On that third day in Ulaanbaatar, I woke up in a good mood. I had so enjoyed my tour the day before and, despite not loving Ulaanbaatar on my first day, I was excited to see more of it. I devised a loose walking plan through the city, with plans to meet someone for a cigar in the evening.
I walked from my hotel (the Hotel Nine by the main square) to Gandantegchinlen Monastery. It was a pleasant, if unremarkable, walk. I did make one blunder, though: I walked by but did not visit the newly constructed Chinggis Khan Museum. I felt like I had done enough of that the day before, and I didn’t think I had enough time, so I skipped it. Everyone I have talked to since has told me it was a mistake and that the museum is incredible. I should have at least popped in. Next time.
I arrived at Gandantegchinlen Monastery and discovered my favourite place in the city. It is a complex of Buddhist temples, and I’ve seen lots of Buddhist temples, but there was something about the way they were laid out and the openness of the space. There was also this low, deep chanting and the occasional soft sound of a gong that permeated the space and made it feel so serene. I felt it kind of deeply. I think it was mostly the chanting. I think, with the right music, I could be tricked into joining a cult.
From there, I walked to a café/tea house called Potala. I read about it on a blog or in a book because I would never have discovered it otherwise. It is on the 11th floor of an office tower called Gem Palace. Weird. But it is a lovely café, decorated in a Buddhist-temple style, with lots of places to sit comfortably and look at the view. They had food (including vegetarian dishes), but I wasn’t peckish. I did try one of their specialty drinks, “Potala Coffee.” which was strong coffee with shar tos (Mongolian clarified sheep or cow butter). It wasn’t terrible, but I think I’ll stick with black coffee. Great café, though. They even had Wi-Fi and lots of outlets; it would be a great place to work on a laptop.
After that, I wandered around more and made my way to a restaurant at the Corporate Hotel. There isn’t anything too special about the hotel, but it has a restaurant with a big, covered patio and comfortable seating. I had a veggie curry and a cigar (Juan Lopez No. 2) and decided it was time to try Mongolia’s vodka. I opted for the Chinggis Gold Vodka, which was the best they had on the menu. The menu said it would be just an ounce, but the waitress brought out the bottle, and I swear she poured me half a glass of vodka. Look at the photo; that’s not water. (It tasted like…vodka.)
Rested and feeling good, I walked south to the Bogd Khan Winter Palace. Bogd Khan was the leader of Mongolia from 1870 to 1924, and this was one of his residences. It was not a great walk there, but I did find this excellent Soviet-style mosaic on the way.
The palace had small, modest interiors and a little bit of a museum, but the palace itself was the real draw, with its decorations and murals.
I didn’t feel like repeating the long walk back to the centre of town, so I hopped on a bus heading in the right direction, and it got me where I wanted to go. I meandered around town for a little longer and then took a taxi to a cigar lounge to meet a stranger.
When I had posted on Facebook that I was flying to Ulaanbaatar, a cigar friend of mine from Vancouver who now lives in Hong Kong messaged me to say that his neighbour, who is also a cigar smoker, was in Ulaanbaatar for a year for work. I’ll call him Pemberton. My buddy connected us, and Pemberton and I arranged to meet at a cigar store and lounge called Habanos Cigar Lounge.
I greatly appreciated that there was a lounge in Ulaanbaatar, but the selection of cigars for sale was only so-so. I bought a Bolivar Belicoso Finos and a Partagas Serie D No. 4 from a disinterested salesperson and settled into the lounge. The inside was actually pretty nice, but, when Pemberton arrived, we sat outside on the patio. It was nice.
We chatted, and I got to hear what it was like to live and work in Ulaanbaatar. Dismal was my takeaway. Pemberton was from the Netherlands but had moved to Hong Kong long ago and worked for a beverage company. His posting in Ulaanbaatar was for about a year, during which he worked with the government to set up manufacturing and distribution in Mongolia. Similar to the stories I had heard from others, doing any work with the government was slow, inefficient, and a bit corrupt. Pemberton found living in Ulaanbaatar depressing and unpleasant. I can see that.
We parted ways well after dark, and I walked back to my hotel. Ulaanbaatar may not have a lot going for it, but it did feel very safe. The next morning, I got up early and took a private transfer to the airport (hoping not to take the bus this time). The sky was beautiful.
I enjoyed my three days in Mongolia, even if I was only lukewarm on Ulaanbaatar. If I were to return, though (and I wouldn’t rule it out), I would take the train to some other locations in Mongolia and try to spend more time in nature.
But I was on to my next destination from Mongolia, which was, illogically, Kuwait.
