Showing posts with label Mongolia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mongolia. Show all posts

15 Aug - 18 Aug 2012 Ulaanbaatar





East Asia
Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar
Bayangol District
Danista Nomads Hostel +97688687468 danistanomadstour@yahoo.com
Adequate twin room with wifi, private bathroom and a light breakfast for two, for MNT 23,000.- or US$ 17.50 per night. 15% discount for members of the Konni & Matt Travel Blog.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Danista Nomads Hostel, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 47° 55.07' E 106° 53.57'

Visiting the dusty but atmospheric Choijin Lama Monastery +97611324788 (admission: MNT 2,500.- or US$ 1.85 per person), an elaborate ensemble of Buddhist architecture that blends Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese styles (thus recalling memories from our visit to the yellow-hat lamas’ 15th-century CE Spituk Gompa near Leh/Ladakh in India in 2011), which had functioned as an active monastery and home to about fifty Buddhist monks but was permanently closed in 1937 CE during the communist religious purges (and turned into a hard-line atheistical-revolutionist museum).



Konni: Recovering from our trip to Central Mongolia's platteland and the Orkhon Valley, a 121,967-ha UNESCO World Heritage Site of pastureland on both banks of the Orkhon River, and refreshing my female mind with a visit to Ulaanbaatar’s International Intellectual Museum +97611461470 www.iqmuseum.mn (admission: MNT 3,000.- per person), a mind-boggling collection of puzzles, logic games and other brain-jogging equipment from all over the world. 




Matt: Recovering from our trip to Central Mongolia's platteland and the Orkhon Valley, a 121,967-ha UNESCO World Heritage Site of pastureland on both banks of the Orkhon River, and refreshing my male body with the help of those skilful Mongolian massage ladies from the top-notch UB Massage Spa +97611360524 (“Your time spent in our relaxation centre will be memorised as a unique moment of life.”): one hour of an all-encompassing, hot Japanese body massage for MNT 25,000.- or US$ 18.40.




Taking the daily overnight train from Ulaanbaatar, simply just UB, back to the border town Zamiin-Uud (575 km, 16 hours, MNT 9,600.- or US$ 7.15 per person for “hard seats”, which turned out to be foldable and reasonably comfortable “hard-sleeper” bunks) and thereafter, on the next morning, one of the shuttling border-crossing coaches (8 km, 5 ½ hours including border-crossing wait time, CNY 50.- or US$ 7.85 plus CNY 10.- or US$ 1.50 road tax, per person) from Zamiin-Uud’s train station right to Erlian’s clean and well-organised bus station: “Nihao, and again, welcome to Red China's brave new world.”



Click below for more blog posts about wondrous Asian massage salons
08 Feb - 06 Mar 2012 Bangkok
12 Jan - 18 Jan 2012 Yangon
01 Apr - 05 Apr 2011 Kanyakumari
15 Jul - 25 Jul 2010 Louangphabang
09 Feb - 22 Feb 2010 Chiang Mai

Click below for a summary of this year's travels



Facing China
© Konni & Matt


Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from the United Kingdom:
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United States, please click here
For Amazon bargains from Canada, please click here
Destination:

14 Aug - 15 Aug 2012 Karakorum





East Asia
Mongolia
Central Mongolia
Orkhon Valley
Karakorum aka Harhorin
Cancal & Davaasuren’s Homestay +97689977256
Basic guestroom for MNT 16,000.- or US$ 11.80 per night.
Click below for an interactive road map of Cancal & Davaasuren's Homestay in Karakorum and for directions:
N 47° 11.02' E 102° 48.28'







Sizing up the awesome sand dunes of Mongolia’s smallest desert, Elsen Tasarkhai, and spotting numerous hawks, kites and eagles as well as kestrels and falcons, e.g. (i) the agile golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), (ii) the large cinereous aka black vulture (Aegypius monachus) and (iii) the delicate lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni).

"I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand."
(Bob Dylan) 



Discovering the ruins of Chinggis Khaan's capital city, the heart of the Mongol Empire, at Karakorum and visiting the large 1585 CE built Erdene Zuu Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, with its Tibetan-style temple and its distinctive wall with 100 stupas.



Learning from our friend Davaasuren, a resident of Karakorum, about the Mongol Empire (1206 - 1368 CE), the largest contiguous land empire in human history (at its greatest extent it spanned 9,700 km, covered an area of 24,000,000 sqkm, 16 % of the Earth's total land area, and held sway over a population of 100 million), and its simple but effective military organisation based on the decimal system (the number which is the count of fingers and thumbs on both hands).

“If you're afraid - don't do it.
If you're doing it - don't be afraid!”



