Mongolia: The Land Of The Great Genghis Khan!

How often do you hear someone planning a hiking trip to Mongolia during their summer break?

- Bishworanjan Das

These mysterious lands have attracted explorers for decades, but still very little is known to the outside world. Be it the sacred tomb & burial ground of the Great Genghis Khan or the Shaman traditions. The government and the loyalists of Genghis Khan have sworn to protect their sacred lands and traditions. You could be shot for venturing into their scared lands without permission. Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia and the Gobi desert are gaining popularity but most of this country remains unexplored by outsiders.

During one of my backpacking trips to Vietnam, I met some hikers who couldn’t stop talking about this great country of Mongols. Until now, I had only heard about this destination in history books. We talked about places to visit, safety and other basic stuff over a few mock tails at our Hostel’s bar. Who knew that the Chinese built a massive wall on the steepest mountain ranges to protect themselves from the mighty Mongols, this is how the ‘Great wall of China’ came into existence.

After returning from Vietnam, I immediately began planning for my next journey – of course to Mongolia! The problem with such less travelled destinations is the availability of information online. It took me sometime to research and figure out all possible options for traveling from the UAE to Mongolia. My research took more time as I didn’t want to just visit the capital city or the Gobi Desert which is a bit touristy now. During my research I found out about ‘Tavan Bogdh National Park’ in the Altai Mountain ranges, home to several high peaks and glaciers. That’s where I wanted to go! The western region lies close to the Kazakhstan boarder & Russian Siberia and has an entirely different culture from the central Mongolia.