So I’ve been out here for a week and the first thing I am going to say is VAST!!
We arrived on the train from Beijing, it took just over 10 hours from the Chinese border and until about 45 minutes out of Ulaanbaatar it was pretty much desert and grassland with the intermittent village, small town or mine.
We’ve since travelled south west of UB and seen desert with sand dunes, unending grassland, rolling hills, forested mountains and rocky outcrops. All within 400km of the capital, quite astounding!
The land which we now call Mongolia has a rich and varied past from the world renouned fossils found in the Gobi desert to the tumultuous reign of Chinggis Khan (yes apparently that is not spelt with a G) and the great Mongol Hords that created a vast Empire, to being part of numerous Chinese dynasties, to independence from China and the introduction of Communism and finally current day democratic Mongolia. Putting that summary into one paragraph doesn’t really do it justice but you can see what I mean about the history of this land and it’s people…
Covering an area 1.56m square kilometres (the UK is just 242k square kilometres) and with a population of 3m, of which 1.5m live in UB, it’s not surprising there isn’t much on most of the land apart from livestock and gers (the Mongolian for a yurt). To add a little more perspective to that there are 60m head of livestock owned by the 30% of the population who still live the traditional nomadic herding lifestyle!
The nomadic culture of Chinggis Khan’s reign is still strong, the gers are of the same style just with a few modernisations, like solar panels and satellite dishes, but in many rural areas the nomads still where the traditional local dress of the region. The nomads of 500 years ago clearly got something right!
UB has changed a lot since the 90s and the end of communism. The reminder of these times is evident in the Soviet Russian style buildings dotted around the centre of the city, many of which are falling into ruin. But the investment is clear with large modern apartment blocks, offices and hotels dwarfed only by the distant mountains. And if you head to the city department store you can find Apple, Levi’s, North Face, Next, l’Occitane and Godiva chocolates. Not at all what I expected! The influence of the West and a free market is clearly evident.
And just as a reminder, so we don’t forget the reason why I’m here, is to take part in this crazy horse race that is the Mongol Derby and raise as much money as possible for charity. So please support me 😀
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe
https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/