"Dolphin Sands Road!": Ulaan Bataar and camping in Teralj National Park

Ulaan Bataar

Arriving in Ulaan Bataar (UB) from our border crossing adventure we were keen for a bit of relaxing time before heading off to the Gobi. We also needed to find a tour as currently it is a necessity for seeing most of the country. Sunpath hostel was just the place to do both of these things and our hosts, Doljma and Patcha, made everything easy and pleasurable from the moment Patcha met us at the train station.

I’ve heard people say that UB is a city to “get in and get of.” Having never really found a city that would I would apply that expression to, whether ugly, polluted or poverty-stricken, all cities have something to offer at least first time visitors, I always ignore that advice. During our time in UB we enjoyed walking around town. There always was something happening at Sukhbaatar (Chinngas Khan) square. While we were there we saw a ger-making competition and the famous Children’s Day. Festivities seemed very inclusive with many free activities for all to enjoy. We visited a beautiful monastery and marvelled at the mixture of modern architecture, soviet style buildings and gers, all in or near the city centre. Despite the overwhelming choice of restaurants and cafes (and cuisines), we even found a regular coffee spot during our stay.

Children's Day fun

Discouraging litter using lolly rewards

Ger building competition

Ger competition final product

Prayers at the monastery

Birds alive!

Sukhbaatar (Chinngas Khan) square

Tips for UB

Hostel: Sunpath

Tours: Sunpath

Coffee/Café: Cafe Cielo

Camping at a Mongolian National Park

Keen to spend at least a few days independently exploring the Mongolian countryside, we borrowed a tent (yes, no rental fee!) from Sunpath hostel and set off on a bus to Teralj National Park (Gorki Teralj), some 50km out of UB. Despite having a piece of paper asking for help to get on the right bus in Mongolian and being at the stop very early (because it could leave up to 30 minutes either side of the timetable apparently), we still managed to find ourselves on the wrong one. However, as is often the case, a small mishap is when the adventures really began!

On the (wrong) bus we witnessed an argument about a seat that escalated into a punch being thrown. Not long after this the conductor, who had successfully restored peace, signalled to us to get off the bus and said “Teralj”. We were clearly in a small village and not the National Park but the bus was about to head off in the wrong direction so we were left with no choice and hopped off. Optimistically we asked a policeman when the next bus to Teralj came through. He, and later a shop keeper, both shook their heads, directing us to a taxi. As we stood in a small parking lot deciding between the taxi or trying to camp/stay in the village, another man (Gambot) approached us and offered us a lift. Hesitant but with a good feeling about the guy, we headed to his car. We met his wife (Saska) and hit the road, unable to communicate too much except to find out he was an engineer at one of the tourist ger camps at Teralj.

We hadn’t been in the car very long when he started saying “goat” and “dinner”. Realising they meant to purchase a goat along the way we (somewhat oddly) relaxed about the whole hitching “this could go wrong” situation. It was bizarre how quickly you got used to have goats hanging out in the boot behind you. In fact, you forgot about them until they protested a bad spot in the road. We had a few laughs with Saska and Gambot, enjoyed the scenery and soon we were staring at Turtle Rock, the signature rock in the National Park. Strange as it might sound, I think looking back this little trip with the goats will be one of the big highlights of 2015! At the time I also reflected upon how activities (e.g. hitchhiking) that are often advised against in travel blogs/guides, are also the stories that make up those very authors’ highlights reel.

How to choose a goat

How to fit goats in

After arriving at Teralj we still actually had another 10km to walk to where we had planned to camp. It was getting late but luckily the sun doesn’t go down until about 11pm this time of year and there was some beautiful scenery (including model dinosaurs and a horse that thought it was a cow) to energise us on our way. It wasn’t until a few km’s to go, coincidentally when a big hill appeared in front of us, that a car stopped and offered us a lift. After a shorter walk along the river we found a spot alongside it to set up camp. I guess sometimes it’s true what they say about the journey not the destination.

We barely saw anyone during our time camping along the river. We took a lazy walk, read, slept, watched horses and ate. It was great! Our batteries were well and truly recharged in time for the big trip to follow.