Exploring the Watershed of Mongolian History and Culture
Mongolia and Siberia have a lot in common, as the mighty Selenga River begins in Mongolia (one of its tributaries flows out of Lake Khovsgol) turns northward crosses the Mongolia-Russia border (or, more accurately, the border crosses the river) and into Lake Baikal. Along with the waters of the river flowed culture and history. The Buryats, the citizens of the Republic of Buryatia, are Mongols and share with their southern kinfolk a layer of language, shamanism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Soviet Communism. They both slid out from beneath communist collectivization in 1991, and both are re-discovering their roots as well as trying to forge their own futures. This is a remarkable time to visit these two special places as they negotiate the transition into the 21st century.
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| Map of the Selenge River watershed. All these rivers shown eventually find their way to Lake Baikal. It makes more sense without the political boundaries. |
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| There's no itinerary like this available anywhere. And, you'll have preparation and guidance like no other. Because we will connect all this with California. |
A Once-in-a-Lifetime Lydon Adventure Background to the Itinerary
Back in 2007, Annie and I stood on a mountain above our ger camp on Lake Khovsgol's western shore. We could see the jagged mountains to the north and realized that just beyond them lay Lake Baikal and Siberia. We had already fallen in love with Mongolia, and had fond memories of leading a 1986 adventure to Lake Baikal. We began working on building an itinerary that included them both.
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| Annie and Sandy with Lake Khovsgol in the background and Siberia just beyond. This trip was born on that August afternoon in 2007. Took a while to figure it out. |
1) No travel on Russian airlines. It's nothing personal, and probably based on stereotypes. Whatever. We wish to avoid Russian airlines whatever their names.
2)The most direct flights from SFO to Mongolia and out of Siberia. No overnights in Beijing, or wherever. We needed SFO to UB and then Irkutsk back to SFO.
3)The best weather . Slip the itinerary into the best weather window for that region - mid-August to mid-September.
4) Railroad segments. Must include short segments on the two iconic railroads -- the Trans-Mongolian and the Trans-Siberian.
Our travel gurus – Wendy Simon, from Pacific Harbor Travel in Santa Cruz, and Hima Singh, owner of Asian Pacific Adventures -- were able to locate an airline that would satisfy those conditions. And then we designed an itinerary that enabled us to include everything we wanted the group to experience.
This is a customized itinerary. You will not find it offered anywhere else. And we love it.
Korean Air - Our international airline into UlaanBaatar and out of Irkutsk is Korean Air, South Korea's flagship carrier. We have flown Korean many times over the years, and they are a great airline. The fact that Korean flies into and out of this part of the world reflects some of the economic pathways in the 21st century. Koreans are doing business in Mongolia and Siberia.
Our Tentative Itinerary Always tentative. We advise all of our groups that they must be flexible. We never know what surprises might emerge when we're out there. The itinerary has a lot of flex within it, but those two anchor flights on Korean are solid. At least for now.
Going Over -- SFO to UlaanBatar - Thurs., August 21 The Flight:
* KE #24 – Departs 2:00 PM – Arrives Seoul 6:15 PM (next day)
Duration of flight: 12 hours 15 minutes. Lay-Over – 1 hour 40 minutes.
* Flight KE 867 - Depart Seoul – 7:55 PM – Arrive Ulaan Baatar 10:30 PM (next day)
Duration of flight: 2 hours 30 minutes.
Day #1 - Thu. August 21 - Depart SFO - 2:00 PM - Arrive UlaanBaatar 10:30 PM Fri., August 22. Check into our lovely hotel -- c. 11:30 PM - and collapse. (Nothing scheduled until after noon the next day. Time to sleep.)
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| Ulaanbaatar, looking north into the city from the Zaisan War Memorial that overlooks the city. That's the Buddha Park in the middle distance, with its 50 foot-tall statue of Sakyamuni. 33% of the 3,200,000 total population of Mongolia live in Ulaanbaatar. Usual short-hand used is "UB." |
UB Hotel: Best Western Tuushin Hotel – One of the best centrally-located Hotels in UB. Very cushy. It will be out homebase in Mongolia and we'll be staying 4 nights there.
Day #2 - Fri. August 22 - Arrive and collapse. - Tuushin Hotel
Day #3 - Sat. August 23 - Afternoon sightseeing, evening banquet and show. (This is a GREAT cultural show -- we're always careful about these instituions, but this one is wonderful.)
Day #4 - Sun. August 24 -- Westward Ho! UB to Bayangobi We will begin a four-night, two-stop adventure out into the Mongolian countryside. We'll stop at the Hustai National Park for Lunch, visit the Takhi wild horse exhibit, and then continue on to Bayangobi. We've stayed here before. It is a magical landscsape of mountains, steppe and sand dunes. This will be our first night staying in a ger camp.
