!), to get to know only the North-Western part countries.
Administratively, it belongs to the territory of the Bayan-Ulgiy aimag (district), and is geographically located in the Mongolian Altai mountains at altitudes from 2000 to 2500 m above sea level. In the North, this aimag borders with the Russian Altai Republic, in the West and South-West - with the People's Republic of China. The main population is Kazakhs, who moved here during tsarist times.
Our specific goal was to visit and, if possible, fish on the mountain lakes Khoton and Khurgan, located almost on the border with China, as well as a trip to Lake Tolbo, 70 km south of the capital of the aimag - the town of Bayan-Ulgii.
Initially, we intended to drive our own car to Bayan-Ulgiy, and there join a group of Russian tourists, for whom one of the Siberian travel agencies was organizing rafting on the Khovd River, flowing from the Khoton-Khurgan lakes.
An agreement was reached with the head of this travel agency that we, together with the group, would be taken to the lakes in Mongolian UAZ vehicles, and then we would hire one of them and travel on our own.
However, literally in the last days before departure, a message comes that the group’s departure is postponed and we are left alone with our plans.
By this time, visas have already been received, equipment has been collected, vacations have been signed, so we decide not to change anything and try to make the trip on our own.
We left Perm on 05/22/09 after work, at night. It is 3000 km from Perm to the Russian-Mongolian border, and about 250 km across Mongolia from the border to the lakes via Bayan-Ulgii.
Our vehicle is a fuel-injected "nine" produced in 2001, slightly modernized for this trip. It was equipped with a lower main gear and a self-locking differential, which significantly increased cross-country ability.
In addition, we took with us two spare parts, the minimum necessary for possible replacement of spare parts and sensors, repair materials and tools. Liquids include oil and antifreeze.
During the first day we passed the cities of Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Omsk, covered 1,700 km without a break and spent the night on the banks of the Om River (Photo 1).
Further behind were the cities of Novosibirsk, Biysk, Gorno-Altaisk and, with only one, more or less long stop on the Katun River (Photo 2), the next night at four o'clock in the morning local time we were at the Tashanta border checkpoint, which is located in the Altai Republic.
One car from Kazakhstan was already standing in front of the closed gates of the checkpoint. For clarification: relatives of “Mongolian” Kazakhs are forced to travel from Kazakhstan through Russian territory, since a visa is required through China, and Mongolia does not have a common border with Kazakhstan.
So, having settled down with the Kazakh, by the way, an excellent sociable guy, we spent the rest of the night eating right in the car. At nine o'clock in the morning some movement began at the checkpoint, and at ten they let us through the gate and began crossing the border.
Customs, transport and passport control: the whole procedure on the Russian side took an hour and a half. Then we drove twenty kilometers of no man's land and everything was repeated with the Mongols. Only it takes twice as long. Well, the guys have nowhere to rush: the service is going on!
Finally, we are in the land of Genghis Khan (Photo 3). Stas is driving. Out of habit, I stepped on the gas - the road looked quite smooth, albeit gravel - but after a kilometer we realized that the car would not last long with such driving. In fact, the road was a natural washboard, on which the whole soul was shaken out and the wheels were ready to come off at any moment. I had to slow down and trudge at a speed of 20-25 km/h.
However, they quickly realized that they could leave the main road and move along one of the countless side roads laid across the steppe in the same direction (Photo 4). Among them there were quite smooth ones, allowing one to maintain speeds of up to 40-50 km/h.
Beyond the small village of Tsagannur, 20 km from the border, the mountains visible on the sides noticeably moved closer to the road, the endless steppe narrowed to an intermountain valley, and the ascent began. The gravel surface of the main road to Ulgii disappeared and it became indistinguishable from many side roads.
One of them took us into the mountains, and only when the car began to warm up did we orient ourselves using the compass and realized that we were going to the wrong place.
We had a navigator with us, but without a map of Mongolia. They couldn’t find her even in Moscow. But there was a 20-kilometer paper map of the entire country with a coordinate grid in degrees, cities, towns, roads, etc.
Back at home, I outlined each degree into one hundred parts, so that the coordinates of any object on the map could be determined with an accuracy of about 0.01 degrees. We had to resort to the help of this map and navigator, which made it possible to determine our true coordinates.
