Off the Map: Mongolia

After meeting and greeting your flight leader and the other students traveling to Mongolia, you’re off to Beijing! This is an easy, nonstop flight across the Pacific – most students find that after dinner and a movie, they’re able to manage dozing off to sleep for a while. So sit back, have a chat with your new friends, and enjoy the flight!

This day is lost as you cross the International Date Line. But don’t worry – you’ll get it back when returning home!

You’ll arrive in Ulaanbaatar early this afternoon. Transfer to the guesthouse for a fun lunch, orientation and a shower before heading out for your first traditional Mongolian meal!

Today, get to know Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar, which is home to more than half of the country’s population. Visit the National History Museum of Mongolia, where you’ll learn all about the fascinating history of Chinggis Khaan, his daughters and grandsons who built the world’s largest contiguous empire in history and whose influence on the world’s culture and history is largely underemphasized in Western textbooks. A special highlight is the hall of traditional costumes, which shows the cultural dress of Mongolia’s various ethnic subgroups. In the evening, visit a rousing cultural show that features traditional dances and the one-of-a-kind khoomi throat-singing.

Wake up early for a short drive to Terelj National Park, the most well-known park in central Mongolia, famous for its unique rock formations and stunning views. Stop at the imposing statue of Genghis Khan, astride the largest horse sculpture in the world. Finish your drive to our host family in the park, just past the postcard-friendly Turtle Rock, and settle into this luscious valley for the evening.

In the morning you will take a short hike to a mountainside monastery just out of view of our host family’s gers, or traditional Mongolian tent. You’ll quickly get used to your life in gers, as they’ll be our main form of accommodation throughout the trip. From there you have an unobstructed view of Turtle Rock valley, which you can explore this afternoon, or scour the forest floor for wild strawberries, and get the feel for relaxed rural Mongolian life.

This morning, embark on a river rafting adventure. This relaxed rafting trip winds through the park’s areas that are inaccessible on foot. Spend time after dinner chatting with your host family and learning about their lives, ambitions, and the visitors they see from all over the world.

Take a short drive back to Ulaanbaatar for a hot shower and relaxing lunch. Most of the rest of today will be spent preparing for your trip out to the wilds of Mongolia, starting tomorrow. Enjoy a last Western meal before diving into the local culture of our host village, Sogoog.

Take a short internal flight to Ulgii, the capital of Mongolia’s northwestern province Bayan-Ulgii. Considered by many to be Mongolia’s “Wild West,” this is the historical home of Mongolia’s Kazakh ethnic minority, and has a landscape as stark as it is beautiful. Meet our service partners and important members of the small village of Sogoog. Orient yourself to your service project for the upcoming days, but most importantly, come to understand the peerless formal hospitality of Kazakh culture.

Engage with a locally run NGO to carry out service projects designed in consultation with herding families, village elders and small towns in the region. Though projects may vary based on current needs, you will likely help organize a summer camp for children of local nomadic families, for them to practice their English, improve summer knowledge retention, and possibly teach them about dental hygiene, a rarity in nomadic cultures until our partner NGO began an education program. You may also help provide nourishing vegetables by volunteering in the local town’s “Green Project” gardens, an effort to provide a more balanced diet to the typcal meat-and-dairy heavy diet of the nomads.

In the afternoons and evenings, you will be able to fully immerse in the local culture! Ride camels and hold a Golden Eagle from the world’s last remaining Eagle Hunters. Learn how to sew traditional Kazakh handicrafts, and partake in nomadic dances to the tune of the dombor, a traditional Kazakh instrument. You will play fun competitive games with our hosts, and feel truly welcomed by this generous community.

Say goodbye to your host village as we drive to the entrance to the Altai Tavan Bogd mountain range – Mongolia’s highest peaks, in one of the most remote areas on the planet. Along the drive, you will visit the famous petroglyphs – rock drawings from the Bronze Age that evoke a sense of wonder and timelessness. Basing ourselves at the park’s entrance, we’ll take day hikes through the area, famed for stunningly green alpine lakes, a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and the area’s milky river, called the Tsaagan Gol, which aptly translates to “white river”.

We’ll be camping at the figurative “end of the world” – the actual point on earth farthest from any ocean. Along our hikes, expect to be faced with some of the most stunning views you may ever see as the mountains’ massive grey glacier melts into bright blue lakes which trickle into a mineral-rich river which feeds into fertile green valleys below.

Reconvene in Sogoog to attend a closing ceremony hosted by your village hosts, and reflect on your service projects from the previous week. Say goodbye to the friends you’ll undoubtedly have made here, and enjoy a celebratory final meal with our service partners.

In the morning, make the two-hour return drive to Ulgii and hop back on the plane to Ulaanbaatar. The hustle and bustle of the city may surprise you after your time in the remote west, so relax, reflect, and enjoy the luxuries that city life affords like electricity, hot showers, and flushing toilets.

Today is your last full day in Mongolia! Today is your day to visit Ulaanbaatar’s best souvenir shops to take care of your friends and family back home. Mongolia’s most famous export is cashmere, loomed from the wool of the copious amount of goats found in the region. Find a nice scarf for mom or gloves for dad or just enjoy learning the process that brings cashmere from the goat to the coat. Enjoy a sumptuous final dinner, and take part in a ceremonial closing activity that will change the way you look at yourself, your journey, and your newfound friends.

After an early breakfast, it’s time to say goodbye and continue on to your next adventure. Your memories from Mongolia will last a lifetime!