Whats Mongolia like?

Hi

Well I was planning to do a trip to Tibet but I m going to postpone that one for awhile.
I was thinking about going to Mongolia and possibly Siberia instead. Can anyone fill me in what its like there.

Thanks
hmff

Mongolia is nice.

hmff - some of your best resources for finding out about Mongolia are the tourism and travel companies. Most of them have a section with information about Mongolia. Yes, some of them are all-positive with no negatives, but you can read the forum here to find out about people's personal experiences. Also you can read the UN Mongolia site. Check Wikipedia and Wikitravel.

It's impossible to really describe a place in a few short sentences, which is probably why you are not getting much response to your post.

In my experience - the landscape is huge, quiet, peaceful. The people are reserved, strong, independent and self-reliant.

The worst of the country is in the city, where unemployment has lead to despair, frustration, alcoholism, and domestic abuse. However, the city (there's only one big city) is a small part of Mongolia. The best of the country is in the countryside, where nomadic herders still live a life mostly without modern conveniences. It's not all rosy, of course, and there are a lot of problems, much to do with environmental damage from mining. But the countryside people are strong, confident, and life-loving people. I hope you go - it's a wonderful place.

Edited by: KimUB

What are your interests? How were you planning to spend your time in Tibet? How much time do you have? What is your budget? Without more information from you, it is impossible to provide useful information to you.

Where are you now? Getting a Russian visa outside of your home country or the country of yuor official residence is increasingly difficult.

Ruth

If you were planning on going to Tibet then go to Mongolia, not Siberia.
Mongolia is a Buddhist country and the same branch of Buddhism as Tibet. The Dalai Lama is revered in Mongolia - in fact the word "Dalai" is Mongolian for ocean ! The culture is very similar, especially in the countryside. Khuvsgul in the West has high mountains, but not as high as the Himalayas, and the Gobi desert in the South is one of the most unique landscapes in the world. For the Gobi check out www.gobitours.com. Good luck.

everbrite

Were wanting to drive Lhasa to Kat and see Everest along the way and do some time in Nepal(not trekking). We 'll have 2 - 3 weeks in June that we want to do something. We're into culture, landscapes, meeting the locals, monasteries, horses and whatever makes a country unique. Still in Oz at the moment so got a bit of time to plan it

hmff

No high mountains in Mongolia. Landscapes are ok but lots and lots of the same thing for miles and miles plus little infrastructure to get around in Mongolia. Most people get together with a group of 4-5 and hire a guide/driver and a vehicle to head to one of several places. (see below) Not too many monasteries. Some horses and you can arrange trekking trips.

There are a number of possible destinations outside UB. These are probably the most common places to travel:

1. the lake Hovsgul area (This high mountain lake (1,645 m/5400ft above sea level) is surrounded by mountains, meadows and forest, a complete contrast to the rest of Mongolia. It's full of fish and the area is home to sheep, ibex, bear and moose, as well as over 200 species of birds. This is the deepest lake in Central Asia, and the world's 14th largest source of fresh water. You can hike along the shore, take a dip in the icy waters or try your hand at fishing. An amazing 90 rivers flow into the lake, but only a single river flows out - the Egiin Gol, which ultimately reaches Lake Baikal in Siberia. You can visit the Reindeer people who live in the area...) or

2. the Gobi Desert (Second largest desert of the world. Covering the southeastern third of Mongolia, the Gobi Desert stretches about 3,000 mi/4,830 km along both sides of the Chinese border. It isn’t a Saharan-type desert - although there are sand dunes, the Gobi Desert is not a barren wasteland. It has herds of Bactrian camels (with two humps), wild horses and donkeys, as well as leopards, mountain sheep and ibexes. There is a lot of variety within the Gobi Desert, from wildlife parks and mountains to canyons with dramatic rockfaces. Once the site of an ancient inland sea, the area has dried up and then eroded over the eons, providing paleontologists with magnificent specimens of dinosaur fossils...)

3. Karakorum (In 1220 Genghis Khan decided to build the capital city of his vast Mongolian empire at Karakorum. Building was completed by his son, Ogedai Khan, after Genghis' death, but Karakorum served as the capital for 40 years before Kublai Khan moved it to what is now Beijing. Following the move, and the subsequent collapse of the Mongolian empire, Karakorum was abandoned. Whatever was left was used to help build the glorious Erdene Zuu monastery in the 16th century. Erdenezuu (The Hundred Treasures) was the first center of Lamaism in Mongolia...) - this is often combined with the Gobi desert tour.

4. Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, created in 1993, borders the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area, and it is one of the most visited protected areas. Terelj, on the Terelj river bank is a spectacular valley with eroded rock formations, pine-covered mountains and grasslands carpeted with perennial wildflowers and edelweiss. - this is considered by some to be very tame and touristy.

These descriptions are from the visitmongolia.com website, but this is not a recommendation to use them.

OTAM = open tour around mongolia. You can buy ticket for 123 USD and travel on a circuit to all the destinations. The length of the road is 2000 km. It takes 5 nights and 6 days to do the entire route of the trip nonstop. The interesting part of it is you can get off and on anywhere you want and stay there as long as you want. The ticket is valued until you finish the circuit. Check out their website: www.otamecotours.com. It seems like an interesting concept, which might be exactly what you want.

Another community group is GertoGer.org - Nomad Centered Community Tourism Project
Office Tel/Fax: (976-11) 313336
Email: info@GertoGer.org
Website: www.GertoGer.org

If you use either of these, I would love to hear back and it would probably be useful to add something to the guidebook updates section as both of these seem to be relatively new operations.

Also take a look at this thread: 7 days in Mongolia

Ruth

Mongolia and Tibet have in common the following:

grasslands, Buddhism (some Mongolian monks study in Tibet), silk coats (which the Tibetans wear on special occasions), horses, tents, a writing script that's a bit different from the one I'm using and more but I can only think of this much right now.

If you like mountains, try Nepal on the other side.

Han Girl