Having checked into our hotel, we immediately set out to explore Ulaanbaatar – and a long day it would be (our flight arrived about 7 AM local time).
We started off by heading off to experience the Naadam festival. Naadam is the biggest event in Mongolia, a kind of mixture of sporting event (with horse-riding, archery and most importantly, wrestling), family day out, and religious event. We started by watching the wrestling competition.
After an opening ceremony by the wrestlers which resembled a somewhat strange mixture of an all-blacks Hakka and some kind of ballet performance, the competition itself began. It was all quite a zen-like affair, considering the nature of the sport, with both the contestants and the audience being remarkably calm throughout the matches. Basically the match consisted of 2 big blokes leaning against each others for a couple of minutes, until one of the guys made a move, which resulted in one of the chaps ending up in the grass. The winner would then execute the famous eagle dance. I’m sure there’s much more to it than that…
Anyway, we got bored quite quickly (the jet lag didn’t help) and headed off to watch the archery contest instead. It wasn’t all that exciting either, I have to admit, especially since we couldn’t even see the targets they were shooting at properly. So I guess you could say the Naadam was a bit of a disappointment – being the top sporting event in the Mongolian calendar and all. Having said that, it was kind of interesting.
We then headed back to town, and after a nice enough lunch at the Silk Road restaurant, we decided to visit the Monastery-museum of Choijin Lama, named after the state oracle and brother of Bogd Khan (more about him later – he was the 8th living Buddha of Mongolia). The monastery was built in 1904, but was closed in 1938 by the Communist regime. It would most likely have been destroyed, like most other temples in Mongolia, had the regime not decided to preserve it as a museum to demonstrate the “feudal, backward” ways of the past. It was reopened in 1990 as a museum. And a pretty interesting one at that, we particularly liked the souvenir shop (I’m pretty sure that’s one of the first times I’ve actually liked a souvenir shop!). After a quick pint at the Khan Brau bar (I only mention this since I later realised it was the most legendary bar in UB according to Lonely Planet where all the celebrities go – as if we’d know who they are anyway ? ;-) and spending some time trying to sort out a tour into the Mongolian wilderness, we headed back to the hotel.
The next day we made the tactical decision to cut our visit in UB short by one day, since we’d managed to find a trip heading to central Mongolia at a guesthouse. So we cancelled our last night at the hotel, and set about doing some serious sightseeing.
Our first stop was the Winter palace of the aforementioned Bogd Khan, which is a couple of kilometres outside the city centre. As I said before he was the 8th living Buddha of Mongolia, and the ruler and religious leader of Mongolia until 1921 (when the communists stripped him of power). He was a bit of a cheeky monkey, old Bogd Khan – not only was he an incurable alcoholic and sex mad (apparently he went blind by Syphilis), we also used to electrocute his ministers with wires attached to his car battery, apparently. For some unknown reason, this palace also escaped the religious purges of the communists (unlike the summer palace). It certainly made for a very interesting visit – the place was quite similar to the other temple/museum we visited, but a bit more impressive.
After this most interesting visit, we headed back downtown for some further exploration of U.B. It struck us as quite an ugly city, which is not say it’s uninteresting. It’s certainly a city of contradictions, and a real mixture of tradition and rampant modernisation. For example, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many brand-new Lexus SUV’s in one place. Where do the Mongolians get the money for those? At the same time, there is hardly any street lighting, even in the city centre! And head out a bit outside the town centre, and you can see families living in gers (a.k.a. yurts, the traditional nomad tent-like dwelling). Well, I guess that's to be expected in a country where 40 % of the population are nomads, and the rest live in cities.
Our wanderings brought as, half by accident, to Gandantegchinlen Khiid (Gandan Khiid to foreigners and lazy Mongolians ;-), which is the main temple complex of U.B. It means, apparently, “the great place of complete joy”. Unfortunately most of the temples in the complex were destroyed by the Communists, but enough of them remain to make the place the one “must-see” attraction of U.B. Especially impressive was the magnificent Migjiid Janraisig Sum temple, with it’s massive 20 meter gold and bronze statue inside, representing Avalokitesvara (don’t ask me who the hell he is). It would’ve almost been worth paying the 10 bucks for the photography permit just to see that.
That brought our quick and exhausting tour of U.B. to an end. We finished off the day with a very nice, if by Mongolian standards overpriced, Chinese meal back at the hotel. So what where our impressions of U.B, then, you might ask? As I said before, it’s certainly won’t win any beauty contests, but does have a fair few interesting monasteries and museums. And it’s definitely an interesting place to observe a society which is rapidly changing.
