Mongolia Summer 2006 Travel Advisory

[scottw]

Hi all: This summer Mongolia is celebrating the 800th anniversary of the founding of the state by Chinggis Khan. They expect (hope for) a large increase in tourism and have invited many foreign dignitaries to attend the events.

Accordingly, hotel rooms (at all price levels) and airline/train seats will be very hard to come by, especially in June, July and August. If you will be coming through this summer, book and re-confirm your hotel/guesthouse bookings and any travel arrangements early and often.

Scott

[KJ]

Hi Scott

Thanks for the prompt re accom - will be there at that time - mid July. Where's the best place to look for/ book accom - preferably with lock-up ? Any pointers gratefully received !

Kevin

[ollir]

Hi Scott,

I've been trying to find any kind of information about the coming festivities, but without luck. I read about this from LonelyPlanet guide, but that's it. Do you have any link or other source of information what's actually going to happen during the summer? Mongolia don't have an embassy in Finland (nor Finland in there) and the honorary consulate did not know anything.

Together with a friend we plan to be there around 10th of July, but as we are riding our bikes from Finland, cannot really be sure of the exact date. Thinking about seeing the Naadam festival anyway. Can you tell how far off UB you have to go to be able to camp if hotels turn out to be out of question?

Thanks,
Olli

[KJ]

Hi Olli

I picked up some info on the Celebrations from the Embassy of Mongolia website for the UK - google it, it should come up easy enough. Basic info, but timings etc are there. If you can't find it let me know and I'll root it out again !

I'm leaving Dublin June 1 for Baltics, St Petersburg, Moscow and on to Mongolia. Maybe we'll meet up somewhere en route ? My email is kevin @ ireland . com

Kevin

[scottw]

KJ: See my answer to Brett Dean's questions for a couple of guest house suggestions. You can check with them ahead of time about locakble storage for bikes, but in the past they have been able to arrange it easily, either in a guarded parking lot or in a locked shipping container. Sometimes there is an extra charge of a few dollars a day for that service.

Olli: The main Naadam (National Day) celebrations are July 11-13 each year. I have not seen a full list of the extra events for the 800th anniversary, but most will be right around those mid-July dates.

You can camp right outside of UB, within 5 minutes ride from the city center. One of the best areas is south of the main square. Just ride south from the square (along the east side of the Children's Park) until you get to the river and broken bridge, and then ride east along the dirt paths near the river until you find a good spot among the trees. Keep all of your gear inside your tent at night (and don't ride away and leave your things unattended) because sometimes kids will try to sneak away with small things.

-Scott

[ollir]

Thanks Kevin and Scott! Kevin, maybe we'll see en route somewhere. We are planning to leave by the end of June, if possible, just after midsummer. Current plan is to drive directly to UB using the bigger roads to save time. The target for the trip is really Mongolia, where we plan to spend the whole 30 days riding around.

Olli

[Neo]

Hello Olli,
maybe we see eachother in Mongolia. We will be there about the same time.

KTM 640 Adventure and Yellow DRZ 400

greetings

Ray & Wilma

[flashy_cj]

My wife and I and another pair on BMW powered Chang Jiangs will enter Mongolia from China and ride to UB and spend a cpl of days there, then its on to Harhorin to see Chingis Khan's capital. We will be joined by Jim Bryant (as far as UB), who built our bikes at his shop in Beijing. Jim crossed Mongolia last year on a ride from Germany to Beijing. Then we head south and west to ride to the western border where we enter Russia.

We won't be hard to spot as the Changs are copies of the 1938 BMW R71 side hacks and pretty well loaded as this is the start of our 16 month RTW which ends in Cabo San Lucas Mexico.

Hope we can connect with some of you while on the road.