Mongolian photographs. Beautiful places in Mongolia. My previous photo reports and photo stories
Mongolia is located in the central part of Europe. The state's borders are landlocked. However, the state has an interesting political and geographical history.
The official religion of the country is Tibetan Buddhism. This is reflected both in religious architecture and in the mentality of the population.
But in the cities of the country there are also numerous temples for Christians, Muslims and people of other religions.
Ulaanbaatar
This glorious city was founded at the beginning of the 17th century and today is the capital of the state. It is interesting in many things, at least in the way of life of the townspeople.
In the cultural and political center of Mongolia, some people live in yurts and use horses for transportation. But about a quarter of the country’s total population lives here, and the city has a fairly developed modern infrastructure.
One of the most beautiful and beloved places by tourists is central square, on which the Peace Bell is located. You can also see the memorial built in honor of Genghis Khan, on the site of which the Sukhbaatar mausoleum used to be.
It had political significance, as this national hero declared the country's independence from China. Beautiful too Winter Palace the last emperor and the largest operating monastery in Mongolia, Gandan.
In addition, Ulaanbaatar is home to numerous interesting museums, in particular the National Toy Museum and the Military Museum.
Khubsugul
Rich in beautiful natural objects And picturesque places the city is often called the “Blue Pearl”. This nickname is due to the fact that on the territory of Khubsugol there is a lake of the same name, which dates back about two million years.
It is the deepest in Central Asia and is connected to Lake Baikal through the Selenga. Tourist bases are concentrated in the Hanha area. In its vicinity is the shamanic sanctuary of Arvan-Gurvan-obo. This religious and historical place is located on a rocky cape.
In this beautiful place, numerous obo are found, which were used by shamans for witchcraft and evidence of the rituals of sacrifice of cult ministers.
Karakoram
From the point of view of history and archeology, the city of Karakorum can be considered the most beautiful place in Mongolia. The ruins of this ancient capital Mongol Empire are found southwest of Ulaanbaatar. He was political center only 40 years old. After this, the capital was moved to Beijing.
Of the ancient buildings, the palace of Khan Ogedei, the quarters of artisans and numerous religious buildings, which are still being explored by archaeologists, have been preserved. Not far from it is the famous Erdene Zu monastery.
It is one of the largest medieval Buddhist buildings of this type. In the vicinity of the city you can also see beautiful places where dinosaurs once lived. Numerous evidence of their habitation has been found in the form of bones. Bronze Age rock paintings have also been discovered here.
Khovd
West of Ulaanbaatar is the city of Khovd. It is connected to the capital by bus services. Founded by herders, the settlement later became a large trading center between Mongolia and Russia. Today the city is large industrial center. This is where you can start exploring western Mongolia.
At the end of the 18th century, Manchu military leaders built a fenced settlement of conquerors here. Currently it is presented as beautiful historical ruins. The beautiful places north of the ruins are usually preferred for hiking. Tourists often walk along the rugged and dry hills.
You can also visit the Khovd History Museum, which displays various exhibits from the pre-Mongol and Buddhist eras. Such values will surprise every person who visits them.
Darkhan
This city is practically of no value for lovers of historical monuments. Tourist places Not everyone can be called beautiful. However, Darkhan is the second largest city in Mongolia and the industrial center of the country.
It may be interesting for inspecting the infrastructure. This is a typical Mongolian concentration of industrial facilities. Numerous factories and combines can be seen while walking along the streets of the city or from observation deck.
Also laid here railways international significance, modern telecommunications and energy sources.
The city is an excellent showcase of modern architecture and industry. Due to its importance in the development of the country, this city is rightfully one of the significant places in Mongolia, distinguished by its unique beauty.
The country of ancient nomads - Mongolia - in last years is changing rapidly. For centuries, the Mongols lived largely on wild lands, leading a nomadic lifestyle. However, civilization with all its pros and cons has come to them. Locals They began to move from the steppes to cities. Modern Mongolia- what is she like? See the photo series “Mongolian (urban) families” by French photographer Lucile Chombart de Lauwe.