It turned out that we deviated greatly to the East from the road. We entered the coordinates of Ulgiy into the navigator and, using the “direct movement” function, drove along the line drawn on the screen. So we again got out onto the main road and then we always used this technique.
Mongolia began to surprise from the very beginning. The surrounding landscapes were simply stunning. The mountains around gradually became higher and snowy peaks appeared. But the most unusual and unusual thing for our eyes was the complete absence of any vegetation on them and the absolute desertion (Photo 5). Only rare birds encountered (Photo 6) and ground squirrels reminded us of the suitability of these places for the habitat of anything living.
Having descended from the first pass at a height of 2200 m, we find ourselves on an asphalt road (!!!) of decent quality (Photo 7). We had a fun ride on the asphalt for 30 km and, just as unexpectedly as it began, it ended.
The countless well-trodden ruts we were already familiar with began again. On the 90-kilometer section of the road to Ulgiy, we crossed another pass with an altitude of about 2000 meters. The entire journey from the border to the town took about four hours.
There is not much to say about the “capital” of the aimag itself, except that the Khovd River, one of the largest rivers in Mongolia, flows through it. It originates from exactly those lakes where we were trying to get to. The town is a collection of adobe huts with flat roofs, mixed with yurts (Photo 8, 9). And only in the market area there are a couple of dozen two-story houses and several somehow asphalted streets, apparently left over from Soviet times.
At the market, which we found with the help of local residents, we exchanged 1000 rubles for their tugriks and wandered around the shops in search of souvenirs. But we didn’t buy anything worthwhile.
But we found a parking lot for UAZ taxis that transport people to the surrounding villages. We started asking them about delivery to Khoton-Khurgan lakes. They explained for a long time what we needed, until one guy came up who spoke a little Russian. Last season, he worked for a Russian travel company that took tourists to these lakes.
He charged $100 a day for his services, our gas. When asked where to get permits to visit the border zone and the national park in the lake area, he answered vaguely. Like, I'll decide everything myself. Well, we took his phone (there is cellular service in the town) and decided to first go to Lake Tolbo. Moreover, this driver will be free only in a day.
We found the exit from the city and slowly drove south at a speed of 20-30 km/h. We covered 70 kilometers to the lake without any problems. On the way we talked with the local population.
First, they helped a Kazakh who was unsuccessfully trying to start his IZH motorcycle. When he showed candles that looked more like firebrands, I threw them away and gave him two candles from my supply. He screwed them into the motorcycle, and it started immediately. After a long tirade, from which they understood that Russia - Mongolia is friendship, they each went their separate ways.
The second time we stopped near a bridge over a dry river to photograph some huge Mongolian symbols made of stones on a steep bank (that was a lot of work!) (Photo 10). A crowd of children led by a parent came running from a yurt located nearby. I had to buy them off with a bag of dry goods.
There was nothing else interesting on the road to Tolbo, with the exception of the surrounding mountains. The further we moved to the South, the more severe and taller they became (Photo 11,12). The sight of mountain peaks caused a certain trembling in the knees and at the same time a desire to plunge further and further into their heap. Probably, similar feelings are experienced by a rabbit standing in front of the open mouth of a python.
However, we reached the upper part of the lake unharmed (Photo 13). For a long time we looked for some river flowing into it, assuming that fishing there might be more productive, but we found nothing.
Then they decided to find at least a place protected from the wind. On this day, a cold and very strong wind blew from the North along the lake.
We were lucky. Behind a ridge of coastal rocks, near a shed made of stones, we found a pocket where it was just possible to pitch a tent, and not far away - a car, so that it could not be seen from the road (Photo 14,15).
The rest of the day was devoted to setting up the camp, preparing food - we didn’t eat anything hot all day, resting, sitting over a bottle of vodka and photographing the surrounding landscapes. We didn't fish. We went to bed early: the road and the impressions of the past day took their toll
The next morning it calmed down, and as the sun rose I went to throw a spoon. I wandered along the shore for an hour and a half before I got lucky. I pulled out a kilogram and a half of osman (mountain char in scientific terms). He returned to the tent and woke up Stas. The fish was fried and most of it was thrown away because it was impossible to cope with so many small bones.

