This was part 2 of the Siberia train trip we took from June 25-July 9, 2016. The original blog was published in TravelPod. This is an “Encore” of the blog. Hope you enjoy it.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/thzrM1DqcY1MeP5I3
We boarded a private train at Beijing station at mid-night and rode through the Gobi Desert. This part of Gobi was more dry land than sand desert. We saw many mud houses in small villages along the way. We arrived at Ulan Bater – the Capital of Mongolia – on the afternoon of the 2nd day. Here we met our Russian tour guide Valerie and transferred to the Tsar’s Gold Train – our home for the next 10 days.
Mongolia had a long history with China, Mongol warrior were both admired and feared by Chinese. After all, the Great Wall was built against the raids of these “barbarian” from the North. The Wall did not stop the descendants of Genghis Kahn to invade China and established the dynasty of “Yuan” which ruled China for about 100 years (1271-1368). Although many Chinese still consider Mongolia as part of China, the Mongol people has a very different view point. They are not happy that part of their land is the “Inner Mongolia” Province in China. It is an insult to call them “Outer Mongolia” (as many Chinese do). I was told that Mongolia is a democratic country and the people are very proud of their heritage. A small country sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia struggled to keep their independence. Their ancient script has been modernized to Cyrillic which is similar to the Russian alphabet and China is their major (80%) trading partner.
We toured Ulan Bater – a fairly modern city with several ancient Buddhist temples. 1/3 of Mongolians are still nomadic and live in their traditional Ger tending their animals. We spent a night inside a Ger in Gorkhi-Tereji national park. The Ger is a tent made of wool panels supported by wooden posts. Two experienced person can set it up or take it down in less than an hour. In the center of the Ger is a steel stove to keep the spacious room warm. However, instead of an outhouse, we enjoyed the luxury of a modern toilet and shower facility near by. We took nice long walks to check out the animals, climbed a steep hill to admire the wild flowers in the meadow. We also visited a local nomadic family, tasting their home made cheese, sweets and delicious yogurt.
A mini demonstration of wrestling, Mongolia throat singing (check out the video), traditional dance, archery and horse racing were arranged for us. The master archer was the 2005 national champion and he strike the target 6/6 times over the distance of 65 meter. The horse racing were done by young boys 5-12 years old riding bareback. These are all traditional skills Mongolians still treasure even now. We reboarded the train and headed toward the Russia broader.