20 PHOTOS
1. Mongolia is really changing. “This country is in a ‘transition’,” wrote French photographer Lucile Chombart de Lauwe, who has been documenting these changes for several years, on her website. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
2. “Changes are happening very quickly, they are not related to the seasons, weather or habits of nomads, but to the rapid development of a market economy,” writes the author of these photographs. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
3. The photographs taken by Lucille show the process of transformation and urbanization that is happening in Mongolia today. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
4. For centuries, the Mongols lived in yurts on the endless expanses of the steppe, and not in cramped apartment buildings. For many of them, moving to cities was not an easy step. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
5. “In my photo project, I focused on the attitude of Mongolian families to their new habitat. In other words, I simply observed how the Mongols feel and use the new space,” writes the photographer. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
6. Lucile Chombart de Lauwe first visited Mongolia in 2007. Even then, she was amazed at how quickly the cities grew there. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
7. Interestingly, more than half of Mongolia's urban population living in cities does not live in multi-storey buildings or houses, but in settlements in traditional yurts. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
8. The photographer wrote that she had no problems communicating with the Mongols. She emphasized that these are extremely friendly and open people. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
9. A settlement of yurts in the suburbs of one of the Mongolian cities. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
10. Lucille began implementing her photo project in Mongolia in 2011. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
11. Less than half of the Mongols who settled in cities live in multi-story buildings. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
12. Elderly residents of Mongolia are not used to living in large populated areas. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
13. Traditional Mongolian yurt. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
14. Inside one of the yurts, visited by photographer Lucile Chombart de Lauwe. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
15. House of a Mongolian family. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
16. Yurts are often equipped like modern houses. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe).
I am married to a Mongolian citizen. My wife and I used to live in Russia, but last year she had to return to her homeland for a long time on business. I went with her.
Six months ago I received a temporary residence permit in Mongolia. I’ll tell you how we live here and why I don’t really want to return to Russia.
Why go to Mongolia
Mongolia is the largest and most sparsely populated country in the world. Only 3 million people live in it, half of them in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. In other parts of the country, the population density is 1 person per 1 square kilometer.
Previously, Mongolia was full of pastures, yurts and herds, but now skyscrapers have been built in the capital, solar power plants have appeared outside the city, and new iPhones are brought here earlier than in Russia. But traditions are still strong here. Shepherds advertise Coca-Cola on TV, on holidays everyone dresses in national clothes, and in the city you can easily meet a man on a horse - and this will not surprise anyone.
Mongolia is a normal country if you are a freelancer and work remotely. It's inexpensive, tasty and there's little bureaucracy. The main attractions are natural. You should definitely visit the Gobi, Mongolian Altai, ancient mountain monasteries, lakes. If you are interested in Lamaist Buddhism, this the best place for enlightenment. There are hundreds of datsans - local monasteries, educated monk-lamas and thousands of relics.
Mongolia is also the birthplace of dinosaurs. The largest skeletons were found here. In the photo - the skeleton of a tyrannosaurus in the hall of the Hun Mall shopping center - a branch of the Mongolian Dinosaur Museum is located right there, while its main building is closed for reconstruction
Visa
Russian citizens can come to Mongolia without a visa for 30 days. So that I could stay longer, my wife issued me an invitation. They gave him a visa for three months. With her, I entered the country and applied for an analogue of our temporary residence permit.
It is much easier to obtain a residence permit in Mongolia than in Russia. The whole process took several hours over a couple of days. There is no need to confirm your knowledge of the language; apostilles and notarized translations are also not needed. Two months later, they took away the completed permit without queues, nerves, piles of papers and certificates. In Russia, obtaining a passport will take more time and effort.
I can renew my residence permit every year. With it I can work in Mongolia and even get government health insurance.
I have not encountered any bureaucracy here. When I applied for a residence permit, I made a mistake and brought the wrong piece of paper. They called me and said that required document I can bring it when I go get my permit.
All documents must be submitted in person, but obtaining them is very easy. 25 types of certificates are issued by a special terminal: about divorce and marriage, about no criminal record, and a temporary passport. You pay 1000 tugriks (24 R) and receive a document with a stamp. Such machines are located in every government office and post office.
Information terminal
Money and banks
The national currency of Mongolia is the tugrik. The tugrik to ruble exchange rate is about 40-43 tugriks per ruble. Cards are accepted in almost every store. But you still need cash to pay a taxi driver or buy groceries at the market.
The easiest way to pay bills is through banking apps. The two main banks are Khaan Bank and Golomt Bank. A foreigner needs only a foreign passport to issue an account and a card.
Screenshots of the Khaan Bank banking application
You can withdraw money from a Russian card at any ATM. If you withdraw amounts of $100 or more from a Tinkoff Bank card, there are no commissions at all.
Everyone among our family and friends has loans. The most popular are car loans and mortgages. The average rate on consumer and car loans in Mongolia is 20-30% per annum, on mortgages - 8%.
Job
The easiest way is to stay in the country on a work visa. Local businesses need engineers, builders, and programmers. Schools and universities hire foreign teachers. I was interviewed for a job as a history teacher at a Russian-language school in provincial town, but at the last moment I changed my mind: the salary there is low.
42 tugriks cost 1 R when I wrote the article.
