Mongolia/Kyrgyzstan - Anyone Been?

wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 13:41
Last edited 25/09/2024 - 13:43

I'm looking at going somewhere different than my annual Thailand trip, but also probably not as far as Europe due to cost/time required.

I was seeing a Mongolian girl last year, and while that's all over (thankfully), it did seem like an interesting place. I watched some youtube videos about Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, and they seem relatively safe, friendly people, stunning scenery, and affordable. Mongolian food is pretty awesome too.

So… has anyone been, and do you have any hints on planning a trip? In SE Asia you can basically rock up there with no plan and organise tours from every second shop in the street - would things need to be booked more in advance for these countries?

Also, there doesn't seem to ever be flight sales to these locations :( Around $1400 return is as good as it gets.
Is it realistic to fly to China instead for $600 return, and get some kind of train across the border to Mongolia? Seems to take around 2 days for the train, but would save $800+ on the airfare.

Travel Mongolia

Comments

  • cupcake on 25/09/2024 - 13:55
    +1

    I heard that it's quite cold there so maybe pack a poncho and if you're a white man, you get a door on your tent - yurt.

  • Gdsamp on 25/09/2024 - 13:58

    but also probably not as far as Europe due to cost
    Also, there doesn't seem to ever be flight sales to these locations

    It is probably cheaper to visit Europe.

    • wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 13:59
      +1

      The flight possibly. But the way I see it, Europe you need a month to see enough. If I'm going for about 2 weeks, it's enough for 1-2 of these countries.

  • Guesty on 25/09/2024 - 14:02
    +3

    Travelled to Ulaanbaatar in July 2019 to visit friends, and flew via HK as the options were pretty limited back then.

    As for tours etc, we were pretty lucky that our friends had been living there for 12 months so knew all the spots etc. as soon as you go out of the city, English is pretty limited and other than Google maps and local knowledge pretty hard to get anywhere by yourself.
    Gorkhi Terelj NP was pretty stunning and stayed at Dream Adventure there for a few nights to do hikes, horse riding etc.

    As a true Ozbargainer, you must go to the NaranTuul market but watch the pickpocketing, it's pretty rife.

    • wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 14:20

      Thanks for the info. Maybe one of those old school guidebooks might be useful then rather than hoping I can organise everything on the fly.

  • juph0rry on 25/09/2024 - 14:02
    +3

    For Kyrgyzstan:

    AirAsia has a one way flight to Almaty in Kazakhstan from Kuala Lumpur for as low as $350.

    Then catch a bus from Almaty to Bishkek for like $10.

    Easy international trains between Mongolia/Kazakhstan and China haven't been running since Covid. You can still make the journeys on smaller trains, but can't do Ulaanbaatar to Beijing direct for example, or Urumqi to Almaty.

    • wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 14:06

      Thanks, I'd also considered Kazakhstan just for the Borat memes, hadn't noticed that flight exists. The standard flight search engines dont usually catch all the connections

      • juph0rry on 25/09/2024 - 14:22
        +1

        Work backwards from where you want to go.

        Want to go to Ulaanbaatar? Go to Skyscanner, search Ulaanbaatar to Everywhere - search a month.

        Now you have an idea of the cheapest places that fly into it.

          • wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 16:59

            @Stewardo: Can't seem to search for a single thing on that site without paying large amounts of money..

            • Gdsamp on 25/09/2024 - 17:56

              @wetsandwich: or look at destinations of the place's airport on Wikipedia

            • Stewardo on 25/09/2024 - 20:25

              @wetsandwich: You just close that premium window. You don’t have to pay.
              I don’t use it to search flights, I only find it an easy reference as to destinations from each airport. So if you want to go to a random city, you can type it in and shows you which major hubs it has connections with.

  • jetblack on 25/09/2024 - 14:28
    +3

    Been to Mongolia, took the train from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (with a stop in Erlian/Erenhot - that is rad if you like dinosaurs. Look it up!). Was pretty good, not a must-see destination, but definitely stuff to see and do. Recommend going out into the Mongolian steppes, see the giant Ghengis Khan, the countryside is interesting for sure. Pretty sure we organised the trip to the countryside through the hostel we stayed at. The Zaisan Monument on the edge of Ulaanbataar is an interesting old Soviet monument overlooking the city. Can be really cold depending on time of year, so keep that in mind.