More photos here.
We started off by heading off to experience the Naadam festival. Naadam is the biggest event in Mongolia, a kind of mixture of sporting event (with horse-riding, archery and most importantly, wrestling), family day out, and religious event. We started by watching the wrestling competition. 
After an opening ceremony by the wrestlers which resembled a somewhat strange mixture of an all-blacks Hakka and some kind of ballet performance, the competition itself began. It was all quite a zen-like affair, considering the nature of the sport, with both the contestants and the audience being remarkably calm throughout the matches. Basically the match consisted of 2 big blokes leaning against each others for a couple of minutes, until one of the guys made a move, which resulted in one of the chaps ending up in the grass. The winner would then execute the famous eagle dance. I’m sure there’s much more to it than that… Anyway, we got bored quite quickly (the jet lag didn’t help) and headed off to watch the archery contest instead. It wasn’t all that exciting either, I have to admit, especially since we couldn’t even see the targets they were shooting at properly. So I guess you could say the Naadam was a bit of a disappointment – being the top sporting event in the Mongolian calendar and all. Having said that, it was kind of interesting.
We then headed back to town, and after a nice enough lunch at the Silk Road restaurant, we decided to visit the Monastery-museum of Choijin Lama, named after the state oracle and brother of Bogd Khan (more about him later – he was the 8th living Buddha of Mongolia). The monastery was built in 1904, but was closed in 1938 by the Communist regime. It would most likely have been destroyed, like most other temples in Mongolia, had the regime not decided to preserve it as a museum to demonstrate the “feudal, backward” ways of the past. It was reopened in 1990 as a museum. And a pretty interesting one at that, we particularly liked the souvenir shop (I’m pretty sure that’s one of the first times I’ve actually liked a souvenir shop!). After a quick pint at the Khan Brau bar (I only mention this since I later realised it was the most legendary bar in UB according to Lonely Planet where all the celebrities go – as if we’d know who they are anyway ? ;-) and spending some time trying to sort out a tour into the Mongolian wilderness, we headed back to the hotel.The next day we made the tactical decision to cut our visit in UB short by one day, since we’d managed to find a trip heading to central Mongolia at a guesthouse. So we cancelled our last night at the hotel, and set about doing some serious sightseeing.
Our first stop was the Winter palace of the aforementioned Bogd Khan, which is a couple of kilometres outside the city centre. As I said before he was the 8th living Buddha of Mongolia, and the ruler and religious leader of Mongolia until 1921 (when the communists stripped him of power). He was a bit of a cheeky monkey, old Bogd Khan – not only was he an incurable alcoholic and sex mad (apparently he went blind by Syphilis), we also used to electrocute his ministers with wires attached to his car battery, apparently. For some unknown reason, this palace also escaped the religious purges of the communists (unlike the summer palace). It certainly made for a very interesting visit – the place was quite similar to the other temple/museum we visited, but a bit more impressive. 
After this most interesting visit, we headed back downtown for some further exploration of U.B. It struck us as quite an ugly city, which is not say it’s uninteresting. It’s certainly a city of contradictions, and a real mixture of tradition and rampant modernisation. For example, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many brand-new Lexus SUV’s in one place. Where do the Mongolians get the money for those? At the same time, there is hardly any street lighting, even in the city centre! And head out a bit outside the town centre, and you can see families living in gers (a.k.a. yurts, the traditional nomad tent-like dwelling). Well, I guess that's to be expected in a country where 40 % of the population are nomads, and the rest live in cities.
Our wanderings brought as, half by accident, to Gandantegchinlen Khiid (Gandan Khiid to foreigners and lazy Mongolians ;-), which is the main temple complex of U.B. It means, apparently, “the great place of complete joy”. Unfortunately most of the temples in the complex were destroyed by the Communists, but enough of them remain to make the place the one “must-see” attraction of U.B. Especially impressive was the magnificent Migjiid Janraisig Sum temple, with it’s massive 20 meter gold and bronze statue inside, representing Avalokitesvara (don’t ask me who the hell he is). It would’ve almost been worth paying the 10 bucks for the photography permit just to see that.That brought our quick and exhausting tour of U.B. to an end. We finished off the day with a very nice, if by Mongolian standards overpriced, Chinese meal back at the hotel. So what where our impressions of U.B, then, you might ask? As I said before, it’s certainly won’t win any beauty contests, but does have a fair few interesting monasteries and museums. And it’s definitely an interesting place to observe a society which is rapidly changing.
More photos here.
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