Back to home base from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – 31 May 2026

The tour of Mongolia was over, and it was time to return to India. In many ways Mongolia was a revelation. The country, roughly oval in shape, measuring 2,392 km from west to east and, at its maximum, 1,259 km from north to south, is about one-third the land size of India. Another comparison is that Mongolia’s land area is roughly equivalent to that of the countries of western and central Europe and lies in a similar latitude range. The landlocked country has Russia to the north and China to the south.

The country has long cold winters and short cool-to-hot summers. Mostly covered by steppes, mountains to its north and the Gobi Desert to its south, the country has very little arable land. Even today more than 30% of the population is nomadic or partly nomadic. The predominant religion in Mongolia is Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of Mongol ethnicity, with Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities residing in the western part of the country.

Historically the foundation of the Mongolian economy, the sector that contributes a large portion of local employment, is agriculture and herding. But it is highly susceptible to extreme climate events. Mining of copper, coal and gold now dominates the GDP landscape, with China being it's major export market. Mongolia is heavily dependent on Russia for its energy needs.

The Mongolian currency is the Tugrik or MNT. The currency denominations range from 50 to 20,000 and I saw no coins in circulation. I didn't see any evidence of the 10 and 20 MNT currency either, possibly because of its insignificant value.

The city centre of Ulaanbaatar is modern with architecturally significant buildings, six lane roads, modern shops, a large square and a teeming population. Of the 3.5 million population, close to 1.7 million live in and around the city. This creates disproportionate demands on public transportation and individual vehicles. The city traffic is a nightmare and the country's administration is in the process of getting a metro system in place as quickly as it can.

While many buildings in the city centre are modern there are also renovated Soviet style apartments. I stayed on the 4th floor of one such complex with no elevator. It was indeed a torture to deposit and retrieve the luggage at the time of check-in and check-out. In fact, on the day of my departure I got locked out of my apartment as I had left the keys in the apartment and come down with part of my luggage. Fortunately, the girl who took care of the apartment sent someone with a spare key and saved my day.

The driver who had been tasked with my airport transfers and taking me around on two days turned out to be a gem. The ever smiling and polite Daagii was the best guide I could have hoped for in Ulaanbaatar. He was deputed by Enkhbold of 'My Mongolia Travel Airport Transfers'. I had had a long chat with Enkhbold before I started confirmed the booking with him.

The services of the company and both Enkhbold and Daagii were superlative. I would certainly recommend My Mongolia Travel for those who seek airport transfer and local travel in Ulaanbaatar.

Daagii dropped me at the airport with more than an hour left for the check-in counters to open. Once they did, I checked my luggage in through to Delhi via Beijing. I had time on my hands and some local currency in my wallet. Picked up some goodies for my grandchildren, had a cup of coffee and spent the balance on yet another fridge magnet.

Mercifully, the Air China flight to Beijing was announced. Else I would have enriched Mongolia's economy some more! The two-hour flight was on time and I had enough time to get to the gate for the flight to Ahmedabad. In the little time that I had I walked around admiring the interiors of the airport, checked out souvenirs and ended up with a gelato.

The food on both the Air China flights was adequate and the staff were quite courteous and attentive. While the flight landed in Ahmedabad almost in time, the baggage carousel took its time fetching my luggage. I was among the last to get the luggage, over 45 minutes after the flight landed. I was back in home based. The car was waiting to take me to my home in Gandhidham, a five-hour drive away from Ahmedabad.