    Haven't been to Kyrgyzstan, but did do a quick stopover in Astana, Kazakhstan (previously Nur-Sultan, aka Astana, aka Nur-Sultan), that was a pretty cool experience. The place is a giant diorama of what the 90's thought the future would look like. Strong recommend there.

    • jv on 25/09/2024 - 14:42

      a stop in Erlian/Erenhot - that is rad if you like dinosaurs.

      Is this you?

  • jv on 25/09/2024 - 14:39

    Go to Tuva…

  • GordonD on 25/09/2024 - 15:16

    Mongolia/Kyrgyzstan - Anyone Been?

    Yep.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/3/putin-shrugs-off-war…

  • BuyoTheCat on 25/09/2024 - 15:16

    is a trip on the trans mongolian railway from Beijing worth considering?

    • wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 15:32

      Seems to not be running directly since covid.

      To catch a train it needs a change at some other Chinese city

      https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/international-…

      Could be done, but then I'm starting to focus the trip towards China with at least a few days of arriving, resting, travelling just to catch this train. But maybe.

      • BuyoTheCat on 25/09/2024 - 16:11

        i have never done the trans-mongolian or trans-siberian. It is one of those trips I would do at some point.

        I would also consider a trip to lake baikal

  • pharkurnell on 25/09/2024 - 15:45

    Always wanted to do one of these…
    https://www.motorcyclemongolia.com/

  • airzone on 25/09/2024 - 16:07

    Cousin has recently been to Mongolia. Boss was in Kyrgyzstan also quite recently. Can't say much other than they both survived and saw some cool stuff.

    If going via China, you need to factor the cost of visas

    • wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 16:29
      +1

      The new 14 day visa waiver for Aussies makes that part a bit easier. I've also clarified with their embassy that you can use it a couple of times in short succession in the case of going between countries.

      • Mugsy on 26/09/2024 - 07:54

        I was about to say, the 14 day visa free thing with China will make getting to Mongolia easier and cheaper for you.

        If you are going through China, do check out some of the local food in the cities you're traveling through. There's a lot of gems that shouldn't be missed.

        Your trip reminds me of the period between 8 to 15yrs ago when I was planning to take 3 months off work to travel the silk road overland. Various things in life happened and that trip never eventuated and I'm not in a position in life to do that trip still… at best I might be able to get 3 weeks in Japan next year.

  • z0s0 on 25/09/2024 - 17:02
    +1

    Kyrgyzstan: fantastic mountains, pretty friendly people. Mongolia: mostly flat steppe, extraordinarily xenophobic people, terribly polluted capital city with the most insane driving I've experienced.

    I'd choose Kyrgyzstan for a repeat visit.

    Should be able to get reasonably cheap flights in/out of major Chinese cities to Ulan Bataar though.

    • Protractor on 25/09/2024 - 17:41

      Dutto, Hanson & Trump are Mongolian?

      • BuyoTheCat on 25/09/2024 - 20:03

        Direct descendants of genghis

  • emblurr on 25/09/2024 - 17:12
    +1

    Just don't go to Mongolia in Winter. -30 degrees and the air is thick from pollution in Ulaanbaatar. They have a coal power plant in the city.

    • wetsandwich on 25/09/2024 - 18:31

      Yeah I'd only go in June or July. Even Tasmanian winter is too much for me.

  • 6079 Smith on 25/09/2024 - 18:48

    Mongolia is cool but the scenery and landscapes in Kyrgyzstan are soooo much better. East of the country is cool, there’s not much reason to go down to Osh and that area unless you want to commit to the Pamir Highway.

    I’ve got a lot of love for that part of the world, ditto Kazakhstan and the bus across the border from Almaty is super easy.

  • crozza on 25/09/2024 - 20:13

    recently did trip
    of 4 stans, starting in bishkek, kyrgyzstan.there are many tour companies running various length trips. You could DIY with some planning.

    I went mel-sin-xian-bishkek so took in the terracotta warriors on the way. not too expensive. do not go in winter or summer.

  • Lunarboogie on 25/09/2024 - 22:14
    +2

    I visited Kyrgyzstan (and 3 other Stans) in '09 and loved it. It was safe and relatively modern even then, and so you'd have no issues now. I remember being bewildered why there weren't more tourists. Heaps of things to do, cheap as chips and friendly locals. Food was good and the beer plentiful. What's there not to like?

