Ulaanbaatar - Ulaangom - Ulgii

As we have nothing planned until our flight this afternoon, we make it a leisurely start to the day.

Breakfast

If anything, today’s breakfast restaurant here at Best Western Premier Tuushin Hotel in Ulaanbaatar is even busier than it was last week when we arrived. We luckily get the last free table, and several guests after us are wandering around aimlessly trying – unsuccessfully - to find somewhere to sit. With such a lot of people dining this morning, there are no waffles left and no butter, and the table is devoid of any condiments such as salt, pepper, or sugar. I am grateful that I brought some tiny little containers of Marmite with me for just such an occasion.

Marmite and dry bread.

Today we are moving on to the far west of the country, near the border with Kazakhstan. The Mongolian domestic airline doesn’t announce its flights until a few weeks beforehand, and the direct flight was immediately sold out, so we are having to take a bit of a detour: instead of flying directly from Ulaanbaatar to Ulgii and on to Altai by car, we are now flying to Ulaangom, and driving to Ulgii for overnight before continuing to Altai the next day. On the way back to Ulaanbaatar we fly from Khovd, rather than Ulgii.

The luggage allowance for this flight is 10kg per person, so last night we re-packed the bags, one of which we leave behind in storage in the hotel when we check out, and the other, which is 20kg (mine and David’s combined allowance), will travel with us.

Ulaanbaatar Airport

When we arrive at the airport, the check-in desk is not open yet, so we have lunch instead at Modern Nomads, a restaurant in the terminal.

David’s Teriyaki Chicken

I choose a traditional dish with a modern twist – Lazy Buuz. Buuz is a dumpling filled with meat, and the ‘lazy’ part refers to the fact that instead of making a proper dumpling, the meat has just been wrapped in the dough. I enjoy it very much.

MIAT Regional flight from Ulaanbaatar to Ulangoom

Thankfully Daari (our guide) is still with us at the airport when we check in, as there is a problem. Our 20kg bag for the two of us is unacceptable, it should have been one bag each at a maximum of 15kg per bag. We were told 10kg each, and nowhere on the paperwork does it state that we can’t combine that weight into one bag. A lot of negotiations take place between Daari and the airline staff, and eventually, we are allowed to take the bag, but it has to go to another counter for ‘oversized luggage’ and to pay a 50,000 tugrik excess charge (ca £12). Airline bureaucracy never ceases to amaze me. Surely it is better to have one bag of 20kg than 2 bags totalling 30 kg? Oh well, mine is not to question why.

The flight from Ulaanbaatar to Ulangoom

Ulangoom

The bags are slow to arrive at this small regional airport, as they only have one small truck to transport the luggage from the plane to the conveyor belt.

Despite being right at the back of the plane, we are not the last to disembark

Ulangoom to Ulgii

There are quite a few people from the same local agent going to Altai for the Eagle Festival, so we drive across the mountains in a convoy. But first, we need to fill up with diesel for the journey, which is about 5km in the opposite direction to where we are going. I am surprised they didn't do that before we arrived, but ours is not to question why. Tulga, the manager of Nomadic Trails (the local agent, as well as the organisers of this particular Eagle Festival), comes along with us in our car, with Adilla the driver (not to be confused with Atilla, the Hun).

Tulga filming the dusty track as we race the other cars across the steppe - all good fun!

It’s a long six-hour drive, and I sleep some once it gets dark. We stop for a while for a picnic and are given a large bowl of tepid, tasteless, overcooked vegetables, mostly cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. I eat enough to fill me up and leave the rest. After making sure all the cars have arrived and talking to the drivers of the other cars, Tulga eventually opens his bowl, which contains nothing but meat. It seems no one told him that it should be distributed to the other passengers. I give him some of my vegetables, but decline the meat in return, as I have had plenty of veggies. Sorry, no photos.

The weather has turned cold, wet, and windy. We drive over a high pass, which someone says is 3,700 metres, but I can’t find anywhere online to verify that.

Ulgii

It is midnight before we arrive in Ulgii, and we immediately check in to the Makh Sum hotel. Our room is on the second floor, with two single beds, and despite being basic and somewhat run down, it is more than adequate. After a tiring journey, we go straight to sleep.

Thank you Undiscovered Destinations and their local team for arranging this exciting trip to Mongolia.