Here is the fifth thread about my train journey, in last july, from Moscow to Beijing.

- the first thread (about Moscow) :http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1228115&highlight=
- the second thread (about Siberia) :http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1230031&highlight=
- the third thread (about the Baikal):http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1232523&highlight=
- the fourth thread (about the journey from Irkoutsk to Ulan Bator) :http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1236449&highlight=

First, what about some music for the ambience :
rTvQn7pL_UU
See the reason of this particuliar choice at the end of the thread...



1- Let's start by the surroundings of Ulan Bator. Here is the Transmongolian, but seen behind the windows of a bus :
http://imgur.com/RELMu.jpg

2-
http://imgur.com/dEdyI.jpg

3- Some huge antennas near Ulan Bator :
http://imgur.com/dg7wX.jpg

4-
http://imgur.com/wrhcY.jpg

5- Police checkpoint ?
http://imgur.com/mlP46.jpg

6- French chocolates !
http://imgur.com/FpLSZ.jpg

7- Eagles :
http://imgur.com/oqtqN.jpg

8- Entering a very touristic valley, not far from Ulan Bator :
http://imgur.com/WsHON.jpg

9- Budhist monument. We were supposed to go three times around this stones heap while throwing stones on it to make it bigger. It brings luck.
http://imgur.com/zR2jn.jpg

10-
http://imgur.com/uGqcG.jpg

11- Goats and sheeps on the hills :
http://imgur.com/N04LS.jpg

12- While we go further into the valley, there is not a true road anymore, just an earth track. Here is the "Turtle Rock" :
http://imgur.com/KXI84.jpg

13-
http://imgur.com/5BD5v.jpg

14-
http://imgur.com/byIHF.jpg

15- Continuing by foot towards our place of accomodation, deep in the valley :
http://imgur.com/4G5Fl.jpg

16- Meeting some Mongolian riders on the way :
http://imgur.com/8SI6R.jpg

17- And some cute little cows :
http://imgur.com/cihxi.jpg

18-
http://imgur.com/8um3m.jpg

19- They have ladas there too !
http://imgur.com/ermno.jpg

20- And some yaks :
http://imgur.com/mlIjp.jpg

21- Ah... the quiet rural life of Switzer... Mongolia !
http://imgur.com/B12yq.jpg

22-
http://imgur.com/FleCl.jpg

23-
http://imgur.com/CAUD0.jpg

24- Our yurts for one night :
http://imgur.com/h4PBT.jpg

25-
http://imgur.com/bTSNl.jpg

26- Leaving back the valley, the next day :
http://imgur.com/BxQNV.jpg

27- Lot of people in Mongolia :
http://imgur.com/nCACv.jpg

28-
http://imgur.com/ogz3F.jpg

29- Passing in front of a muslim cemetery on the way back to Ulan Bator :
http://imgur.com/gx1Ip.jpg

30- Lot of cars, there was probably some funerals that day :
http://imgur.com/uJcJ8.jpg

31-
http://imgur.com/URZj7.jpg

32- Some kind of military base along the road :
http://imgur.com/9eh2J.jpg

33- Again the transmongolian seen from the bus :
http://imgur.com/PUVsu.jpg

34-
http://imgur.com/2CEXm.jpg

35- A budhist temple in Ulan Bator (there was a huge statue inside the temple but we couldn't take picture of it without paying) :
http://imgur.com/p0iY1.jpg

