Outer Mongolia - Introduction (Part 1)

Chinggis Statue - Outer Mongolia

One fine afternoon I had tea with Susan at Serangoon NEX. Suddenly she asked me if I was interested to join the tour to Outer Mongolia. I knew her not so long ago. She loved travelling and had traveled to lots of places around the world. She did many research on travel lobang during her free time and it was one of her enjoyment. She told me about a travel agent that offered this tour, and especially for this, they even chartered a flight for this destination. I asked her about the price and everything, and agreed to her almost immediately.

Lovely view of sheeps and goats living in harmony :) - Beautiful Mongolia!!!

23 years ago I visited the Inner Mongolia, which was a part of China. It was the my first time experiencing the local China tour from Beijing, together with my schoolmates. It was also my first time experiencing desert, grasslands, drinking horse milk, and staying a night inside the Mongolia tent (ger).

A place rich in nature - Outer Mongolia

I thought, well, it was 23 years ago, and I had never been to Outer Mongolia before. Though their lifestyle might be similar, but I was sure that there must have differences between the two countries, especially under different governance. But what attracted most to me from this tour, was that the itinerary included the visit to 3 different Buddhist temples. For the past few years I had grown much interest in visiting different Buddhist temples from all over the world. I just felt I was very lucky and had great fate in visiting those places, to pay respect to the guru Buddha, and feel at peace.

With travel buddies exploring Mongolia!!! :)

After both of us signed up, our two Bhutanese friends also showed their interests in visiting this country and four of us were just nice became the travel buddy for this trip, sharing our room and ger,  exploring places, and spending most of our time together.

The capital of Outer Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar city

For the start, let me share a little bit information about Mongolia (also known as North or Outer Mongolia). The capital, and also their largest city is Ulaanbaatar.

Vast and empty - Outer Mongolia

At more than 1.5 million sq km, Mongolia is the 18th-largest and the most sparsely populated sovereign state in the world, with population of only 3 million people. Wow!!! Can you imagine??? Compare it to Singapore that has only 723 sq km with almost 6 million population!!! :D

Ger at country side - Outer Mongolia

30% of Mongolia population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. The majority of its population believes in Buddhism, where the second biggest one believes in nothing (bon - Shamanism). Tibetan Buddhism spread in Mongolia in 16th century and by early 1900s, almost one-third of the adult male population were Buddhist monks.

Gandan Tegchinlen Monastery in Ulaanbaatar - Mongolia (Main center of Mongolian Buddhism)

However in 1911, after the collapse of Qing dynasty, Mongolia declared its independence and shortly came under the control of Soviet Union, whom had aided to achieve the country's independence from the hand of China. And in the late 1930s, the regime had sadly closed almost all of Mongolia's over 700 Buddhist monasteries and killed at least 30,000 people, of whom 18,000 were lamas. With it, the number of Buddhist monks dropped drastically from 100,000 in 1924 to only 110 in 1990. With the fall of communism in 1991, the country had managed to restore the religious practice back. It also allowed other religions (Christian and Catholics) to spread in the country. (Source: wikipedia.org)

Ovoo or sacred stone heaps in Outer Mongolia

Ovoo are sacred stone heaps used as altars or shrines in Mongolia folk religious practice. It is made of rocks with woods. It is often found on top of the mountains and high places. We saw it often throughout our journey. It serves as site to worship heaven and lesser gods led by Shaman, and also for Buddhist ceremony. When traveling, it is common to see people circling it three times on clockwise direction with a hope of having a safe journey.

Mongolians

Their official language is Mongolian and their current second language is English (replacing Russian - although Russian language is still frequently spoken there). And surprisingly, Korean language has also gained popularity there as ten of thousands Mongolians work in South Korea. The influence of Korea in the country is very significant as well. Many Korean companies, restaurants, stuffs, food and beverages, are there.

Common industrious area just outskirts of Ulaanbaatar city - Mongolia

Coal mining outskirts the Ulaanbaatar city - Mongolia

Their two biggest economic activities are in minerals mining (coal, gold, copper, etc.) and agriculture (herding as well). The country produces second biggest Cashmere in the world (after China).

Ulaanbaatar city view from Zaisan Hill - Outer Mongolia

The contrast of high rise buildings with traditional tent located at the surrounding of Ulaanbaatar city - Mongolia (Photo courtesy: Sherab Tenzin)

According to our local guide, in city like Ulaanbaatar, the citizen must buy land or own apartment, while in countryside they can stay every where and move around wherever they like. The rental cost of 2-bedroom apartment in city area is around USD$500/month. As for the ger, it is usually stayed by people with lower income. They do not pay for central heat as it is not available. They still use things like wood, clothes to burn and generate heat for them to keep warm, especially in winter times. That is why the air pollution has become more prominent in Ulaanbaatar as many ger set up surrounding the city, not yet those mining activities that is also happening not far from it. And therefore, many people prefer staying in smaller town to avoid the air pollution.

Mixture of housing and ger (Mongolia tents) at countryside - Mongolia

How Mongolian 'chop' or reserve their plot of land (using half-cut tyre) so that other people will not occupy the space

Mongolian government gives 700 sqm land in small village for free to all citizens. If nearer to Ulaanbaatar, they are given only 500 sqm. Many have used it to plant vegetable or rent it to company. For nomadic people, during winter time they will stay in front of big mountains to protect them from wind. During summer they will move four to five times depending on where the grass grow.

Livestock everywhere you go in Mongolia

Generally Mongolian eat lots of meat like beef, mutton and chicken with very less fish. During summer they eat meat lightly and eat more dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt, curd, and so on. While in winter they eat more heavy food to survive (meaning more meat). Many of them depend their income from cashmere (sheep wool), meat and dairy production. People from city buy all those products from them. So they are all food self-sufficient and able to consume healthier local products.

Nadaam Festival celebrating 3 manly sports in Mongolia - wrestling, horse racing and archery (Photo courtesy: journeyinmongolia.com)

They celebrate 2 big festival every year. First one is Tsagaan Sar (Mongolian Lunar New Year) - usually in end of January or February, and another one is Naadam Festival - celebrated every summer throughout Mongolia across every province, in most towns and villages. They celebrate their three manly sports, the proud of Mongolians, which are: horse racing, wrestling, and archery.

Well, hope with that information, you can imagine how Mongolia as a country look like and how their people live their life. More about the places will come at next posts :)