When I returned to UB, I still wasn't sure what else I would do in Mongolia. I wanted to see the dunes and Khongoryn Els in the south of the country, but that typically involved a tour of six or more days that would typically involve circling back to Kharkhorin. Although the $45 per day expense of these tours is pretty reasonable, typically at least a couple of days are wasted travel days, where you do little more than sit in a van for 10 hours or so. Ideally, I would simply see the Gobi sights, which comprise only a day or two of the tours, and I asked at Idre's if it would be possible to join one of the tours in Dalanzadgad and then just join the tour for a couple of days. It would be much cheaper to take the bus to Dalanzadgad and do things this way, and they said it was possible if they had space in their next tour... unfortunately, the tour filled up completely before it departed, so this option was out.
Since other tours proved to be more expensive than I wanted to pay, I decided against this and considered heading out to eastern Mongolia: buses ran to Dadal a couple of times per week, and
Dorjsuren's homestay sounded appealing. Unfortunately, the bus times didn't really pan out and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much more time in Mongolia.
With the Gobi out, I decided to simply wait until my Kazakh visa was ready and then head south by train and visit Sainshand.
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| Abbot on his way to Golden Temple from Gandan monastery. |
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| Monk and old man talk in Golden Temple courtyard. |
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| Carrying water to the monastery. |
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| Soviet-style mural on apartment building. |
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| Mongolian elders in front of an assembly of ceremonial guards. |
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| It turns out it was some kind of ceremony for heads of state. |
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| White sulde spirit banners signify peace. |
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| View
from the tower where Black Yak Tours is located. LP touts them as the
provider of reasonably-priced tours, but they quoted $600 for a 4-day
Gobi tour—more than I spent in my entire three-plus weeks in Mongolia. |
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| Moving furniture in UB, near the bus station for parts east. |
Terelj National Park
The bus to Terelj starts at the Dragon Bus terminal and stops along Peace Avenue on its way to Terelj village. A good place to get on is the stop across from the Narantuul hotel, at 11:00: you don't have to go all the way to Dragon, but it's far enough from the city center that you should be able to get a seat. Apparently a lot of pickpockets get on and then get off before leaving UB, so you should be careful and be suspicious of any Mongolian who uses this bus and doesn't look like they're going to the mountains. From what I've heard, they aren't all that subtle.
There are lots of ger camps and resorts in Terelj, as well as one of the only golf courses in Mongolia (albeit with Astroturf greens). The village itself has a luxury resort but appears pretty dreary other than that. I spent the afternoon just walking the hills around the village, and it wasn't terribly exciting. They do seem to have lots of cattle compared to most other places, no doubt because of the relatively lush vegetation in the park.
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| Rain showers as seen from a ridge above the village of Terlj. |