Click below for more blog posts about interesting Buddhist monasteries
08 Feb 2014 Fo Guang Shan (Taiwan): Fo Guang Shan
20 Aug - 23 Aug 2012 Datong (China): Fahua Monastery
28 Jan - 05 Feb 2012 Inle Lake (Burma): Shwe Yaunghwe Kyaung
08 Jun - 18 Jun 2011 Leh (India): Phyang Gompa
09 Feb - 22 Feb 2010 Chiang Mai (Thailand): Wat Suan Dok

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2012 Map Konni & Matt


Facing Asia
© Konni & Matt


Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from the United States:

For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon bargains from Canada, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United Kingdom, please click here
Destination:

13 Aug - 14 Aug 2012 Uvgun Khiid





East Asia
Mongolia
Central Mongolia
Orkhon Valley
Khugnu Khan Mountains
Uvgun Khiid
Erdene Uvgun Camp +97699272873 bayasaa_mon@yahoo.com
Traditional Mongolian ger aka yurt (felt-lined cylindrical tent) for MNT 20,000.- or US$ 14.70 per night.
Click below for an interactive road map of the Erdene Uvgun Camp, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 47° 25.32' E 103° 41.81'










Surfing on our posh Toyota 4x4 Hilux Surf the vast and very picturesque steppe of Central Mongolia, kilometre after kilometre, spotting hundreds of beautiful herds of still breathing, walking and frolicking beef, veal, mutton, chevon and horsemeat, and discussing our vegetarianism with our uncomprehending Mongolian driver Gochoo, meeting en-route many hospitable nomadic horse breeders in their ger, the traditional Mongolian felt-lined round tents, and stopping a few times in order to savour (i) various blends and cultivars of airag aka kumis, the famous fermented horse milk with only a mild alcohol content, and (ii) a variety of horse, cow and camel cheeses of different stages of ripeness.
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."


Stumbling across the bleached skulls of animals that had not survived the winter: in the worst times, when temperatures fall to below minus 40 centigrade, livestock in Mongolia sometimes freeze to death in a standing position; the herders then tramp through the snow and gather the bodies together into a miserable heap.



Visiting the atmospheric 16th-century CE Buddhist Uvgun Khiid monastery, hidden in the Khugnu Khan Mountains, which was built by the medieval religious figure Zanabazar and served during its peak up to 1,000 monks.



Click below for more blog posts about our pescetarian/vegetarian beliefs
27 Nov - 31 Dec 2013 Kaohsiung
03 Sep - 13 Sep 2013 Singkawang
11 Jul - 01 Sep 2013 Kuching
23 Aug - 28 Aug 2012 Pingyao
24 Oct - 26 Nov 2011 Kuah

Click below for a summary of this year's travels

Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from Germany:

For Amazon deals from the United States, please click here
For Amazon deals from Canada, please click here
For Amazon deals from the United Kingdom, please click here
Destination:

11 Aug - 13 Aug 2012 Ulaanbaatar





East Asia
Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar
Chingeltei District
Mongolian Steppe Guest House +97699023771 steppeinmongolia@yahoo.com
Clean and modern double room in a serviced apartment, with self-catering kitchen and  excellent wifi, for US$ 20.- per night.

 
Click below for an interactive road map of the Mongolian Steppe Guest House in Ulaanbaatar, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 47° 55.09' E 106° 54.37'









Going on an day trip to the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park (public bus from the bus stop on Peace Avenue to Terelj: 58 km, 2 ¼ hours, MNT 2,200.- or US$ 1.60 per person) and hiking from the distinctive Turtle Rock aka Melkhii Khad to the remote Buddhist Aryapala Monastery (admission: MNT 2,000.- per alien).



Hiring a chauffeured Toyota 4x4 Hilux Surf from Eiggy’s Mongolian Steppe Guest House +97699023771 (US$ 60.- per day plus MNT 160,000.- or US$ 118.- for 100 litres of petrol) and exploring, over the following three days and 800 km, Central Mongolia’s Orkhon Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and (i) the centre of the Mongol Empire, (ii) the centre of the Uighur Empire, and (iii) the birthplace of Mongolian Buddhism; many thanks, Gochoo, for your wild ChinggisKhaan-like but safe driving.

"Sie ritten um die Wette mit dem Steppenwind,
Tausend Mann,
Und einer ritt voran, dem folgten alle blind:
Dschingis Khan.
Die Hufe ihrer Pferde, die peitschten im Sand,
Sie trugen Angst und Schrecken in jedes Land.
Und weder Blitz noch Donner hielt sie auf.
Dschingis Khan, Dschingis Khan.

Lasst noch Wodka holen,
Denn wir sind Mongolen, 
Und der Teufel kriegt uns frueh genug..."
(Abba) 




Recommended books – click below for your Amazon order from Canada:
For Amazon schnaeppchens from Germany, please click here
For Amazon deals from the United States, please click here
For Amazon deals from the United Kingdom, please click here
Destination:
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