I was in Mongolia from June 19 to July 8, 2009. Together with a Polish woman, Agnieszka, who works in Ulan-Ude, we entered the country through the border crossing in Kyakhta (Buryatia), spent two days in Ulaanbaatar, drove along the route Ulaanbaatar-Arvaikheer--Bayanhongor--Altai--Khovd-- Ulaangom - Kharkhorin - Ulaanbaatar. Then I drove alone along the route Ulaanbaatar - Underkhaan - Bayan-Ula and left for Russia through the Verkhny Ulkhun border crossing (Trans-Baikal Territory). We traveled most of the way by hitchhiking, and partly by minibuses and buses.

Advantages and disadvantages

The first plus is the nomadic population, which has preserved the traditional way of life. They say that for the Mongols, life has not changed much since the time of Genghis Khan, and this seems to be true: a large part of the country still lives in yurts, raises livestock, wanders from place to place in search of new pastures, and eats meat and milk. Except that many people now roam around in UAZs and Japanese trucks, while the wealthiest people have satellite dishes and solar panels next to their yurts. But the rest is the same - right down to the national costumes, which Mongols wear not on major holidays, but in everyday life.

The second plus is the beautiful and untouched nature.

This is not the dull steppe of the south of Russia or Ukraine, which evokes boredom. Mongolian steppe landscapes are beautiful and varied and very rarely disfigured by human buildings. The plain stretching into the distance on the horizon is always framed by beautiful hills, somewhere there are picturesque rocks or stones, somewhere the steppe turns into a rocky or sandy desert, somewhere it gives way to mountains covered with forest. And throughout these Mongolian expanses there are yurts here and there and fat herds of large and small livestock roam: cows, goats, sheep, horses, camels, yaks.

The disadvantages of Mongolia logically follow from the advantages.

Beautiful nature and traditional way of life have been preserved due to the fact that civilization has not yet reached here. Only Ulaanbaatar can be called a civilized city, where there is everything you need for the city life to which we are all accustomed. Most other cities are more like urban-type settlements. The regional center of Mongolia resembles the last Russian regional center, Mongolian regional centers even resemble villages. And between these cities there are vast spaces where the human presence is noticeable only by lonely yurts and ruts in the steppe.

After traveling through Mongolia, Russia begins to seem like a completely civilized country, with many roads and railways, roadside cafes, toilets, shops and supermarkets. When I left Mongolia for Russia, I had a clear feeling that I was returning from Asia to Europe: the last 50 km before the border there was a dirt road with holes and puddles, along which 1-2 cars passed a day, and after the border there was smooth asphalt with good traffic. In a word, it’s nice that we are ahead of at least some country by a hundred years.

The only thing in which Mongolia is noticeably ahead of us is livestock farming.

After you see herds of several hundred animals that have occupied the green Mongolian pasture like locusts, it is not very joyful to look at three or four thin hungry cows wandering near some Transbaikal village. But otherwise, as I already said, our country is much more civilized. Despite all my passion for travel, I still love comfort, smooth roads, fast cars, a hot lunch at least once a day and a hot shower at least once every two days, so I returned to Russia after Mongolia with some relief.

Country information

There is a pretty good Lonely Planet guide to Mongolia in English and a very lousy “Le Petit Fute” in Russian. To get acquainted with the cultural and historical context, I recommend reading Isai Kalashnikov’s wonderful book “The Cruel Age” (the life story of Genghis Khan from birth to death), and also watching Nikita Mikhalkov’s excellent film “Urga - the Territory of Love” (about the relationship between Russians and Mongols).

Visas

There is an embassy in Moscow, and Mongolian consulates in Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk and Kyzyl. It is usually difficult to get a visa on your own without an invitation: Mongolians immediately send you to a travel agency. Obtaining a visa from a travel agency takes on average 1-2 weeks and costs 2-3 thousand rubles (including consular fees).

How to get there

Aeroflot and Mongolian Airlines fly directly from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar. A round-trip ticket from both companies costs 20-30 thousand rubles, but Aeroflot sometimes has special offers and sales, during which the price of the flight is halved.

Also, from the Yaroslavsky station, trains Moscow - Ulaanbaatar and Moscow - Beijing (via Ulaanbaatar) run every week. Travel time is more than four days. The cost of a reserved seat is 5-6 thousand rubles one way.

Another option is to fly by plane from Moscow to Irkutsk or Ulan-Ude, and from there travel by land. There are buses from Ulan-Ude to Ulaanbaatar, and from Irkutsk there is a train to Ulaanbaatar.

Border

There are a dozen border crossings between Russia and Mongolia. They usually work from 9.00 to 17.00. It must be borne in mind that only three crossings are international, that is, residents of third countries can cross the border there. That is, if you are not a citizen of Mongolia or Russia, you will only be able to cross the border in Kyakhta (Buryatia), Tashanta (Altai Republic) and Naushki (Buryatia). Please note that the main crossing, located in Kyakhta, is a car crossing; you cannot cross it on foot, so if you are hitchhiking, you will have to fit into some kind of car at the border.

