Today we were determined to strip back the layers of Irish Pubs and American chain “family” restaurants and see if we could get to the core of Ulaanbataar.
We began with a mediocre breakfast at the Bayangol hotel, they had a bunch of bain-maries full of some pretty unappetising fare, happily there was a choose your own omelet station and plenty of tea with lemon.
We left the hotel around 11:00am and headed off for the Ulaanbataar square. Ulaanbataar is a pretty scruffy place and feels a bit wild for a major city of one million people. There are cars, usually large 4×4′s driving all over the road, horseman in town to do a little business, yuppies, business people, quaint little Mongolian Nannas in traditional dress and scummy backpackers like ourselves. We had been told to visit the National Museum, but instead decided to go for a bit of a wander and see where that found us.
Up behind the square we chanced upon a very stately looking building that is the Mongolian National Academy of Sciences, which houses IT, Mathematics, Physics and other sciences studied at the University. From here we ended up strolling to the embassy district and popped into a great antique shop that had everything from accordions to flintlock rifles and everything in between. We also walked through what I think is Ulaanbataars and possibly the worlds only park dedicated to Plastica Integrafolia, plastic flowers and yellow polystyrene mushrooms!!!
After a spot of administration and money changing at the bank, it was time for lunch. Just as we were about to go into a likely looking place we ran into a friendly Mongolian chap who could speak English and after telling him that all we wanted to eat was REAL Mongolian food, in a place that real live Mongolians would be seen in, he told us that unfortunately most of Ulaanbataar’s restaurants were in fact western or consisted of Mongolian food that was so dumbed down it may as well of been western. After a brief chat he directed us to a place about 200 metres down the road, which served the Mongolian national dish of mutton dumpling soup and had mutton pies called Khuushurs. Service was slow, we were the only foreigners sat in amongst a lot of chain smoking Mongolians and no one spoke English. It seemed we were in the right place.
Once our meals came we were not disappointed, we were each served with a huge bowl of mutton dumplings in soup, totally devoid of any vegetables except a whisper of shallots. After the soup came the Khuushurs, which were like flattened meat pies filled with mutton and mutton fat; absolutely delicious. Some enterprising Mongolian needs to set up a van or a cart selling Khuushurs out the front of the many Irish pubs, they’d be a great after drinking snack for the long stumble home.
After lunch, we headed off to the ominously named State Department Store, on the way we chatted with some kids selling Shaslicks in the middle of a street that appeared to be not only a full on main road choked with the latest in offroad technology, but also a bustling market selling sunglasses, icecream, cigarettes and calls on mobile telephone cafes.
The State Department Store is in complete contrast to the streets of Ulaanbataar. Six floors of western capitalism, the latest fashions from Milan, electronics, TVs and gadgets from Japan and a very tacky, but reasonably priced souvenir shop, where one can pick up a full leather Ghengis armour ensemble, bows, arrows, goat skin stubby coolers and a big bag of knuckles, which was our chosen Mongolian souvenir. We also loaded up on food and snacks for the upcoming train journey and thought that a gunman had let off a shot inside the store, but no matter one of the tyres on a stock trolley had simply exploded. Many people hit the deck and the poor girl weighing our fruit was in tears and pretty shaken. We were all OK.
After picking up our laundry and a quick beer in the Grand Khan Irish Pub, no visit to Ulaanbataar is complete without a beer in this joint, we went back to the hotel for a re-pack and headed over to the Tumen Ekh traditional Mongolian show, put on by one of the best national song and dance ensembles in Mongolia, as hapless western tourists we can neither confirm or deny this claim.
We waited amongst a throng of Japanese pensioners from 5:20pm to 6:10pm, when the doors opened 10 minutes late it was like being in the middle of a UN food drop at a refugee camp. We all surged forward, I took a few little pointy Japanese elbows to the midsection, enough was enough so in my loudest, deepest and most western voice I yelled “JUST STOP PUSHING” which made everyone shut up and stop for about 1 minute while their guide tried to explain why they were all going in first. Of course we were having none of it, and our pushing in skills are honed to a razor sharp edge after a year or so in China, we managed to push our way in and end up with some pretty decent seats, although all of the best seats had been taken by the Japanese pensioners. May I suggest a separate entrance for tour groups, or an earlier arrival time.
Usually, in my experience “cultural” shows and tour groups spell disaster, but this was actually pretty good and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Ulaanbataar. They had great dancing, most if it all horse themed, there was music, also horse themed and the number one drawcard for me, throat singing. Personally I think throat singing is amazing, but Tan’s just could not stop silently shaking with laughter during each of the throat singing numbers. According to her it was the “weirdness” of it, and I have to say it is a pretty weird sound, but I think, also an amazing skill. Plus the show had a totally hot contortionist, this alone is worth the price of admission.
With around 45 minutes to spare we popped in for a Nomad burger, a mutton patty cooked on the barbie and served with special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun, it was pretty damn good. For those of you paying attention you’ll have noticed that we have pretty much given up finding Mongolian food in Ulaanbataar. Someone needs to capitalise on this and setup Yakdonalds, before our favorite hangover cure arrives in the capital.
We boarded the train with the help of our guide and new friend Oogi and sped off into the darkness of the Steppe, bound for Siberia.
