MONGOLIA    INFO & DIARY  1

 GENERAL INFO (Jump to Diary)

is found between China to the south and Russia to the north. It covers 1,564,116 square kilometres and the highest peak; Tavan Bogd is 4374 meters high.
Is the home to around 3,500,000 citizens, of which around half are Buddhists, 40% have no religion, and then a few Muslims, Christians along with some, who are into Shamanism. They have their own alphabet; Hudum Mongol bichig, but Cyrillic and Latin letters is dominating in the streets.
The history:Mongolia have a rich history, with Genghis Khan as a main character and founder of the country. He is actually considered to the the richest person, ever to have lived.
The climate of most of the country is hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter, and we are up in the cold north - which is pleasant at summertime. The south is dominated by the Gobi desert.
The wildlife is not the impressive, mainly due to the extreme dry and cold climate. Here are 138 species of mammals, 448 bird species, 76 fish species, 22 reptile species, 6 amphibian species and over 12,500 species of insects.
The flora: There are registered 3000 species of flowering plants. Grassland and shrub-land covers 55 percent of the country. In the steppe zone, forest covers only 6 percent while 36 percent is covered by desert vegetation, and only one percent is used for human habitation and agriculture. I only know a few Mongolian caudiciforms:

.
The capital Ulaanbaatar/Улаанбаатар/

, meaning  "blacksmith". It is third largest city in Mongolia with almost 100,000 inhabitants. It is found at 665 meters height, giving it a borderline humid continental climate. It was founded by the Soviets in 1961 as an industrial town.

DIARY,11/7 2024. A good friend of mine, travelling in South Korea, ask me: "What do you know about Mongolia?". I reply; "Next to nothing, lets meet in Ulaanbaatar, in five days, and learn some". It is with short planning, but only intended to be a "city break". Where he fly direct from Seoul, I have to pass Frankfurt in Germany and Beijing in China - around 26 hours of dull transport - should everything work perfect.

I'm am delayed one hour in Copenhagen, but I get to eat on Luftwaffes account in Frankfurt. Our airplane got driving into, and they spent two hours, finding another. After additional one hour, we are told, they will add extra fuel, and we will take a detour, as the European airspace is full. I now remember: I have one air company listed in the Do Not list: Airwaffe. Eventually, we take off, three and a half hours delayed and on a significant longer route. I’m glad, I had well over six hours to spare in Beijing.
12. I get there after a long flight, in a short night. Three hours with Wi-Fi but no Facebook, Gmail and Dropbox in Beijing. I spend a long time chatting with a young British woman, studding to be a doctor.
Then, half an hour before departure, the sky turns black, the plane is tied down, and the captain tells me, he suspects we will be delayed. He has right, after an hour, there are still no new time. At least, I am not the one, spending too much time on a cafe, missing my flight. An hour later, we finally take off.
I have a chat with a Mongolian girl, who thought she missed the flight, due to the endless and slow lines at the security.

I reach Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar at the same time as Claus’ flight – but not Claus.
Show my passport, but get to skip the other controls, as my luggage is too small to be interesting. Withdraw half a million in a ATM, fail to find a car, but find the shuttlebus office. Get a long and informative chat with a young Mongolian teacher, who have lived in Sweden and Germany. Among so many other things, he tells me, it is the first day of a week long festival in Ulaanbaatar. It shift around the next month around the country, and we are lucky to have a hotel.
We drive through the famous green hills, pass so many horse, sheep and tents. It sure look nice, but I doubt it changes much before the Goby Desert – which we flew over for a very long time this morning.
The horses are found in less numbers in-between the skyscrapers, but they are here in the outskirts of the city. The old houses, on the other hand, are scars.
I find our hotel in the dusk, and shop for dinner at the nearby supermarket. The long sleepless journey can be felt, and I head to bed at eleven. Newer the less, only for two hours. I work on my gear, the diary and wait for Claus to join.
So far, the Mongolians have been so nice and friendly. Manu speak English - at least in the airport, but most letters are Cyrillic, although they do not spell Russian words. Only office offices and Coca Cola use their own letters, spelled vertical.
13. Somewhat dull start to the day, but we just have to get to bed, before we can get up. Claus appeared somewhat red-eyed at 05, and he insist on sleeping.
First target is the great Naran Tuul market. It is totally dead; not a soul. We continue undeterred to the covered Dunjingarav market, which is equally dead.
Beyond the river to the green hills, to see a Genghis Khan monument. On the way, we see some lines of white stones on a hillside. We don't bother going up to them, and only find out later; that it was the monument.
Along the river and the road, there are a lot of flowering herbs, but very few which I don't recognize from Denmark.
Then we only find Zisane monuments. We trudge up hundreds of steps before reaching the barbedwire and the closed gate. Well, we can see it on a nearby hilltop, and that it enough anyway.
Claus spots a large golden Buddha statue at the Zaisan Memorial, and after making some loops, we go through a restaurant and find the 23 meter high fibreglass statue.
Back across the river to the Winter Palace complex. It is open and authentic. Many of the Bogd Khaan's belongings are on display, from stuffed animals over a fur tents to four-poster beds.
We try to find the party, which is the highlight of Mongolia, but find only a huge playground. Quite a pity we don't find the eagle dance, wrestling and archery competitions, but the very short comparison has its price.
Virtually all shops and restaurants are closed today, and it starts to blow a cool wind at eight o'clock. We manage to find an excellent dinner, and then we trudge home. The highlights from day 0, 1 & 2. (Opens in a new page).

It is time to open Diary 2.