The work of technical specialists is paid the highest - 5-10 million tugriks (119,000-238,000 RUR). Foreign employees with knowledge of English are most valued in mining and construction companies. They are paid several times more than a Mongolian of the same qualifications. The earnings of such specialists range from 5 to 10 thousand dollars per month.
The salary of a foreign teacher in Ulaanbaatar is 2-4 million tugriks (47-95 thousand rubles), in a provincial city - up to 1.5 million tugriks (36,000 RUR).
The average salary in Mongolia is from 600 thousand to 1 million tugriks (14,000-24,000 RUR) in the provinces, 1-1.5 million tugriks (24,000-36,000 RUR) in the capital. According to statistics, Mongolian women earn an average salary of 200,000 tugriks less than men.
RUR 24,000 average salary in the province.
In Mongolia, I write texts and articles for Russian websites. My wife works as a translator.
Capital
In Mongolia, as in Russia, the capital and provinces live very differently. All business, culture and work are concentrated in Ulaanbaatar. Therefore, prices in the capital are several times higher than in the provinces. Outside of Ulaanbaatar, life is slow, sparse and cheap.
We lived in Ulaanbaatar for several months, but then moved to Small town Darkhan. Living in the capital is unhealthy because of the environment.
The main reason for the poor ecology of the city is yurts and private houses. They are popular because they are cheap to live in: maintenance costs will be about 100,000 tugriks (2,400 RUR) per month. Ulaanbaatar is located in a valley between low mountains, so the wind does not blow through the city well. On the slopes there are private areas - in them everyone lives in yurts and houses, and heat their homes with coal and firewood. All the smoke descends into the city and goes nowhere.
Of the 1.4 million residents of Ulaanbaatar, 350 thousand live in yurts, 450 thousand live in simple houses, and only 600 thousand live in apartments. Living in a yurt is cheap - you only spend money on firewood, coal and electricity. Often newlyweds move into a yurt after the wedding to save up for a mortgage
The environmental situation is worsened by enterprises and 230 thousand cars and buses. It’s hard to breathe outside: my throat is sore. In winter, clothes absorb the smell of smoke, which is impossible to get rid of. People wear protective masks. The concentration of harmful substances in the air of the most polluted areas is 24 times higher than normal.
According to Mongolian statistics, 20% of Ulaanbaatar residents die from air pollution: respiratory tract infections, lung congestion, heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer.
The haze below is not clouds, but smog
Everyone who has money tries to live outside the city, closer to the forests and away from the city smog. But you still have to go to work in Ulaanbaatar. Families often go to live outside the city at the end of pregnancy in order to give birth and raise children in a normal environment.
Once upon a time, Ulaanbaatar was a small, Soviet-style cozy city. In the 90s, they began to chaotically and thoughtlessly build ugly business centers there. residential complexes and shopping centers. The Mongolian capital has poorly developed urban infrastructure. There are constant traffic jams and terrible buildings without normal courtyards, parks and walking areas.
Due to the environment and inconvenience of Ulaanbaatar, we moved to the small city of Darkhan with a population of only 100 thousand people. It takes three hours to get to Darkhan from the capital by car.
The monument to Genghis Khan in Tsonzhin-Boldog is the largest equestrian monument in the world, its height is 40 m. Inside there is a staircase and a museum, and an observation deck on the horse’s head. Photo by Stanislav Fursov
Provinces
Most cities in Mongolia are small settlements that remind Russian villages urban type. In addition to Ulaanbaatar, developed cities are Darkhan and Erdenet.
Darkhan has fresh air, no traffic jams and is several times cheaper than in the capital. The city is small and quiet. There is a swimming pool and fitness rooms, stadiums, shopping centers, coffee shops, although Mongolians drink little coffee. The city is small and very quiet.
View of Darkhan. On the picture - main area cities and center
City Park. There are almost no trees in it: they grow poorly in Mongolia and grow short
Housing
You can rent a one-room or even two-room apartment in Darkhan for 250-400 thousand tugriks per month (6000-9500 RUR). For comparison, the average price in Ulaanbaatar is 400-700 thousand tugriks (9,500-16,700 RUR).
Apartments are usually rented unfurnished and rent is charged 3-6 months in advance. Furnished apartments can be 100-200 thousand tugriks (2400-4800 RUR) more expensive. We pay 400,000 tugriks (9500 RUR) for a two-room apartment with furniture. The owner wrote in the advertisement: “I rent an apartment with furniture for foreigners.”
Studio with furniture in Ulaanbaatar for 550,000 tugriks (RUR 13,000) per month
The best way to look for housing is on Facebook and “Unegu”. These are the two main sites in Mongolia. “Uneguy” is the main notice board, but in Facebook groups announcements appear more quickly. We found our apartment on Facebook.