    Bishkek is worth 3 days. We then organised a few days in Ishyk Kol which was this rather huge lake in the middle of the country, followed by a night in a yurt in some barren and windswept valley and then onto its second city, Osh, for a couple of days. Osh was a dour place but it hadn't been ethnically cleansed then (that occurred in '10) and was still an Uzbek majority city which made it interesting. Don't think that's the case now.

    We organised everything on the run and in grand OzB style to keep costs down. We had a blast. We then continued on the Pamir to Tajikistan which was a real treat. Got as far as the Afghan border. Even then, brave souls were crossing over to see what was on the other side. We thought otherwise.

    We flew via Urumqu which was the cheapest way in the Stans then from here. That itself was an incredible destination, including getting down to Kashgar when it still had a thriving old town. Before the CCP bulldozed humanity. So sad.

    Go. Have fun and report back.

  • Davo1111 on 26/09/2024 - 02:05

    Kyrg is very cold at this time. Going to be hard to rent a car generally

    Yandex (their uber) is great

    Don't ever take a taxi at airport

  • ihbh on 26/09/2024 - 08:17

    Mongolia

    Very polluted capital.

  • susannetsv on 26/09/2024 - 13:36

    Spent quite some time in Mongolia and temperatures were down to minus 35. I found most locals do not really like outsiders and we experienced times where you would go to a restaurant and nobody would take your order, or go into a shop and people would actually turn their back on you and not serve you. I had no idea where I even lived except visually as the alphabet is different, I did not know the complex name or the street name. Transport is untrustworthy, I know people who got taxis and were driven to an area where people were waiting to rob them, even the clothes off their back. The pickpockets are extremely good at what they do and nearly everyone becomes a victim. People are basically unfriendly in the city but if you venture out into the countryside, they are a little more friendly. The sights are way more interesting in winter than they are in summer because its so dry in Mongolia that during the summer everything is just brown. The huge Ghengis Khan statue is amazing and well worth a visit. When its winter the scenery is amazing and of course Mongolia has a very vivid beautiful blue sky. I would probably not recommend travelling solo to Mongolia but it is definitely a very interesting place. At the time I was there, pre covid, Korean Air did flights daily, so this would be an option from Australia to travel all the way to Ulaanbaator on the one airline. I posted an article with a few photos here Spent quite some time in Mongolia and temperatures were down to minus 35. I found most locals do not really like outsiders and we experienced times where you would go to a restaurant and nobody would take your order, or go into a shop and people would actually turn their back on you and not serve you. I had no idea where I even lived except visually as the alphabet is different, I did not know the complex name or the street name. Transport is untrustworthy, I know people who got taxis and were driven to an area where people were waiting to rob them, even the clothes off their back. The pickpockets are extremely good at what they do and nearly everyone becomes a victim. People are basically unfriendly in the city but if you venture out into the countryside, they are a little more friendly. The sights are way more interesting in winter than they are in summer because its so dry in Mongolia that during the summer everything is just brown. The huge Ghengis Khan statue is amazing and well worth a visit. When its winter the scenery is amazing and of course Mongolia has a very vivid beautiful blue sky. I would probably not recommend travelling solo to Mongolia but it is definitely a very interesting place. At the time I was there, pre covid, Korean Air did flights daily, so this would be an option from Australia to travel all the way to Ulaanbaator on the one airline. I posted an article on another website here that includes a few photos of downtown https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/threads…
    There are some interesting photos of other places in this article as well.

    • wetsandwich on 26/09/2024 - 16:29

      Thanks for the post - doesn't exactly inspire me with the safety aspects there, but I am a fairly tall and bulky person, so they might not target me for a robbery/mugging as an 'easy target'. I can usually spot dodgy characters a mile away - went to Vietnam a few times where pretty much everything was a scam in the main 2 cities, so I'm used to the 'innocent' approaches on the street that always lead into some complex and annoying scam after they initially pretend to want to 'just practise english'. I try not to be too jaded and bitter though…

  • Panlee on 26/09/2024 - 17:11

    Lonely Planet will have more than enough info for you.
    Also hi speed trains go everywhere in China & are a great ride at reasonable cost.

  • Panlee on 26/09/2024 - 17:13

    You are more likely to get mugged in your own home!

  • BronzingStubble on 26/09/2024 - 20:21

    On the off-chance that you ride a motorcycle, there is a regular motorcycle tour of Mongolia run by a couple of Aussies. A few mates have done it and had a great time.

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