Mongolia is a remarkable and interesting country located in the heart of Asia. It’s a place with one of the greatest histories, touching nature with lots of mountains and sand dunes. Here the main interesting thing is that you can find people living in their traditional nomadic way of life.
The capital of Mongolia is Ulaanbaatar (or Ulan Bator). It’s rather fascinating that the city begins with a monastery. The name of it if translated from Mongolian means “red hero”. The locals call the place Sukhbaatar in honor of the liberator of Mongolia from the troops of Baron Ungern and the Chinese troops. The main historical places worth visiting in Ulaanbaatar are the Natural History Museum, the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts, the Gandantegchinlen Khiid Monastery and the Winter Palace of Bogd Khan.
The surrounding of the capital is rather impressive. The four peaks are giving the impression of sacred place. Most of them are covered with forests. Some part of them is included in the National Park Bogdhan.
If you drive around 60 km from the capital, you will appear close to Genghis Khan Monumental Complex. The complex is located on the bank of the Tuul River, which means “to wade through” in Mongolian. The complex includes the Museum of Genghis Khan, a restaurant, a gift shop, a conference room and an office for business meetings. The monument is made of stainless steel. The monument pictures Genghis Khan sitting on his horse holding a golden whip with his right hand. The monument is so huge that it even has a special elevator, which takes you from the horse to the head of the leader. Up on top there’s an observation deck.
Those who are more interested in the natural beauty of Mongolia will love the contradictions of the places. One of the most amazing sites is the mighty waterfall, which rises on the upper part of the Orkhon River. And next to this, you will get a chance to visit the Gobi Desert. The place is a rare animal cemetery of the Jurassic period.
When translated Bayangobi means a rich desert. This is actually another great region in Mongolia for the fans of nature with its unique combination of amazing mountains, wonderful forests and large desert areas. The uniqueness of the place is the presence of diverse flora and fauna. This is due to the so-called Mongolian sands.
Darkhan is the second largest city in Mongolia. It’s the industrial center of the country localizing a large number of manufacturing companies.
Together with the modern trends most of the cities in Mongolia still keep with the local spirit. In some 400 km east to the capital you will find the monastery of Erdene-Zuu, which was built on the ruins of Karakorum – the capital of the ancient state founded by Genghis Khan in 1220 and lasted until the XVI century. The place is a popular destination point for tourists, thus the locals are doing their best to introduce their culture here. The local merchants are selling ancient coins, Buddhist figurines and various relics, original pieces of bronze and iron decorations found in the soil on the site of Karakorum.
Throughout its history, Mongolia has gone through rapid changes, but those are mostly to make the country more appealing for the visitors, with the habits and traditions of the country strongly kept to surprise and charm the travellers. This is one of the reasons why one should not only get acquainted with the local sites of Mongolia, but also learn more about the country when talking with the locals.