Tenancy agreements are not very common here. Everyone basically agrees verbally. There are no special requirements for the tenant, the main thing is to pay the rent. The owner only asked me for a copy of my passport.
We pay 9500 RUR per month for renting a two-room apartment with furniture.
We pay utilities only by meter. Electricity and water are more expensive than in my native Voronezh, but there are no fees for living space. Therefore, the amount turns out to be approximately the same as in Russia: in winter we pay approximately 140,000 tugriks (3,300 RUR).
Cleaning the entrance and removing garbage costs 4,000 tugriks (95 R) per month. The cleaning lady knocks on the door during the day and takes away the trash bag. Many residents simply leave garbage in the hallway in the morning. I had a hard time explaining that I would take out the trash myself.
Now we want to buy an apartment in Mongolia. average price two-room apartment in Darkhan - 30-50 million tugriks (715,000-1,190,000 RUR). In Ulaanbaatar, you can buy a one-room apartment for this amount, and prices for two-room apartments in the capital start from 90 million tugriks (2,140,000 RUR).
In the summer, a man on a horse comes to our yard in Darkhan every morning. He sells fresh milk. From 8 in the morning he starts shouting under the windows: “Buy milk!”
But the residents of Darkhan themselves, who live in the private sector, also have cows
Taxes and insurance
Foreign employees pay the same taxes and pay the same insurance as local employees. I don't pay local taxes because I earn money in Russia.
The income tax for an employee is progressive - 10-25%. If you earn 3.5 million tugriks per month (83,000 R), the tax is 25%. My friends from Russia, who work as teachers in Mongolia and earn 2 million tugriks per month (50,000 RUR), pay a tax of 15%.
Voluntary health insurance costs me 8,400 tugriks per month (200 RUR). Regular employees pay 2% of their salary, and the employer pays another 2% for them.
I pay 200 RUR per month for health insurance.
Health insurance will cover costs of up to 1.32 million tugriks (31,400 RUR) in public clinics and up to half of the costs in private clinics. With insurance, you can get a 50-80% discount on medications in state pharmacies according to a specific list - there are 380 items in total. Emergency operations such as appendectomy are performed free of charge. If the case is complicated or you are in the hospital, it is customary to thank the doctors.
There is no need to be assigned to a clinic - where you come, they will serve you there. It is only important to show the policy.
Social insurance is deducted by the employer - 10-12% of salary before taxes. To receive a pension, you need to pay insurance for 20 years.
Cashback for everyone
It is customary to keep all checks in Mongolia. Each of them has a quar code and a numeric code. If you scan them with the special Ebarimt application, 20% of the VAT paid will be returned at the beginning of next year. VAT in Mongolia is 10%, so at the end of the year you will get back approximately 2% of the amount spent. Over the course of a year, we received 80,000 tugriks (1900 RUR). Most small shops do not issue receipts, neither do markets. That's why most of purchases are still not supported by receipts.
Once a month, money is drawn among all checks - from 10 thousand to 1 million tugriks (240-24,000 RUR). We never won, but our relatives once won 20,000 tugriks (480 R).
Receipt with quar code and Ebarimt application
Transport
All Mongolians dream of a car. Used Japanese foreign cars are cheap here. Within 4 million tugriks (95,000 RUR) you can buy a 10-year-old Toyota or Hyundai Sonata. A not so old Toyota Prius will cost 10 million tugriks (238,000 RUR).
Most cars in Mongolia are right-hand drive. The most popular model is the hybrid Toyota Prius. It feels like every third or fourth car in the country.
Owning a car in Mongolia is inexpensive. Gasoline A−95 costs 2050 tugriks (48 R) per liter. For that same Toyota Prius, my wife’s brother pays a tax of 51,000 tugriks per year (1200 RUR). Mandatory insurance will cost 1% of the cost of the car per year. The fines are small: the average fine is 20,000 tugriks (475 R), for example for wrong parking or driving without a belt. There are practically no traffic police outside the city. Paid parking is available only in Ulaanbaatar - 500 tugriks (12 R) per half hour.
1200 R per year - tax on a Toyota Prius car. This is the most popular car in Mongolia.
To reduce traffic flow, Ulaanbaatar has restrictions on driving cars with certain license plates on certain days of the week. If the car number ends in 7, you cannot drive it on Tuesdays; at 5 - on Fridays. For violation - a fine of 20,000 tugriks (475 RUR).
We don’t have a car: we don’t need one in the city. Bus travel in Ulaanbaatar costs 500 tugriks (12 R), in Darkhan - 200 tugriks (5 R). I have never taken a bus in Darkhan: it rarely runs.