Climate

The weather in Mongolia is changeable, with sharp temperature fluctuations. In winter it is very cold (Ulaanbaatar is even considered the coldest capital of the world) - from 25 to 30 degrees below zero; in summer it is usually hot - from 25 to 35 degrees Celsius. The summer heat is softened by the winds blowing across the Mongolian plain, but they also sometimes create great difficulties. A couple of times it blew so hard that it was simply impossible to set up a tent (and on the plain it is often impossible to find any shelter from the wind). I can’t even imagine how scary it must be here in winter with such wind.

Money

1 dollar is equal to 1422 tugriks, 1 ruble is 48 tugriks. It is better to exchange money for the entire trip right away in Ulaanbaatar. In the rest of Mongolia, banks are found in numbers not exceeding the limits of statistical error.

Like Belarusian rubles, Mongolian tugriks exist exclusively in paper form, so when traveling you get the feeling that you have a lot of money.

Roads

Before traveling to Mongolia, I thought that there were no roads in Russia. Now I realized that in our country there are still roads, and even good ones, because Mongolian roads are a quiet horror. Only from north to south (from Russia to China) there is a decent asphalt road through Ulaanbaatar, plus there are sections from Ulaanbaatar to the west to Arvaikheer with a branch to Kharkhorin and from Ulaanbaatar to the east to Underkhan.

The rest of the roads, including the most important routes connecting the west and east of the country, are usually three or four well-trodden tracks in the steppe that converge and diverge and lead from one town to another.

Between populated areas there are no gas stations, no cafes, no kilometer posts, no road signs, no traffic cops, no cellular coverage - just a bare plain along which everyone drives as they please. However, the quality of the roads is such that it will not be possible to break the speed limit even if you want to, and the abundance of ruts reduces collisions to a minimum. The terrain is usually such that you can even leave the track and drive across the steppe in any direction.

Some people manage to drive on such roads even in simple cars, but it is still better to use Japanese SUVs or Russian UAZs. The latter, by the way, are preferable, because they are very common among the Mongols and, if something happens, you will quickly find spare parts. Mongols also drive motorcycles, Korean minibuses, Japanese trucks, and Russian KamAZ trucks. Foreign tourists usually travel by jeeps and motorcycles. On the highway we met travelers four times: Poles on motorcycles, an Australian on a motorcycle, a group of Frenchmen in jeeps, and a group of Koreans in a minibus.

If you are traveling in your own vehicle, be sure to have a GPS navigator:

instead of roads there are directions, so it’s quite possible to get lost if you accidentally drive along a track leading to some remote village. It is better to buy a map in Mongolian - then it will be easier to find out from the nomads where you are and where you should go. If you hitchhike, you can basically do without a navigator: drivers usually know the road and drive from one city to another. The main thing is to find out exactly where the driver is going, and then trust him to find the right path.

Hitch-hiking

Mongolia is the most difficult country for hitchhiking that I have ever been to. Nevertheless, hitchhiking here is interesting and fun, and if you have time to spare, you can ride this way.

Just keep in mind some of the peculiarities of Mongolian hitchhiking.

The first and main problem is low traffic. It is very good to drive only on paved roads. The route from the border crossing in Tashanta to Ulaanbaatar (via Ulaangom and Tsetserleg) is also quite busy, although here sometimes you can wait for a ride for several hours. On other roads, cars pass extremely rarely - up to three or four cars a day. So be patient, and also have books, magazines or crossword puzzles - you can at least keep yourself occupied with something while you sit by the highway for half a day. In short, “in my backpack there is lard and matches and eight volumes of Turgenev” - this is just about Mongolia.

Sometimes we got so tired of sitting by the road that we took our backpacks and walked, so many Mongols - drivers and local residents - had the feeling that we were just walking through their country. It’s difficult to explain the essence of hitchhiking to them, so this is even better. Also keep in mind that between regional centers (if this road does not lead to Ulaanbaatar) traffic is very low. For example, it is unlikely that it will be possible to get directly from Ulaangom to Murun, because the main flow of cars to Ulaanbaatar goes further south, through Tsetserleg. And you shouldn’t even try to hitchhike on local roads if you don’t want to get stuck for about a week.

The second problem is choosing the right track for voting.

