Activities in Mongolia
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Stepperiders Camp
Horses are available from Stepperiders Camp, just off the main Ulaanbaatar-Zuunmod road. Stepperiders is run by Minde, a recommended local horse guide who can give lessons, instructions and support to independent travellers planning their own expedition. This is a perfect place to test ride a Mongolian horse before a longer trip. Rides are great value at US$35 to US$50 per day and include pick-up, drop-off, guides, horses, food and even entry fees to the national park.
As this camp is something of a hang-out for dedicated horse riders, you may be able to find partners for a trip.
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Mandshir Khiid to Ulaanbaatar Hike
This approach to Tsetseegün from the south side is the easiest route by far. As you face the monastery, cut over to your right (east) until you get to the stream. Just follow the stream until it nearly disappears and then head north. About three hours' walking should bring you out over a ridge into a broad boggy meadow, which you'll have to cross. If you've walked straight to the north, the twin rocky outcrops of the summit should be right in front of you.
When you start to see Ulaanbaatar in the distance, you're on the highest ridge and close to the two large ovoo (a shamanistic pyramid-shaped collection of stones as an offering to the gods) on the summit (GPS: N47°…
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Federation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition
The Federation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition is involved in the regeneration of Buddhist culture in Mongolia. The centre offers free lectures and courses on various aspects of Buddhist tradition and meditation. Lectures are given in English (at the time of writing, Monday to Thursday, 18:30); look for the pink-tiled building west of the Mormon Church.
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Kazakh Tour
Friendly guide and owner Dosjan Khabyl has tailor-made trips throughout Bayan-Ölgii and leads trekking tours around Tavan Bogd. He speaks English, Mongolian, Russian and Kazakh, and gets good reviews from travellers. The Ölgii office is next to Pamukkale restaurant.
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Samar Magic Tours
Based at El Latino restaurant, this company runs fishing expeditions and a ger camp near Terelj. Contact Spanish- and English-speaking Christo Camilo Gavilla Gomez.
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Friends School
Short-term-survival Mongolian classes are available. Located just northeast of the Bridge School.
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Asral & Kunchab Jampa Ling Buddhist Centre
A new NGO and Buddhist social centre that supports impoverished families. Its main aim is to stop disadvantaged youths from becoming street children. It also provides skills and jobs for unemployed women; an on-site felt-making cooperative turns out some lovely products.
The Buddhist arm of the organisation has classes on Buddhism and meditation although for now these are only offered in Mongolian. In summer, a high Tibetan Lama, Panchen Otrul Rinpoche, visits the centre and provides religious teachings.
Asral encourages travellers to visit the centre. You can meet the felt-makers and buy their products or even volunteer your time. The centre is always looking for English…
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Fly Mongolia
Adrenaline junkies may want to spend an afternoon at the base camp of Fly Mongolia, a burgeoning adventure centre run by local aviation enthusiast, Alex Amiya. Tandem paragliding (US$35) and ultralight aircraft tours (US$100) are two popular activities. With more time you can take a four-day paragliding lesson (US$180). Alex can teach in English, French, Russian or Mongolian. Note that spring is a dangerous time to paraglide in Mongolia because of the unpredictable winds. September is best for beginners. Fly Mongolia also has 4WD go-carts (per hour US$15). The camp is off the main Gachuurt road, 1km before Hotel Mongolia (look for the wooden sign by the road). Be warned…
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Horse Rides
Travelling on a horse is the perfect way to see a lot of the park, including Günjiin Süm and the side valleys of Tuul Gol. To travel long distances, you will need to have experience, or a guide, and bring most of your own gear. Horses can be hired through any of the ger camps, but you'll pay high tourist prices (around US$35 to US$40 a day).
A mob of horse boys hang around Turtle Rock offering horse riding at US$5 per hour, or somewhere between US$12 and US$20 for the day. Alternatively, approach one of the Mongolian families who live around the park and hire one of their horses, though they may not be much cheaper.
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Zaisan Route Hike
It is more of an uphill battle to Tsetseegün if you start from the Zaisan Memorial. From the memorial, head up the road past the ger camp and enter the forest. Look for the yellow trail markers, which veer left when you've reached the top. From here, the slope levels off and becomes an easy walk through a pleasant forest for the next two hours. If you stick to the yellow tags you'll follow the quickest route to Mandshir but will miss reaching Tsetseegün. All up, this is a 15km walk.
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Observatory Route Hike
This is the easiest route on the Ulaanbaatar side, mainly because you hit the fewest boulders. However, this route is also the least interesting. The walk to Tsetseegün and over to Mandshir takes about six hours. The problem is that getting to the Observatory ('Khureltogoot' in Mongolian) is difficult. You could catch a bus to Nalaikh and get out at the toll gate, then walk the last 6km up the hill. Otherwise, you'll have to take a taxi.