Darkhan is a small town, and here you can walk everywhere on foot or take a 10-15 minute bike ride. There are few bicycles here. Mostly everyone drives illegal taxis. You go out to the side of the road, and the drivers themselves stop to give you a ride. The fare costs 500 tugriks per person (12 R). There are usually other passengers in the cabin; three sit in the back seat. Taxis in Ulaanbaatar are more expensive, but by Russian standards they are still inexpensive: we have never paid more than 10,000 tugriks (240 R) for travel from the city center to the outskirts. Short trip will cost 2000 tugriks (50 R).
You can order an official taxi by phone, but why, if at any time of the day or night hundreds of passing drivers will happily give you a cheaper ride. Several times in Ulaanbaatar, at the bus stop, drivers offered us to ride with them along the way for the cost of a bus fare.
You can travel between cities by car, train or plane. There are few trains, but they are very cheap. You can travel 500 km from Ulaanbaatar to the Gobi for 10,000 tugriks (240 RUR). A bus between the capital and Darkhan costs the same. Most often we travel with private travelers whom we find in groups on Facebook. A trip with such a driver will cost the same 10,000 tugriks, but will take 3 hours instead of 4 by bus. If you don’t have time to look for a driver, there are always other long-distance taxi drivers at the bus station, but they will take you for 15,000 tugriks (350 R).
When you need to go outside the city into nature, somewhere away from the main roads, it is better to take a car. We borrow from relatives. Internal Russian rights are recognized here, but there are almost no Mongolian traffic cops outside the city. I haven't been stopped even once in a year.
Prices
An income of 50,000 RUR is enough to deny yourself almost nothing in a provincial town, buy a used Japanese car, rent an apartment and save money.
50,000 RUR per month is enough to not deny yourself anything at all in Mongolian Darkhan.
Equipment, clothing and household items made in China and Korea are 1.5-2 times cheaper than in Russia. For example, jeans will cost 30,000 tugriks (715 RUR). We try to buy Mongolian warm clothes and accessories. They are normal and inexpensive, made of natural fur and leather. It turns out several times cheaper than in Russia. A women's sheepskin coat here costs 200-400 thousand tugriks (4750-9500 RUR). The leather is mostly cow, sheep fur.
Communication and Internet
I have a Unitel SIM card, with a special tariff for mobile internet. For 15,000 tugriks (350 R) per month I have 15 GB and 20 minutes of calls.
To make cheap calls to Russia, I activate a special service for 5,000 tugriks (120 R), according to which I have 30 minutes per month for calls to Russia.
The easiest way to top up your account is through the banking app. There are no payment terminals in Mongolia. You can buy a prepaid card or top up your account through an intermediary - most often a salesperson in a store. The intermediary enters into an agreement with the operator. When you give him money, he writes an SMS to the operator with your number and payment amount. The money is credited to your account, and the intermediary receives a small percentage.
I pay 350 R per month for the phone.
In all the cities and villages where I was, I received 3G. Free Wi-Fi is available on buses, in most cafes and shopping centers. Almost every family has home Internet, even in yurts - via a satellite dish.
The food in Mongolia is simple, but incredibly tasty. The basis local cuisine- meat and dough. There are 20 times more cows and sheep in Mongolia than people. That's why they eat a lot of meat. Everyone has the same favorite dishes: buuzy (analogous to manti), tsuivan (noodles with meat and vegetables), khushur (analogous to pasties), suute tse (salty tea with milk). Standard lunch or dinner: tsuiwan, soup and rice with meat and vegetables.
Tsuiwan is in the foreground, huushurs are in the background.
I'm from Voronezh. They say we produce first-class meat. But it is inferior to Mongolian meat: local meat is much tastier and juicier than ours. Mongolian farmers explain this by saying that Mongolian cows graze on wild pastures, eat a variety of grass and generally lead happier lives than animals in barns.
A kilogram of beef on the market costs 6,000 tugriks (140 RUR). If you agree with the shepherds, you can buy meat from them in bulk for 3,000 tugriks per kilogram (70 RUR). We eat 3-4 kg of meat per week, and here it doesn’t seem like a lot. Almost every Mongolian family has a separate freezer for meat - in Russia they sell ice cream in these freezers. In winter, boxes and packages of meat are stored on the balcony.
My wife and I eat 4 kg of meat a week in Mongolia.
Two refrigerators in a Mongolian family is absolutely normal. The second refrigerator is filled with meat for the summer. And in winter, from October to March, it is easier to store meat on the balcony
The selection of other products, even in large Mongolian stores, is modest. Fruits do not grow in Mongolia, so they are twice as expensive as here: a kilogram of apples costs from 6,000 tugriks per kg (140 RUR). Chinese fruits are inexpensive, but tasteless.