36-
http://imgur.com/6Vn0t.jpg

37-
http://imgur.com/xCzmh.jpg

38- Buildings going up in Ulan Bator :
http://imgur.com/GgLXt.jpg

39- In a great restaurant of Ulan Bator :
http://imgur.com/tpJI4.jpg

40- The view from my hotel room :
http://imgur.com/2hLHE.jpg

41- Other views :
http://imgur.com/6nElL.jpg

42- Tower blocks :
http://imgur.com/KC0bz.jpg

43- Abandonned (?) budhist temple :
http://imgur.com/EkCQm.jpg

44- On the great square of Ulan Bator :
http://imgur.com/EkCQm.jpg

45-
http://imgur.com/r0kUI.jpg

46-
http://imgur.com/rRTga.jpg

47- Mongolian parliament :
http://imgur.com/RVu0U.jpg

48- Mongolian skyscraper :
http://imgur.com/E6A15.jpg

49- Mongolian hero :
http://imgur.com/wGPF3.jpg

50- Mongolian stock exchange :
http://imgur.com/e4qtM.jpg

51- Mongolian svastikas :
http://imgur.com/YfI2P.jpg

52-
http://imgur.com/2iAiV.jpg

53- The State Department store, the central point of meeting for every tourist visiting Mongolia (Chinese, Russian, French, etc.) :
http://imgur.com/pNvn1.jpg

54-
http://imgur.com/h8Pcc.jpg

55- Consumption at its best !
http://imgur.com/ls9ao.jpg

56- Another building near the store :
http://imgur.com/XDBO6.jpg

57- Various pictures of the city :
http://imgur.com/tLRjj.jpg

58-
http://imgur.com/NpgFw.jpg

59-
http://imgur.com/2x0km.jpg

60-
http://imgur.com/ndGPQ.jpg

61- Kids playing football in the street :
http://imgur.com/HVTuI.jpg

62- That's the amount I had to pay for my dinner in an Ulan Bator restaurant. It's not as expensive as it appears... it's just that Mongolian love bank notes !
http://imgur.com/A9ni4.jpg

63- This "signal" graffiti was everywhere in the city... very strange :
http://imgur.com/Wwn2m.jpg

64- Gang sign ? Let's go to google to have an answer !
http://imgur.com/21FDe.jpg



Next part : Leaving Ulan Bator and experiencing the Gobi desert.
Coming soon !

Very interesting. It looks like a northern Chinese city in the 90's.

there was a GAZ-24 Volga... not "LaDa"

And the final thread about Ulanbaatar and beyond the city, its really interesting and very nice too; thanks for all those train-tour images :okay:

great photos... and i like the band, too!

this is one great tour in pictures.
I wonder how this place looks like in winter.
thanks for the great job.

I think Mongolians don't like their city to be called Ulan-Bator nowadays, they would prefer as Ulaanbaatar. Pics are fine.

wow, this is one great travel adventure @ GM.
nice photot tour.

This is truly interesting. We certainly do not get to see Mongolia on SSC too often let alone such an amount of photos and descriptions. Thank you!

This is truly interesting. We certainly do not get to see Mongolia on SSC too often let alone such an amount of photos and descriptions. Thank you!

Thats right, unfortunately. Check the link in my signature for some more pictures.

Nice photos, btw, thanks for putting them up

Great adventure GM!

I was looking at Ulaanbataar on Google maps today, its incredible how there are whole large suburbs of yurts around the city which can presumably be loaded onto trucks and taken away into the vast Mongolian wilderness if the owners want to.

Even within a few hundred metres of Sukhebaator square you can see many yurts on open plots, amazing!

The Mongolians don't seem to be very creative with their naming though unless Google is being lazy with its labelling. I saw a lot of "kindergarten #27", "Government building #12 - Ministry of roads", "School #7" type names on the map and even "Grocery store #4" :laugh:

interesting photos.

I notice that Mongolians write mostly in cyrillic, however some government buildings have another script that looks very similar to Manchu script. Is it the same as Manchu script and is it used at all these days by the Mongolian population?

Thanks for these photos. Mongolia is a place that has always intrigued me. It is so beautiful and unique. I have looked through your whole series and it is fantastic!

interesting photos.

I notice that Mongolians write mostly in cyrillic, however some government buildings have another script that looks very similar to Manchu script. Is it the same as Manchu script and is it used at all these days by the Mongolian population?

I think that in Mongolia, they mainly use cyrillic, but in Inner Mongolia (which is an autonomous region in China), uses it's traditional Mongolian script which looks similar to the Manchu script (they're both related).

If you look at photos of cities such as Hohhot (which is in Inner Mongolia), you'll see most buildings with the traditional Mongolian script along with Chinese.

I personally think that Mongolia (the country) should reintroduce the traditional script as it's so beautiful and brings the culture and uniqeness of the place!