It’s easiest when leaving a large city: usually a few kilometers before and after a large settlement there is one asphalt road, so all you have to do is leave the city and start voting along this road. The situation is different in the steppe or near small towns and villages: here the ruts can diverge over a distance of up to half a kilometer and choosing the right one from them is quite difficult. Sometimes you can navigate by power lines (usually the poles are located along the main track), but this rule does not always work. It’s best to find some kind of elevation that offers a view of the surrounding area, watch which road the car will appear on, and if something happens, quickly move there. If you wave your arms and the driver sees you, he will most likely stop or even turn and come towards you.

The third problem is overcrowding of cars.

During the trip, we only traveled twice in a car with one driver. Usually, in addition to him, there are passengers in the car who, as a rule, occupy all the seats. It’s interesting that cars stop even if they’re crowded (to find out if something happened to you), but it’s not always possible to get into a stopped car. Sometimes we had to ride in a car with four or five of us in the back seat, with a Mongolian child sitting on our laps, sometimes we had to lie on luggage in the back of a truck, covered in dust and sand, sometimes we had to sit on a sleeping bag in the cab of a truck, slightly crowding out a bunch of things and distant relatives the driver he took with him. In short, don't expect comfort.

And the fourth problem is the lack of money of the local population.

In principle, everyone expects money for a ride, but most are persuaded to give a ride for free. “No money” in Mongolian is “mungo baikhgo.” It’s always worth saying these words once or twice before getting into the car. Only four times did drivers, having heard such a phrase, drive on in disappointment - and all these times it happened on a busy section of the highway, where we quickly caught the next car. In other places, drivers understand that you’ll have to wait another half a day for the next car, and after some hard thinking they still nod and say, get in. However, truck drivers and wealthy Ulaanbaatar residents in jeeps do this without much hesitation. But it’s still a little difficult - especially after Russia, where almost none of the drivers ask hitchhikers about money (for example, I no longer even warn that I’m driving for free).

If funds do not allow, but time allows, use a bicycle - it will not be much slower, and if you are an experienced biker, then maybe even faster than hitchhiking. For example, we covered the 390 km section from Bayankhongor to Altai in three days. And the section from the city of Bayan-Uul to the Verkhniy Ulkhun border crossing, 49 km long, took me a whole day (here I could have walked here in the same time).

But no matter how difficult hitchhiking in Mongolia may be, it still helps you get to know local life better and communicate with Mongols, many of whom speak Russian. So if the listed difficulties do not bother you, pack your backpack and go ahead.

Regular transport

Only in Ulaanbaatar there is some semblance of bus stations from which buses go to different regional centers according to a certain schedule and tariffs. In other cities, buses travel as best they can.

Guidebooks recommend looking for minibuses at the city market. There you can also find drivers who travel to other cities and are looking for travel companions to offset expenses. For some reason, Lonely Planet calls this exactly “hitch-hiking”, that is, it recommends going to the market and finding such a car. I don’t know, in my opinion, traditional hitchhiking is still more effective.

It was quite difficult to navigate bus prices. For example, from Ulaanbaatar to Luna (130 km) we traveled for 6 thousand tugriks, but from Ulaanbaatar to Darkhan (220 km) my travel companion traveled for the same money. Although, maybe the point is that to Darkhan you need to drive along an asphalt road, and part of the way to Lun is the already described track in the steppe.

Overnight

Everyone who travels to Mongolia should definitely spend the night with nomads at least once. This is easy to do, just go to the yurt in the steppe and politely ask to visit. During our only registration in the yurt, we generally acted very delicately: we asked if it was possible to put up a tent next to the yurt, but then, while we were sitting and resting after a hot day, we were invited into the yurt itself. In general, if you find yourself in the steppe and there is a yurt nearby, feel free to ask to visit. It is better to take sweets and chocolates in advance to give to the children. Put something on the table for tea and everyone will be happy. If you're lucky, you'll get a hearty dinner.

Another good option for overnight accommodation is roadside cafes.

Almost everyone has one or several large beds 4-5 meters wide, where anyone who orders dinner or breakfast at this eatery can spend the night for free (usually dinner for one costs 2-3 thousand tugriks). True, several more people will sleep on the same bed, but I don’t think this will bother free travelers if they have their own sleeping bag.