The cheapest place to buy is in the markets. Everything there is the same as in stores, but about 30% cheaper. Pasteurized milk in a package costs 3,000 tugriks (70 R), fresh milk in a bottle - 800 tugriks (19 R).
Cereals, fruits, sweets, household chemicals, cosmetics, canned goods are 1.5-2 times more expensive in Mongolia than in Russia. It is more profitable to shop in the Russian border town of Kyakhta - there is a huge Absolut hypermarket located 200 meters from the checkpoint. It takes two hours to get there from our house, not including crossing the border. You can cross the border in an hour, or you can stay for 6 hours. The queues are always only on the Russian side.
Many products familiar to Russia are not available in Mongolia at all, such as cottage cheese and kefir. Very small selection of fish, they don't know much about it. On local canned food they say “Fish”.
Lunch in a regular canteen costs 5,000 tugriks (120 RUR), in an average restaurant it is 2-3 times more expensive. The portions are huge. You only need to order one dish. If the menu says “chicken,” that means they will serve you chicken, rice, and a few salads. We have never been able to spend more than 60,000 tugriks (1,400 R) on dinner at a restaurant.
1400 RUR is the maximum amount that my wife and I paid for dinner at a restaurant in Mongolia.
It is not customary to leave a tip. If you leave them, they will most likely be returned to you. They are more or less accustomed to tipping only in large metropolitan restaurants, which are often frequented by tourists.
For this lunch in a canteen in the center of Ulaanbaatar we paid 12,000 tugriks (285 rubles). There's about half a kilogram of beef and lamb
Medicine
Free clinics have queues and sign up for procedures weeks in advance. It’s cheaper and easier to go to an appointment with a paid doctor for 20,000 tugriks (500 RUR).
Most of the doctors we encountered here seemed to us more professional than their Russian colleagues. Many of them studied in Korea and China, speak foreign languages and read the latest scientific publications.
A doctor's appointment costs 500 RUR.
But people do not always trust doctors - many prefer to be treated using traditional methods, and turning to shamans is popular. Traditional medicine here is based on meat and milk, not herbs. “If your pancreas hurts, you need to eat marmot meat. Mare's milk helps with cough. There is nothing better than lamb meat for women in labor.”
There are a lot of Korean, Chinese, and German medicines in pharmacies. For a year I have not seen a single shelf with homeopathy.
On the unpleasant side: Russian medicines in Mongolia are twice as expensive as in Russia. For example, the ACC in Mongolia costs 12,000 tugriks (280 R), in our country it costs 120 R; antibiotic ciprofloxacin - 2000 tugriks (48 R), for us - 12 R.
Language and communication
I don't speak Mongolian. I know several hundred words and several dozen expressions. This is enough to explain to the seller, taxi driver or neighbor at the table. I go with my wife to communicate with government officials.
It is better to address older people in Russian, and young people in English. Young people in Mongolia speak English better than most of their Russian peers. An American schoolteacher is the order of the day here. In the 90s they came as volunteers. Everyone got used to them, and in order for them to come more often, they began to pay 1-2 thousand dollars. Spending in Mongolia is small, the country is exotic, so many come with families.
If you master at least basic spoken Mongolian, everyone around you will respect you. To arouse sympathy, at least trying to speak Mongolian is enough. I learned phrases to say hello and ask how you are: “How are you meeting New Year?", "How's your work?" - people are pleased that I try.
Nature and climate
Mongolia is very beautiful. There are mountains, steppes, forests, deserts. If you like trips out of town, there will be somewhere to go every weekend.
This is what you can see if you drive 50 km from Ulaanbaatar. Photo: Stanislav Fursov
But this can be seen if you drive 500-1000 km from Ulaanbaatar. Photo: Oleg Ermolov
The climate in Mongolia is continental: summers are dry and hot, and winters are sunny but frosty. Due to the dry air, Mongolian −25 °C is easier to perceive than Voronezh −15 °C. I wear the same warm jacket that I wore in Voronezh, and I don’t feel cold. But sometimes in winter the temperature drops to −40 °C - here it is better to dress warmly.
The main advantage of the Mongolian climate: there is almost always sun. Rare rainy days perceive it as a holiday.
It was me, in national outerwear - dele - who went to the hill to get spring water. I'm very hot, even though it's −30°C outside
On weekends I walk on the nearby hills - these are small mountains. The hills are not high - 100-400 meters - but by the time you reach the top, your head will be refreshed for a whole week.
