Ulaanbaatar/ Mongolia - As a tourist

Before waiting the responses from Sunrise Company, I would like to tell my experiences at the very first time I came to Mongolia.

- Actually, I had a tour of China, to Mongolia and Russia last year. I have been in Ulaanbaatar for 2 days.  When I came there, the biggest festival (National Naadam) is held during the National Holiday from July 11 -13. The festival is also locally termed “the three games of men”. The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling. 

After leaving the festival, I went to the Altai Mongolian Grill for dinner.

Since opening its original branch in 2006, the Altai Mongolian Grill has expanded into a chain of six restaurants, three of which are located in Ulaanbaatar with the other three restaurants spread across the globe in Russia, China and the USA. The Altai Mongolian Grill introduces an innovative way of dining. Rather than a set menu, guests create their own meal according to their individual preferences from a number of vegetables, meats, noodles, seasoning and sauces before the skilled Altai chefs cook the meal. While menus vary from location to location, the Bimex Holding Building branch features a varied range of ingredients for guests to mix and match, including beef, mutton, horse meat and soy chunks which can be cooked in sauces including Asian ginger root and Korean bulgogi.

- The next day, I went to the National History Museum. It is a good place to learn about Mongolian history, very interesting. Very different perspective from the Chinese view about Mongolia and Mongolians. A really interesting museum of Mongol, it has an unique architecture and a lot of well-preserved relic that will give you a good insight about Mongolia history - especially Genghis Khan. Conveniently-located for tourists - you can even walk from the city center.

Then, I went to Buffalo Grill, located on the fourth floor of the recently built and impressive BlueMon Centre in Ulaanbaatar’s main business area, the Buffalo Grill specializes in Mongolian grilled meat dishes, where meat is grilled over an open charcoal fire giving it a succulent, smoky flavor. The extensive menu features a range of meat and vegetable-based dishes including beef bibenbab (a Korean rice-based dish), stir-fried vegetables and grilled spicy chicken. Guests looking for a more hands-on approach to their meal can take advantage of a unique feature of the restaurant - each table at Buffalo Grill features its own charcoal frying grill, with built in smoke reduction, which allows guests to self-cook their food in a communal picnic ambience.

Those are 2 days I spent in Ulaanbaatar. I enjoy some great traditional foods, as well as knowing some culture and learn more about Mongolia history.