There are also hotels in large cities. We stayed there twice. In the city of Arvaikheer, a double room cost 11 thousand tugriks, in Altai 15 thousand tugriks. The first hotel did not have a shower, the second did not have hot water. But if anything, in cities you can find public baths and take a shower there for 1-2 thousand tugriks.

In places that are especially popular among tourists, there are guesthouses and hostels, including some kind of yurt camping (several yurts in which you can spend the night). However, for those who spent the night in a real yurt, this will not be particularly interesting: inside there are no attributes of a nomadic life, only a few beds and bedside tables. In Kharkhorin, such a guesthouse cost 5 thousand tugriks per person.

And, of course, there is a huge selection of overnight accommodations in Ulaanbaatar.

Firstly, this is the only city where more or less active members of Hospitalityclub and Couchsurfing live, so you can easily find free accommodation for the night. Secondly, there are hotels, hostels, guesthouses for every taste and budget.

Food

Vegetarians have nothing to do in Mongolia. All vegetables and fruits are imported from China, and the Mongols themselves make and eat almost everything from meat or milk. Only in Ulaanbaatar can you find vegetable salads; in other places such luxury is rare. I have always been a meat eater and anti-vegan, but now I even began to feel nostalgia for vinaigrette or tomato-cucumber salad. So be prepared, if you can’t stand meat at all, to buy the necessary products in Ulaanbaatar and take them with you.

The most popular dish in Mongolia is buuz, known to those who have visited the Irkutsk region or Buryatia under the name “pozy”.

This is finely minced meat, wrapped in dough and steamed. A very tasty and nutritious thing. To fill up, 4-5 pieces were enough for me. They usually cost 300 tugriks per piece. Another popular food is khushuur, which resembles our cheburek and costs 300-400 tugriks apiece. Also popular is tsuiwan, noodles with pieces of meat and potatoes. It costs 2-2.5 thousand tugriks. We mainly ate these three dishes during our trip.

There are also a lot of interesting dairy dishes in Mongolia, but, as a rule, they are not sold in canteens - we were treated to them either in yurts or in cars.

I especially remember the cheese, which tastes like cottage cheese, very tasty creamy butter and a low-alcohol milk-based drink reminiscent of kumiss. The main non-alcoholic drink is tea with milk. I didn’t like him in Ulaanbaatar, but then, for lack of a choice, I had to love him. It is usually served without sugar, lightly salted (however, I didn’t particularly feel the salt). In the capital, a little oil is also added to tea, but in the provinces this is not the case. A very nutritious thing. It costs 100-200 tugriks per cup, and sometimes it is served for free.

As in all other aspects, Ulaanbaatar and the rest of Mongolia are two very different things.

In the capital, the choice of food is large and varied. There are both cheap canteens with the dishes and prices mentioned above, and pretentious restaurants with Italian, Japanese and other cuisines for every taste and pocket. Once we even wandered into a vegetarian cafe.

A cheap eatery can usually be identified by the word "gazar" on the sign.

As for products, there is also a big difference between the capital and the province. In Ulaanbaatar there are many shops and supermarkets with a good selection of products, in other cities there are mainly small shops, the choice of which is smaller than in any Russian village store. Their usual set is soda, vodka, chocolate cookies and, if you're lucky, a huge piece of meat in the refrigerator. Even bread is rare. The store can be identified by the word "delguur" on the sign.

Cafes and large shops are found only in cities, therefore, given the quality of the roads and low traffic, it is better to always have a supply of water and food with you for at least one day.

Language

Quite a lot of people speak Russian in Mongolia. One time we were even given a ride by a graduate of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University. Of the drivers we met, most knew at least a few words and phrases in Russian, and with about every third it was even possible to communicate quite well.

But still, you shouldn’t specifically count on the fact that you will come across Russian-speaking Mongols.

Try to learn a little Mongolian, it will make your life much easier when traveling and help you get to know local life much better. Unfortunately, I knew only a few important phrases for a traveler, and I supplemented the rest with Russian words and gestures. But if with gestures I could still say “is it possible to put up a tent here?” or “stop here, please,” then asking more complex and interesting questions (“how do nomadic children go to school?”, “what do you use to heat the stove?”, etc.) was no longer possible.

People know English much worse than Russian. Mostly educated youth, metropolitan beggars and tourism workers can boast of this.

Internet and communications

There are several mobile operators, of which Mobicom was recommended to us. Naturally, cellular communications are not available on the road, but almost all large and small settlements have coverage. One or two Internet cafes can be found in most regional centers and are abundant in Ulaanbaatar.