There are many wild animals in Mongolia: wolves, marmots, snakes, deer. Walking in unfamiliar areas can be dangerous. Dogs are a particular danger in the private sector and near lonely yurts in nature. Almost all yurt residents keep huge dogs to protect their homes and herds. In yurt areas, dogs gather in packs. I was almost bitten several times while jogging through the surrounding hills.
You should not swim in local rivers in unfamiliar places. The rivers in Mongolia are almost all mountainous, with fast and unpredictable flows. In every village they will tell you about people who were sure that they were excellent swimmers, but they were carried away by the current and were never seen again.
Sopka Bayan-Ull. My wife spent her childhood here
I often walk outside the city. Here are standard landscapes within a 10-minute walk from the outskirts of Darkhan
A typical yurt outside the city. A shepherd and his family live in it all year round. Not visible in the photo, but from behind the yurt solar panels. The house has electricity and satellite TV with dozens of channels
Family connections
For Mongolians, family is the main value in life. Not just mom and dad, but all relatives at once: uncles and aunts, cousins, husbands and wives of distant relatives.
In the summer we went to a meeting of my wife’s grandfather’s relatives on my mother’s side. 150 people gathered. There are 50 of our relatives with whom we constantly keep in touch and see each other. I grew up as an only child in the family, and such a number of relatives is unusual for me.
The first few months after the wedding, I was constantly meeting someone and eating a lot: each family set itself the goal of feeding their Russian son-in-law the best.
Eventually
For me, there are more pros than cons to living in Mongolia.
I like being part of a big Mongolian family: I don’t have that in Russia. Like wild nature a few tens of meters from the city. In Mongolia, I can quickly travel to the desert, mountains or lakes - and these will be very inexpensive trips. With a small income in Mongolia, I can afford any leisure, car and savings. If I earn 2-3 times more, I can buy myself a two-story house outside the city.
I've come to terms with the downsides. In cold weather you need to dress warmly, and from the smog of Ulaanbaatar you can go out of town. But I really miss the cozy streets, normal sidewalks and tall trees.
We have no plans to leave yet. I like to see how Mongolia develops and changes. In 10-20 years the country will be unrecognizable, and I want to see the path it will take.
In general, it is surprising how a country that many centuries ago created the largest empire in the history of mankind, overthrew many strong civilizations and forced them to pay tribute to themselves, today looks so miserable and poor.
Everything connected with people's lives here is sad. Moreover, this applies not only to the remote provinces, but also to the capital...
Ulaanbaatar is as sad as the whole country as a whole, at least some here and here in Geliki.
Maybe this is the lot of all once powerful civilizations - to first be at the peak and rule the world, and then slide to the very bottom, vegetating in dirt, poverty and hopeless w...?
Who knows... But this is exactly what happened to Mongolia. See for yourself.
2. Mongolia is the 11th largest country in the world by area. But only 3.5 million people live here. 3 times less than lives throughout the rest of the world!!! All Mongols who can leave their country are leaving their country.
There are only a few asphalt roads in the country. The rest is just ordinary primers.
Those roads that exist look the same as roads in any Russian village...
3. Near the border with Russia, even the houses in the villages look Russian...
Traditionally, Mongols live in yurts, roaming the steppe. But many in our time have long ago settled in small towns and villages, located, as a rule, along asphalt roads. This is understandable, at least there is life near the road, not like in the deep, endless steppe.
4. Most of the buildings along the road look very neglected. It was built many years ago, but no one is taking care of it.
Why take care of it, they don’t even repair it. So buildings fall apart over time.
5. All these photos were taken in Sukhbaatar, which is quite large locality not far from the Russian-Mongolian border.
And here everything is pure sadness
6. The house of a wealthy person by local standards.
7. Barn.. Although it may be residential building. Anything can happen here.
8. And this is just a residential building... So what? After all, it's a roof over your head.
9. Convenience, as usual, is in the yard.
10. Mongolian grocery store
11. Multi-apartment residential building.
12. A typical Mongolian village. Half of the fences here are not around houses, but around yurts.
13. Most of the villages along the route are very small - just a few houses and one electric pole.
14. The Mongols are so accustomed to their yurts that even houses are often built in the same style.
15. The Mongol thinks...
16. I noticed that in Mongolia there is practically no stray dogs and cats...
17. But Mongolia has amazingly photogenic children!!! I even talk about them.
16. Such inscriptions can be found on every second house along the highway. For sale. Everyone wants to sell their house or fence and move to a more prosperous country. They mostly go either to neighboring China or to Russia...
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17. But.... Despite all the poverty and wretchedness, there are quite a lot of expensive cars in the country. And Hummers, and brand new Land Cruiser 200, and Gelenwagens. Moreover, people often drive in them, half falling out of a completely open window. So that everyone can see that he owns a cool car, but what have you achieved?
