Article published in the section Holidays / Travel Press September 30, 2010
Ulan Bator, Mongolia - Clean Air, the yurt planted in the middle of nowhere, the farmer to horse leading his flock in the endless steppe: Do not look for the romance of the nomadic Mongolian Ulan Bator, it is not there. However, the traveler who has the courage (or obligation) to linger in the polluted capital will not regret its plunge into the depths of the fascinating culture of Mongolia, Buddhism between nomadism, and ... heavy metal. Before entering a yurt, the traditional round dwelling nomads, we do not hit. In the countryside, and city. The practice can be confusing for foreigners, accustomed to respect for privacy. But in the dusty outskirts of Ulan Bator, where the eye can extend hillside yurts of the thousands of exiles in rural areas, there is nothing more normal than joining a stranger unannounced to drink tea with milk salty.
Do not expect the great outpouring of politeness and warmth found in other countries with overwhelming hospitality. Accustomed to self-sufficiency and independence of the nomadic life, the Mongols welcome you to their humble abode in you having a stool, sweets and tea ... before returning to go about their business, until you begin the discussion, unfortunately limited by the language barrier.
Think again. You Welcome, you do not disturb. Feel like at home. Really. Not as a guest but as a family member, helping a little, like the others.
And then the departure time arrives. No agonizing separation. You leave as you came, after brief greetings. Without false promise of return.
Coming out of the yurt, the shock is brutal. You're not in the middle of the campaign, as you would have thought to see the cows grazing on the few herbs on dry land. You are in the city.
To keep the privacy offered by the endless steppe, nomads have settled down, paradoxically, all fenced their land. Everyone lives in his little world, limiting the life of the neighborhood trade. Surprising in a society dominated by poverty, neighborhood solidarity that comes with such difficulty in finding a niche.
Mongolian capital
Back downtown, Suükhbaatar place, the main square. Yurts have given way to towering gray buildings. The large glass building in front of you seems straight out of Dubai. In fact, it is mainly a symbol of small failures of capitalism Mongolian. Nearly completed, it remains unoccupied and will be demolished due to problem of foundations.
For centuries, nomads have lived without fixed capital. Until the Communists, in power for more than six decades, launching the first real wave of urbanization, the influence of the Soviet big brother. By failing to test the beauty of the urban landscape, hard to say they have succeeded ...
The arrival of capitalism in 1990 has seen the emergence of several small shops and even pubs and restaurants run by Westerners crossing into Mongolia before you take a wife, so countries.
Shops Mongolian specialize in products instead of cashmere, winter goats hair that makes the country's international reputation in the fashion industry.
By selling the fruit of nomads, they try to forget the pollution of the Avenue of Peace, the main street of the city, where many citizens are protected from contaminated air in surgical masks. The traveler, it would best protect themselves from pickpockets, whose camera from the author of these lines was nearly the victim in the heart of the city in the afternoon ...
A must for most visitors, Ulaanbaatar is a must. Some arrive after a long stay in the railway train from Moscow through Siberia. It is also the transit point for exploring the steppes and the nomadic life on horseback.
Tourists also converge in Ulan Bator in July for the Naadam national celebration, during which the Mongols are measured at archery, running and horse in Mongolian wrestling, always clad in traditional costumes .
Ulaanbaatar is also a point of pilgrimage for some. Ganden Monastery, not far from downtown, became the gateway to the Buddhist heritage of Mongolia in full resurgence. He is one of the few to have survived the repression of religion under communism.
Under his wobbly gait as the capital of a developing country, the liberal mindset of Ulaanbaatar surprises and charm. Mongolian traditions are important but they do not interfere with the aspirations of modern youth. During our stay we were even treated to a spectacle of heavy metal music provided by several groups of the emerging Mongolian scene. It is for such moments of discovery qu'Oulan Bator, despite its ugliness and dirt frontage, deserves to be discovered.
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