Report on traveling by car from Russia to Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar). Mongolian roads, attractions, traditions and useful tips for tourists.

Preface

Over the past ten years, I have been visiting Ulaanbaatar quite often, but this was my first time driving to it by car. We prepared very carefully for our mini-trip, because we wanted not only to get to our destination, but also to visit the sights that we would meet along the way, as well as get aesthetic pleasure and plunge a little into the culture of the Mongolian people.

Border Russia - Mongolia

We started our journey from the border town of Kyakhta, where we stayed for a whole week before leaving for Ulaanbaatar. Having collected our things and put our bags in the car, we set off.

The city of Kyakhta in Buryatia

It begins with crossing the state border. Unfortunately, it is impossible to speak highly of the work of our services, since the order of passage often changes, and it is not always possible to guess what will happen this time. Plus, they work slowly.

Having approached the international automobile checkpoint "Kyakhta", we were happy to discover that there was almost no queue and quickly entered the territory of the international checkpoint. After standing in a queue of three cars for about an hour, we were finally able to drive up to the inspection point and go to the customs officers to fill out all the necessary documentation.

A surprise awaited us here - it turns out that as soon as the car entered the territory of the checkpoint, we had to immediately approach the customs officers to fill out documents, because on that day they inspected cars in “packs”, three or four at a time. Having overcome our bewilderment and quickly filled out all the forms, we took all the things out of the car for inspection. This procedure was easy and quick.

The next point to cross the border is passport control. Here everything worked out without any incidents, the border guards checked the documents, asked a few clarifying questions to our child, stamped him and let him go, wishing him a safe journey.

Passing the Mongolian checkpoint turned out to be even faster and easier. To begin with, we were sent through passport control. It is worth noting here that most of the employees speak Russian or English, so there were no issues with misunderstandings. Then we had to wait for quite a long time for a customs officer. It turned out that that day he worked alone in all directions.

As soon as we had all the necessary stamps on our documents, we left the checkpoint with peace of mind and found ourselves in the country of endless steppes and the homeland of Genghis Khan - Mongolia.

Such nature greeted us in Mongolia

Road Altan-Bulag - Ulaanbaatar

After crossing the state border, the traveler finds himself in the border town of Mongolia Altan Bulag. Here you can exchange money, have a snack and replenish food supplies. We decided not to stop and continue on to Ulaanbaatar.

The distance between the two cities is 350 kilometers. Along the way there are the cities of Sukhbaatar and Darkhan, as well as several villages.

The quality of roads leaves much to be desired

The road along the entire route is narrow, two-lane, with a large number of broken roads. Highway repairs are carried out according to the principle: “Let’s fill up the potholes on the federal highway with sand?” Most of all, we liked how the road was being repaired outside Darkhan - the repair service employees manually painted the road markings, although there was no road as such, just potholes. By the way, they are such that even if you are driving an SUV, you need to be alert.

If you do not pay attention to the quality of the road surface, the path is very interesting and eventful. Along the way you may encounter herds of sheep, goats, yaks or cows. It is worth noting that you most likely have not seen a herd of this size. Thousands of cattle and one shepherd on a horse or motorcycle.

Such herds graze in the steppes

If you're lucky, you might encounter a camel caravan. If you have never met these animals before, they will leave you with a storm of emotions. Unfortunately, we were unlucky this time.

The Mongols are a nomadic people, and when driving through the endless steppes, you can often come across lonely yurts. A third of Mongolia's population leads a nomadic lifestyle. You should not think that these are poor people or hermits, this is by no means the case.

Firstly, they are always up to date with all the news, because a modern yurt is a yurt with television and Internet access. Secondly, one ram is expensive, and they have thousands of them. Thirdly, the Mongols are very traditional, and this way of life is rather a habit.

In the suburbs of Ulaanbaatar, the quality of roads is already much better; in the city itself they are expanding to three or four lanes, but this does not save you from traffic jams during rush hour. Once you arrive in Ulaanbaatar, you can drive to the center within a few hours. We arrived around six in the evening and got home only two hours later.

Cityscape of Ulaanbaatar

Sights of Mongolia

In fact, there are a large number of attractions, but since we were traveling with a small child, we decided to visit only a few of them. The first was a monument to metallurgists near Darkhan:

Mongolian Ovoo

Very often we came across mounds of stones, sticks, and hadags.