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National University of Mongolia
The National University of Mongolia is northeast of Sükhbaatar Sq. The school offers specialised classes on Mongolian culture and language, and has a foreign-student department. The office is in the main building, room 213. Response to these programmes by students is quite mixed particularly when it comes to teaching Mongolian (the general consensus is that the language schools do a much better job at this).
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Rinky Dink Travel Mongolia
As the name indicates, this is a small tour company that keeps its trips simple, safe and fun. It has homestays in ger districts and takes you out of Ulaanbaatar to meet nomad families. It is involved in social development programmes in poor neighbourhoods and invites tourists to volunteer for its projects. There is no actual 'office' to drop into - you just contact them and they will pick you up.
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Raft Trips
Tuul Gol, which starts in the park and flows to Ulaanbaatar and beyond, is one of the best places in the country for rafting. The best section of the river starts a few kilometres north of Terelj village, and wraps around the park until it reaches Gachuurt, near Ulaanbaatar. Nomadic Journeys in Ulaanbaatar runs rafting trips here for around US$45 per day (minimum four people).
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Bridge Mongolian Language Center
Receiving consistently positive reviews, this language centre offers an intensive two-week survival course, as well as longer courses and individual tuition. Costs are US$5 to US$7 per hour for a private lesson or US$4 per person for a group lesson. Note that the directions it gives on its website are obsolete; it's on the eastern side of the city past the Khan Palace hotel.
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Sports Palace
If you have some time to kill, check out the Sports Palace. You can take a hot shower (around Tug1000) or sauna (around Tug2000 per hour), watch some wrestling or go ice skating in winter at the stadium at the back. There's an indoor pool (around Tug2000), open weekdays only, but the staff may make life difficult by insisting on a medical examination before they let you swim.
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Nomadic Journeys
A Mongolian-Swedish joint venture concentrating on low-impact tourism. It runs fixed-departure yak, camel and horse treks and can also arrange rafting trips on the Tuul Gol. Its trip in Terelj is unique - you walk while yaks haul your own portable ger on a cart. This is a great outfit for the eco-conscious traveller. Contact Jan Wigsten or Manduhai.
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Xanadu
Frenchman Côme Doerflinger runs adventure trips through his outfit Xanadu, based in Gachuurt. He mainly runs horse trips, and has French, Russian and English saddles. Côme also has kayaks and canoes that you can use to float down Tuul Gol, and mountain bikes which are great for excursions up Gachuurt's side valleys towards Terelj.
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Wrestling Palace
For wrestling check out the schedule at the Wrestling Palace , which is the ger-shaped building south of the Chinggis Khaan Hotel. In the lead-up to Naadam, you should be able to catch some informal, but still competitive, wrestling at the Naadam Stadium. The annual Naadam (11 and 12 July) features wrestling, horse racing and archery.
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Old Man Reading a Book
For more sedate walks in the Terelj ger camp area, just follow the main road and pick a side valley to stroll along at your leisure. From the main road, look out for two interesting rock formations like Old Man Reading a Book, which can be spotted on the left side of the road when travelling south from Terelj village.
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Khajuu Bulag
About 2.2km west of Deluun Boldog is the Khajuu Bulag mineral water springs, where the great man once drank. Take your water bottles and fill them to the brim because this is the freshest (flowing) spring water you will ever taste. You could also hike up into the hills behind town, where there is a large ovoo.
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UB Golf Club
The UB Golf Club is a wild place where balls tend to get swallowed up even on the fairways - down marmot holes or in the high grass. It's located 20km west of the city, about 3km before the Nairamdal Zulsan International Children's Centre. Additionally, there are two golf courses in Terelj National Park.
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Turtle Rock
For more sedate walks in the Terelj ger camp area, just follow the main road and pick a side valley to stroll along at your leisure. From the main road, look out for interesting rock formations like Turtle Rock, in a side valley to the south of Terelj, which really looks like one at a certain angle.
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Nomads
Offers a wide range of fixed-departure tours, including popular horse treks in Khentii and through Terelj, visiting Günjiin Süm. Nomads also offers fabulous jeep trips to more remote areas in the far west and camel treks in the Gobi. Its office location will change in 2009; check the website.
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Mongolia Expeditions
Specialises in adventure travel, including cycle touring, mountaineering, caving and rafting trips, as well as more sedentary options such as flower-watching tours. It is particularly experienced in tours to western Mongolia. It's located on the west side of the Choijin Lama Temple Museum.
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