18. But Mongolia is not rich in despondency alone. Endless steppes and stunning landscapes!
This is what attracts and will continue to attract thousands of travelers here.
And I want to come back here again, but with completely different goals and program.
For example, in the fall...
Now you can quickly book a hotel or buy air tickets right on my blog
My previous photo reports and photo stories:
Mongolia is a country of eternal blue skies, endless emerald steppes and vivid impressions. In the homeland of Genghis Khan, travelers will find an amazing mix of contrasts: traditional yurts here border on modern skyscrapers, a hot desert borders on snow-capped peaks, and the harsh winter with -40°C on the thermometer is replaced by a dry, hot summer, when the thermometer inexorably reaches the + mark. 40°C. There are 13 gallant horses per inhabitant of the country, so you will see shepherds here more often than clerks. The treasury of Mongolia has many amazing sights that can amaze, amaze and make you fall in love at first sight.
See photos of the best attractions of Mongolia, all pictures are supplemented with descriptions:
1. Genghis Khan Monument (Golden Whip) - a majestic statue of Genghis Khan, which is considered the tallest equestrian statue in the world. There are 36 columns around the 40-meter monument, which symbolize the 36 khans who ruled after Genghis Khan. According to legend, it was in this place that the history of the Mongol Empire began: on the top of a hill, young Temujin found a golden whip, which symbolized good luck. This was a sign that the gods were blessing the future khan to unite the nomadic tribes of the Mongols.
2. Gorkhi-Terelj – national park, located in a ring of granite rocks, which human imagination has turned into a “sleeping dinosaur”, “a man with a book” and “a huge turtle Melchii-hal”. In Gorkhi-Terelj you can also visit the dinosaur sculpture park, the Aryaabal Buddhist temple, and take pictures against the background glacial lake Khagin-Khar and walk along the wooden bridge over the Tola River.
3. Choijin Lamyn Sum - huge temple complex in the center of Ulaanbaatar. This is the former residence of the famous oracle Luvsanhaidav. Today the Museum of the History of Religion is located here.
4. The Gobi is a huge desert stretching from Altai to Nanshan. It describes the whole of Mongolia as a sandy arc. The Gobi seems to have been drawn by nature itself from yellow sand, salt marshes and rocks, between which the hot air vibrates
5. Bogdo Gegen Palace is a majestic complex of buildings in the center of the capital. This is the temple of the “living Buddha” and the residence of the head of the Buddhist community. The complex consists of a winter and summer palace, within their walls there are numerous museums, in particular “ National Museum Mongolia."
6. Gandan Monastery is one of the nine wonders of Mongolia. The Gandan Tegchinling Khiid complex, whose name translates as “Great Chariot of Comprehensive Joy,” includes temples, suburgans, pagodas and a Buddhist University.
7. Khubsugol – the most deep lake countries with crystal clear water that is suitable for drinking raw. The lake formed in the crater extinct volcano. It is often called the “little brother of Baikal”.
8. Manjushri-khid - Buddhist monastery, residence of the Khubilgans of Donkhor-Manjushri Khutukhta.
9. Historical complex "Mongolia of the 13th century" - a museum under open air, where you can see the country through the eyes of Genghis Khan. The park is located on small homeland legendary commander.
10. Khustein-Nurtu - the national park where he lives greatest number horses in the country. The trick of the park is that any visitor can name a newborn stallion for $100.
11. Erdene-Zuu is the most ancient Buddhist monastery in Mongolia that has survived to this day. Its name translates as “Hundred Treasures”. During the construction of the monastery complex, which consisted of 62 temples, materials from fires and ruins of the glorious capital of Karakorum were used.
12. Museum visual arts Zanabazar is the first museum in Mongolia, founded in the residence of Bogdo Khan. Here you can see cave walls with petroglyphs painted by primitive people.
13. Elyn-Am – a picturesque deep gorge in national park Gobi-Gurvan-Saikhan, named the Valley of Eagles in honor of the bearded vulture.
14. Sukhbaataryn Talbay is the central square of the capital of Mongolia, dedicated to Genghis Khan. The square is surrounded by the Government Palace, the Museum of Mongolian Statehood, the Palace of Culture, the Lenin Club, and the Opera and Ballet Theater. In addition to the monument to Genghis Khan himself, there are monuments to Samba, Zorig and Marco Polo, as well as a stele engraved with the text and melody of the national anthem.
15. International Buddha Park is located at the foot of Zaysan Hill - an observation deck that offers views of the entire Ulaanbaatar. The main decoration of the park is the 23-meter statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, made of “yulaet”.
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