Mongolian prayer books are places where earth and sky connect. It is believed that the spirits of our ancestors can not only hear us, but also help us through such places. To pray, you need to offer the spirits a cup of milk. This is done with a special movement, the cup is directed from the chest to the sky and the milk splashes out onto the stones. If you don’t have anything with you, then you can simply walk around “Ovoo” three times clockwise and put a pebble lifted from the ground onto the embankment.

Buddhist monastery "Aglag"

About a hundred kilometers before Ulaanbaatar there is the Aglag monastery - a very beautiful place that we simply could not help but stop by. To visit it, we had to turn right from the main road and drive along a dirt road for about ten kilometers. Having paid 5,000 tugriks for a ticket per person (about 120 rubles), we drove up to the foot of the monastery, left the car in the parking lot and continued on foot.

Views of the Buddhist monastery "Aglag"

Unlike other monasteries and sacred places in Mongolia, you need to walk around the monastery counterclockwise. To begin with, we climbed to the top and visited the temple. On the first floor of the temple there is a prayer book. On the second floor it was much more interesting, but, unfortunately, it was impossible to take photographs. There is an exhibition of stuffed mythical creatures, dragons and various “dark ones”, devils, harpies and so on.

To the left of the monastery the road goes to the top of the mountain. Walking along the path, you can see various rock engravings, holy places for gaining male and female strength, holy places that help conception, rocks in the form of animals, and also a prayer book on the top of the mountain.

You should walk very carefully, the paths are narrow, your feet regularly slip, but this does not spoil the impression of the overall appearance of the picture.

Where to eat on the way?

The answer to this question is quite easy to give - almost everywhere. You don't even need reviews and recommendations. At the entrance to cities and towns there are yurts with signs saying “buuz, huushuur” and so on. You can go to any of them and taste Mongolian national dishes, as well as drink Mongolian salty tea with milk.

Already inside the settlements you can find establishments where the menu is more extensive. In Mongolian they are called "Tsayny gazar". Here you can order both first courses and second courses.

We stopped to eat in a small yurt in front of Darkhan and ordered buuz and huushuur. In just twenty minutes the order was ready, and we tasted fresh and very tasty national dishes.

Where to stay to relax?

This question is more difficult to answer, since we did not stop anywhere and drove the entire route in less than one day. But if you really need to relax, you can go to any settlement and find cheap accommodation there.

By the way, as I said above, the Mongols are a very traditional people. If your journey happens at night or in the evening, then you can go into any yurt, and no one will dare to kick you out, on the contrary, they will feed you, give you something to drink and put you to bed. But you shouldn't abuse it.

Having traveled along the Kyakhta-Ulaanbaatar route, we encountered some difficulties that could have been avoided. Let's share our experiences and tips about Mongolia.

1. It is better to cross the border at night or early in the morning. There is no queue at this time.
2. As soon as you enter the territory of the checkpoint, check the procedure for processing documents. Do you need to fill them out immediately and prepare the car for inspection, or should you wait in line first?
3. If you cross the border early in the morning, you need to have a hearty breakfast or take food with you. Mongols are quite lazy people, and all the places where you can eat open around lunchtime.
4. To visit Aglag, take with you spare shoes with hard and ribbed soles.
5. Mongolian drivers are known for their reckless behavior, so it is important to be attentive and careful on the road. For example, when you overtake, you may not be noticed. Quite often there is a situation where people start to overtake you, but a car is coming towards you. Accordingly, in order to have time to wedge into your lane, you may be cut off.
6. When you drive into Ulaanbaatar, don’t be surprised if instead of the required three rows, the cars line up in five. This is a common practice. To drive in Mongolia, you need to be a little bolder and doubly careful.
7. There will be money collection posts several times along the entire road. Prepare your change in advance. Usually their cost does not exceed 2000-3000 tugriks (40-60 rubles).

Travel expenses to Mongolia

The expenses for such a trip are quite small, so this is what we did:

• Gasoline: 1000 rubles. We refueled the car in Kyakhta until the tank was full, since at the current exchange rate, gasoline in Russia is a little cheaper.
• Tickets to Aglag: 15,000 tugriks (360 rubles).
• Extortions on the roads: 10,000 tugriks (240 rubles).
• Lunch (buuzes, huushuurs, tea): 15,000 tugriks (360 rubles).
• Shopping along the way (kumiss, dried cottage cheese, snacks): 20,000 tugriks (480 rubles).

Total: 2500 rubles. This is very little considering that we were traveling with three adults and a small child.