Travel: Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar Day Trip

Lo and behold - It's Mongolia!

This is my first trip to a country not for shopping or eating good food but purely for sightseeing. It is indeed a beautiful place. We spent one day in Ulaanbaatar (I wonder when I'll be asked but I know the name of the capital of Mongolia. LOL)

It was rather impromptu. We wanted to just walk around free-and-easy on our own but in the end decided to sign up for a One-day tour with out hostel - Sunpath Mongolia. The hostel was quite clean and the people are friendly. Our experience with them was satisfactory and I don't mind spending a day or two when I return to Mongolia in the future for my Central Mongolia trip or what not. 

Before the day trip, we walked around places near our hostel. The sky there is just so different from what we have here. You can really see how the azure (winks at Raymond) blue sky contrasted with the fluffy white clouds. The sun was rather scorching since it's already summer when we were there in June but the wind was cold. Felt kind of like when I was in San Francisco in 2012.

Fun Fact: They actually address Genghis Khan as Chinggis Khan.

Off to our first stop after our driver and guide picked us up from the hostel. Great service by the hostel since we only decided the night before and they managed to get us an English speaking guide :)

Zaisan Memorial is located at the South of Ulaanbaatar that honours Soviet soldiers killed in WWII.

Chinggis Khan Equestrian Statue

This is, by legend, the place where he found the golden whip. The statue faces the east where he was born. We took a lift up then climbed up some stairs to the head of the horse where you can see a panoramic view of the surroundings.

It was really cool to be on top. There is literally no end to the grassland and everything is so beautiful. The area is surrounded by Ger and Yurt camp. I think they might be thinking of making it into some tourist hotel sort of thing. This place was only set up in 2008 so it is still quite new.

They have these piles of stones around the place. We are told that these places with the piles are actually sacred and people who pass by will pick up a rock/stone and throw it on top. Some even put offerings.

So next time you see it when you visit Mongolia, don't think that it's some rubbish place and start stepping all over it. Respect it.

More posts on Mongolia to come soon. Stay tuned!

Love,

Xin Er