Mongolia’s terrain is mainly grasslands, with mountains to the north and west, and the Gobi desert to the
We decide on a steppe adventure and after checking out tour operators for our night in a ger (yurt) we decide on Tourist Information Center . Dorjo, who mans the desk, is able to answer all our queries and the center has a catalogue of tours specifying what you will see on each, along with prices.
Undra our guide and our driver Sanjay are outside the hotel when we emerge at 9:00 a.m. Petite and cheerful Undra has a good command of English. Off we go towards the Chinggis Khaan Statue complex at Tsonjing Boldog – 54km from Ulaanbaatar. Out of the city and over a few hills the steppes unfold and seemingly go on forever, sporadically dotted with gers, grazing sheep, goats and cattle, or a lone rider silhouetted against the azure sky.
The highways are dusty and rife with pot holes. Hmmm… potholes are not an apt description; some of these maws could swallow a small car. This has drivers continually swinging into the on-coming lane to avoid the pits, or to veer off onto the shoulder, and when the whole highway is blocked with piles of dirt with a sign sticking up in the middle, this means “detour” across grasslands and onto a side road with even bigger holes. We can only average about 30km an hour.
