Ulaanbaatar Pollution Tour

Post date: 08-Nov-2009 13:51:10

Colin and I were greeted on the platform by our Mongolian tour guide Naki who promised us that a hot shower was waiting for us. After 6 days wihtout showering, we were feeling as greasy as a freshly buttered bun. We went to a hotel that had a bath house. It was our first time in a bath house. There were 5 showers and two bath tubs. A steamy room all to ourselves was quite luxurious after being on the train. We felt really alive after not much sleep. We went for a breakfast of tea, bread and jam, samosas, rice, and hot dogs and onions. Next, we started our walking tour. Ulaanbaatar received its name in 1924 which means "Red Hero" in honour of the communist triumph. Unfortunately, Ulaanbaatar is the most polluted city we have ever visited in our lives. It's very industrial and there are not many trees. As a result, it's difficult to breathe in the city and by the end of a day of walking around, our lungs physically hurt. We tried to mostly breathe through our noses to filter out the pollution. However, when we blew our nose we had black snot. On most days, you can't see the sun because gray clouds of pollution block it out. I feel sorry for the Mongolian people and their air quality. It's too bad the Government doesn't do something about it. After two days in Ulaanbaatar we definitely were appreciating our home and native land in Canada.

During our walking tour, we visited Sukhbaatar Square which our guide told us is a popular place to bring a date. The House of Parliament is also in the square with Chinggis Khaan sitting on the throne in the center of the building.

Colin and I visited our first monastery the Gandan Monastery. Inside the grounds there were many people feeding pigeons. We went inside one of the temples and smelled Juniper while a whole bunch of monks were chanting. We felt quite out of place but it was a neat experience. We walked around the monastery in a clockwise direction and we walked out of the monastery backwards. This is so you are not turning your back on the buddha.

Next, we and visited the largest Mongolian Buddhia statue Migjid Janraisig (all seeing

Lord). The statue weighs 90 tons. It's also surrounded by 1000s of smaller buddha statues and many Prayer Wheels. The Prayer Wheels are spun in a clockwise direction and are usually spun 3 times. They are beautiful and made of a shiny gold. You can also dedicate the prayer wheels to people by paying to attach a plaque to the prayer wheel. It's the first buddha we've seen in a monastery. Our tour guide asked us if we have any temples in Canada and we didn't know, so we decided to check and there are a few.

We also visited the Choijin Monastery which is a museum that consisted of 3 temples that contain various buddha statues and masks. It was very beautiul and we bought some cool authentic notes and coins from a lady at the gift shop who spoke perfect English.

Other pictures around Ulaanbaatar:

Prayer Beds

Look closely at what is happening behind the tent. This painting was in a temple.

Buddha Statue

We bought this cat food since he was smartly sitting outside the grocery store.

You can view our other 151 pictures pollution free from the comfort of your own home here: