Current date/time is Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:57 pm
Topic review
Hello
by Biggie on Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:35 am
Hello Yoni & Britta
Wow it is to wonder at me. i m glad Yone has been near my birth place. I was studying in the Mardai town 1996-1998 in Russian school. It was nice and clean Russian village. Now i m sud the Mardai is to ruin :( , I saw Yoni`s blog photos wow ... still my parents nomad living this area. If any one interesting east Mongolia ask me here is my personal mail: b.oyunbileg@gmail.com
warm regards
Biggie
Wow it is to wonder at me. i m glad Yone has been near my birth place. I was studying in the Mardai town 1996-1998 in Russian school. It was nice and clean Russian village. Now i m sud the Mardai is to ruin :( , I saw Yoni`s blog photos wow ... still my parents nomad living this area. If any one interesting east Mongolia ask me here is my personal mail: b.oyunbileg@gmail.com
warm regards
Biggie
by golanyoni on Sat May 30, 2009 5:16 pm
Hi Britta!
I was surprised to see anyone read my post ;)
First of all I am very happy for you that you are going to Mongolia on the unbeaten path for a long time! I think you are doing the right thing. Going around Mongolia on an organized tour is nice but you miss so much of the people and culture.
I went to the east alone - I don't think it's a problem. I had a tent and a cooking stove with me. I bought all the food I needed for about 4-5 days in Choibalsan.
From Choibalsan's market I found a car leaving to a town named Dashbalbar which is about 6-7 hours north. He said he goes through Mardai which is the abandoned soviet city so I went with him.
After about 4 hours he dropped me off in Mardai with someone living just on the outskirts and told him to take care of me (he was a bit afraid I'll get lost) and continued north to Dashbalbar.
I stayed with the very nice gut for a night. He took me around Mardai which is a really fascinating city. It is all in ruins, all the metal was pulled out of the ground and everything valuable was pulled off. The city was deserted after 1989 when the soviet union collapsed. It used to be a workers town for people working in the nearby Uranium mine. Now there are about 100 mongolians living in the ruins. You could easily spend there a few days if you wanted.
I left the next morning and just started walking south east in the cast steppes which is an interesting experience in it's own. I had to take a lot of water with me for this.
After 2 days of wandering the steppes I found a Mongolian alone in his farm. Eventually I stayed with him for 3 days and helped him build a wooden floor for a ger. I am making a long story very short here, but I can say that in 2.5 months in mongolia this was the best experience I had there. I just lived with this mongolian for 3 days in a pure mongolian way.
After leaving this guy I went to the nearby dirt road and waited to hitch a ride back to Choibalsan. It took a few hours but eventually came.
I think a tent is a good idea in the east, if you want the flexibility it gives. Though if you plan it right maybe you can make it without one. Taking a phrasebook or speaking mongolian is very important since very few people speak english. (though smiling and hand waving is always usefull)
I have a blog but unfortunately it is only in hebrew. You can look at the pictures and try translating it with google translator to get readable but funny results.
Mardai - http://golanyoni.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html
Building the ger floor - http://golanyoni.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_25.html
If you want more information i'll be glad to help.
Have fun and good travels!
Yoni
I was surprised to see anyone read my post ;)
First of all I am very happy for you that you are going to Mongolia on the unbeaten path for a long time! I think you are doing the right thing. Going around Mongolia on an organized tour is nice but you miss so much of the people and culture.
I went to the east alone - I don't think it's a problem. I had a tent and a cooking stove with me. I bought all the food I needed for about 4-5 days in Choibalsan.
From Choibalsan's market I found a car leaving to a town named Dashbalbar which is about 6-7 hours north. He said he goes through Mardai which is the abandoned soviet city so I went with him.
After about 4 hours he dropped me off in Mardai with someone living just on the outskirts and told him to take care of me (he was a bit afraid I'll get lost) and continued north to Dashbalbar.
I stayed with the very nice gut for a night. He took me around Mardai which is a really fascinating city. It is all in ruins, all the metal was pulled out of the ground and everything valuable was pulled off. The city was deserted after 1989 when the soviet union collapsed. It used to be a workers town for people working in the nearby Uranium mine. Now there are about 100 mongolians living in the ruins. You could easily spend there a few days if you wanted.
I left the next morning and just started walking south east in the cast steppes which is an interesting experience in it's own. I had to take a lot of water with me for this.
After 2 days of wandering the steppes I found a Mongolian alone in his farm. Eventually I stayed with him for 3 days and helped him build a wooden floor for a ger. I am making a long story very short here, but I can say that in 2.5 months in mongolia this was the best experience I had there. I just lived with this mongolian for 3 days in a pure mongolian way.
After leaving this guy I went to the nearby dirt road and waited to hitch a ride back to Choibalsan. It took a few hours but eventually came.
I think a tent is a good idea in the east, if you want the flexibility it gives. Though if you plan it right maybe you can make it without one. Taking a phrasebook or speaking mongolian is very important since very few people speak english. (though smiling and hand waving is always usefull)
I have a blog but unfortunately it is only in hebrew. You can look at the pictures and try translating it with google translator to get readable but funny results.
Mardai - http://golanyoni.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html
Building the ger floor - http://golanyoni.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_25.html
If you want more information i'll be glad to help.
Have fun and good travels!
Yoni
East
by berit on Tue May 26, 2009 7:38 pm
Hello Yoni,
I'm interested in more details of your journey in the east. I Like to see how Mongolia is, and Iam not very intersted in going to touristic places. So: where did you stay, what did you see? Did you travel with a tent, or could you rely on ger-camps even in the east? I will travel alone or with a travel companion (which I am still looking for!) in July and August for 8 weeks. Would be glad if you post more infos, also if you like to my privat adress Krondorf@freenet.de.
best wishes, britta
I'm interested in more details of your journey in the east. I Like to see how Mongolia is, and Iam not very intersted in going to touristic places. So: where did you stay, what did you see? Did you travel with a tent, or could you rely on ger-camps even in the east? I will travel alone or with a travel companion (which I am still looking for!) in July and August for 8 weeks. Would be glad if you post more infos, also if you like to my privat adress Krondorf@freenet.de.
best wishes, britta
Heading east
by Yoni on Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:53 pm
I travelled in mongolia in the summer of 2008. After 2 months of going to the regular places I got the courage to head east into the unbeaten path. I definately recommend it - the people are very friendly and surprised to see tourists and you get a much more othentic experience. Also, it isn't difficult to get around as you would think.
There is a bus that leaves UB to Choibalsan. Takes about 12 hours and cost me 27,000 Tugrug. The bus station is a bit tricky to get to but you can ask around about buses leaving east.
From Choibalsan I looked around in the market and found cars hanging around going to many different places. I took a car north and just walked around in the vast steppes and met many local people.
There is also a deserted city from the soviet union times called Mardai which is a very interesting and remote place.
Reply to this thread if you are interested in more details.
Yoni
There is a bus that leaves UB to Choibalsan. Takes about 12 hours and cost me 27,000 Tugrug. The bus station is a bit tricky to get to but you can ask around about buses leaving east.
From Choibalsan I looked around in the market and found cars hanging around going to many different places. I took a car north and just walked around in the vast steppes and met many local people.
There is also a deserted city from the soviet union times called Mardai which is a very interesting and remote place.
Reply to this thread if you are interested in more details.
Yoni