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| The gate to the Bayangobi ger camp where we'll be spending several days exploring the sand dunes, and beautiful countryside. Camels. Horses. Fun! |
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| Bayangobi camel boy. He and his camel are just waiting to whisk you away -- well, glide you away. Camels don't whisk. |
Day #5 - Mon. August 25 - Bayangobi - More exploring, hiking, camels, horses. Second ger night.
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| Horses. Everywhere. They have the right-of-way. |
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| Bayangobi dining room. Cozy. With a small bar. |
Day #6 – Tue. Aug 26 – Drive Bayangobi to Karakorum – Drive to the Orkhon Valley and the center of Chingiss Khan’s power. Erdene Zhu Monastery. First night at ger near Karakorum
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| The walls of Erdene Zhu. Karakorum, the Mongol capital was nearby and from here the Mongols ruled the world. We will tarry here awhile. |
Day #7 – Wed. Aug 27 – Karakorum – Exploring in area and special regional Naadam. Second night at Karakorum ger
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| The Valley of the Orkhon River, the center of Mongol power. This river flows to the Selenge and eventually to Baikal. |
Day #8 - Thur. Aug 28 – Drive back to UB – we will be exploring along the way.check back in to Best Western Tuushin Hotel
Day #9 – Fri. Aug 29 – UB to Lake Khovsgol – We will fly from UB to the town of Moron midday, drive to Hatgal and the shore of the lake. We will then board a ferry northward up the Lake to our ger camp on the western shore of the lake. First of 3 nights in ger beside Lake Khovsgol
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| The western shore of Lake Khovsgol where we will spend three days in our ger camp. |
Days #10 & #11 – Sat. Aug 30/Sun.Aug 31 – Khovsgol Exploring alongside the lake. Optional kayaking and fishing possible. There is nothing more splendid than watching the sun rise over the lake.
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| Our Lake Khovsgol ger camp. |
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| One of our 2007 group members going for a swim in Lake Khovsgol early in the morning. That's a sunrise in the distance. The water is quite cold. |
Day #12 – Mon. Sept 1 – Khovsgol to Moron to UB – We will drive back to Moron and board our midday flight back to UB. We will have a last opportunity to shop for Mongolian stuff before a Farewell to Mongolia banquet. One last night in the Tuushin.
Day #13 – Tue. Sept 2 – UB to Siberia on the Trans-Mongolian Railroad – We will Board the Trans-Mongolian Railroad in early afternoon for the overnight trip Northward to Ulan Ude. First class cabins – 2 persons to a berth. Overnight Crossing into Russia before arriving in Ulan Ude at 7:30 AM. Overnight on the train..
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| Trans-Mongolian Railroad headed north from UlaanBaator We will take this train overnight to Ulan Ude. |
Day #14 – Wed. Sept 3 – Ulan Ude – We will arrive early in the morning in the capital city of Buryatia. Our hotel is the Baikal Plaza hotel, and after checking in we’ll spend the afternoon exploring Ulan Ude. Our hotel is directly across the square from the world’s largest Lenin’s Head.
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| Lenin will be staring at us the entire stay in Ulan Ude. A constant reminder of Buryatia's history. |
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| Ivolginsky Buddhist temple one of the historic and present-day centers of Buddhism in Siberia. |
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| There is also an Old Believers village nearby that we will visit. |
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| Sliding along the south shore of Lake Baikal. The sibling of Lake Khovsgol which we camped beside in Mongolia. Before they cut this railroad into the southern shore of the lake, they crossed it with ferries, and then drove over the lake when it froze in the winter. |
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| Irkutsk's Railway Station, one of the main stops on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. We will arrive here in the evening. |
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| The architecture in the older sections of Irkutsk reflects the European Russian sensibilities glued onto Siberian log cabin design. |
Day #20 - Tues. Sept. 9 –
KE#984 – Departs Irkutsk at
3:15 AM – Arrives Seoul at 6:55 AM
Duration of flight: 3 hours 30 minutes
Duration of flight: 3 hours 30 minutes
Lay-Over – 12 hours – We
will have some hotel rooms available for those who want to sleep after that
wicked night. Others may wish to take a
trip into Seoul.
KE #23 – Departs Seoul at 5:30 PM and Arrives SFO 12:35 PM – Tue. Sept
9.
Duration of flight: 11 hours 5
minutes
By the time we go through Customs in SFO, we will have sucked all the life out of the day of September 9. In fact, following our midnight check-in at Irkutsk airport on September 9, our Sept. 9th will already be 29 hours old when we stagger out of the airport. And there's still 11 hours left!
By the time we go through Customs in SFO, we will have sucked all the life out of the day of September 9. In fact, following our midnight check-in at Irkutsk airport on September 9, our Sept. 9th will already be 29 hours old when we stagger out of the airport. And there's still 11 hours left!
