Here's a summary of the things I have done in UB during these almost three days. I'll be soon off to my next destination so I guess I have pretty much spent my time here.
UB has about half of the Mongolian population (there are more than 1 million inhabitants in UB). It is definitely not one of the prettiest cities around - there are some beautiful buildings here but most of the houses are ugly concrete structures that once again remind me of ex-Soviet countries. As said it is a bit dodgy place to stroll around - there are lots of weirdos around, some drunk people and bad traffic everywhere. The guest house staff keep warning about pickpockets all the time and the Spanish guys told that someone tried to steal something from their backpacks. And in the guesthouse there was a sign that requested us not to go out after midnight as it is too dangerous there!
There are some interesting sights though so you can easily spend at least two days here. There is a small Natural History Museum that has a collection of dinosaur skeletons that have been found in the Gobi desert - that would have been really cool thing to see as a little kid. The National History Museum is one of the better ones of such places and the Museum of Fine Arts is also worth a visit. The highlights of UB sightseeing is definitely the walking trip I made with a Canadian guy today - we walked for about 3km to the other side of the town where you can find the beautiful Winter Palace and a hill with some ugly Soviet-era monument and fine views over the city. The city actually looks quite pretty from a distance and there are funny looking colourful houses on that side. The roads are again in quite bad condition so walking is not that much fun anywhere in UB.
In general this place is an interesting mixture of Mongolian, Chinese and Russian culture. There are some buddhist temples here - it is also interesting to see the very strong Tibetan influence there. Don't think that I would move here but as said there is something fascinating in this very remote place!
UB has about half of the Mongolian population (there are more than 1 million inhabitants in UB). It is definitely not one of the prettiest cities around - there are some beautiful buildings here but most of the houses are ugly concrete structures that once again remind me of ex-Soviet countries. As said it is a bit dodgy place to stroll around - there are lots of weirdos around, some drunk people and bad traffic everywhere. The guest house staff keep warning about pickpockets all the time and the Spanish guys told that someone tried to steal something from their backpacks. And in the guesthouse there was a sign that requested us not to go out after midnight as it is too dangerous there!
There are some interesting sights though so you can easily spend at least two days here. There is a small Natural History Museum that has a collection of dinosaur skeletons that have been found in the Gobi desert - that would have been really cool thing to see as a little kid. The National History Museum is one of the better ones of such places and the Museum of Fine Arts is also worth a visit. The highlights of UB sightseeing is definitely the walking trip I made with a Canadian guy today - we walked for about 3km to the other side of the town where you can find the beautiful Winter Palace and a hill with some ugly Soviet-era monument and fine views over the city. The city actually looks quite pretty from a distance and there are funny looking colourful houses on that side. The roads are again in quite bad condition so walking is not that much fun anywhere in UB.
In general this place is an interesting mixture of Mongolian, Chinese and Russian culture. There are some buddhist temples here - it is also interesting to see the very strong Tibetan influence there. Don't think that I would move here but as said there is something fascinating in this very remote place!
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