May the universe bring endless blessings and moments of magic 🦄 to you and your loved ones in the week ahead. 🙏
I discovered in writing my weekly blogs that most of the online resources/references for Mongolian historical sites and/or places of interest are drafted by tour companies/operators. This is the first country I've visited where the business people have owned this type of information. Interesting approach that has the potential to be self-serving. Just advising anyone traveling to Mongolia should keep this in mind, unlike me, when planning a visit.
Travel Maps
The tour finished up on Monday afternoon with a lavish buffet lunch at the Novotel Hotel. I stayed in an apartment, located about a 15 minute walk from the Central Square, for my last four nights in Mongolia. I was on a four hour flight from Ulaanbaatar to Almaty, Kazakhstan on Saturday morning. After a few hours in Almaty, I was on the overnight train from Almaty to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Mongolia:
June 28 to July 18, 2026Intercountry Travel: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Almaty, Kazakhstaon - July 18
Kazakhstan: July 18, 2026
Factoid: One of the three largest Buddhist monastic centers in Mongolia.
I had take advantage of my big chance to visit the last monastery on our tour. The fact our ger camp lacked wifi/lack of network connectivity on my phone also weighed in on my decision to join the expedition. The monastery did have a beautiful interior as I hope the photos below reveal.
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| Approaching monastery |
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Opposite side of this wall is where the
universe works its blessings! |
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People on the right are walking, eyes closed, in the
above photos. Gathering positive energy! Blessings!
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| Temple gift shop |
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| Cows and horses were also visiting monastery |
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| Main monastery |
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| Monastery interior |
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| Monastery wall |
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| Recently built stupa on hill overlooking monastery |
Final Group Lunch
We had a magnificent buffet lunch at the swishy Novotel Hotel to wrap up the tour. Fabulous food of all types along with amazing desserts. While I'm grateful for all the wonderful food, I'm equally perplexed about the purpose of such a lavish lunch! I think the money would have been better appreciated in hosting us in better ger camps. Yes, this is me editorializing about my tour. As you can see, I continue struggling with letting go! 🤪
Ulaanbaatar
I'm sharing a few city photos as a way to share that the sections of Ulaanbaatar that I visited/stayed was both modern and relatively clean. The city has a bus system I missed out on so I'm unable to account for its effectiveness. Everyone driving on the road (correct side of the road) had a late model vehicle with the total absence of tuk-tuks. Many vehicles, like our tour company vans, were right hand drive which made it a challenge for the drivers to readily see if it was safe to pass. Lots of great shops to find the most recent goods including cashmere which Mongolia is famous for.
I was fortunate to find a new waterproof rain jacket to replace the jacket I gave to Greg. This jacket is a step up from my previous rain resistant jacket. I was blessed to find the jacket on a second shopping expedition as I made a fortuitous decision to go down a passageway that I initially was going to skip. Great way to spend the excess cash I had before leaving the country.
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| Display near my apartment - Fancy camel! |
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| Love the flowers! |
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Mid week traffic - National weeklong holiday
means far less vehicles on the road |
Apartment Drama
I spent my last four nights in a spacious studio apartment within easy walking distance of everything I was interested in. Big bonus was the proximity to an E-mart (great South Korean store with groceries, clothing, home goods and more).
My little drama was the rust colored water that appeared with the hot water. Yes, there is rust in the hot water pipes of this relatively new business apartment building. Solution - let the hot water run until the water clears. That's a very painful solution. Wasting so much water when there is lack of freshwater on the planet. Plus, the memories of my parents always are revived when I encounter situations where waste is involved (turn off the lights when you leave the room, close that refrigerator door...).
Flora
We had a bio/stretch break on the way to the Amarbayasgalant Monastery which happened to be next to a field of wildflowers. What an unexpected blesssing to be surrounded by so much beauty in one small area. Enjoy the universe's creations.
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My favorite. Looking skyward from under
this flower! |
Sunsets
My apartment faced the western sky blessing me with the gift of witnessing the sun set for three of the four nights.
July 15
July 16
I loved the dramatic colors on this amazing cloud formation.
July 17
Enroute to Kazakhstan
We were blessed with relatively clear skies throughout our flight from Ulaanbaatar to Almaty.
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| Goodbye Mongolia |
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| Flying west over Mongolia |
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| Somewhere in western PRC |
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| Somewhere over western PRC |
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| Western Kazakhstan |
Kazakhstan
Approaching Almaty
Kazakhstan did its best to greet me with breathtaking vistas as we approached Almaty. I learned in the moment how an immense mountain range was on the city's border. Instant memories of Banff and Lake Louise communities (Alberta, Canada) which are nestled in the Canadian Rockies (albeit the Canadian communities have significantly fewer people!)
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| Almaty |
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Love the snow capped mountains in the
background! |
Almaty
What's life without a little drama, right?! I had my first eSim malfunction while I trying to connect my phone to the Beeline network. Darn thing refused to jump onto the network. My second issue was my inability to get the free airport wifi to work properly. Thank goodness the immigration agent was satisfied with my word that I was leaving the country that evening. It would have been a challenge to show him my train ticket cuz of the wifi issue.
Note to self - remember to download any travel documentation that may be required to clear immigration.
I was staying in the airport until I resolved my sim card issue. Hard to believe how vulnerable I felt without access to Google Maps that I needed in taking the bus. How would I know where to get off the bus?
My eSim solution was simple. Purchase a physical sim card from the same network provider my eSim was issued by. I ended up with a local phone number, 30 days of unlimited data, texts and calls for less than $18 Cdn.
The woman at the airport information kiosk was kind enough to share the bus directions (in Kazakh) from her phone (which I failed to get a clear image of).
Google Maps became unnecessary as soon as I boarded the bus. Fellow passengers overheard my convo with the driver about where I wanted to go and took me 'under their wing' to ensure I got off at the right stop. In fact, a young woman and her mother alerted me to get off at the next stop as they were alighting the bus. I'm grateful for the continuing kindness and thoughtfulness I am surrounded by during my travels.
I was also gifted an apple by a woman and her two young girls I had the blessing of speaking with in the train station.
My additional blessing at the day's end was having a two person sleeper compartment to my self for the 18 hour train ride (allot 2.5 hours for crossing the two borders) to Tashkent.
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| Airport greeting! |
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| Bus directions (in Kazakh) to train station |
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| Almaty 2 Train Station |
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| My first (and most delicious) meal in Kazakhstan! |
Friends
The universe was benevolent during the week which the chance to photograph willing Mongolians dressed in their traditional dress. I was getting a touch closer to having additional contact with 'real' Mongolians.
Amazing Mongolians
I snapped the following two photos while visiting the monastery. There were several people/families in traditional dress for their monastery visit. I was bless with their willingness for me to take their photos.
The little boy was in constant motion so it took great patience and time to get his photo. This photo was taken by sheer chance as I was leaving the monastery. I had spotted the boy earlier, however I had given up on taking his photo because of his frenetic activity level. Even when I had this photo opp, he needed to be drinking when I took the photo. His grandfather (my assumption) was much more settled and content to be in the photo.
Blessed Moment
I had the most touching moment of my travels during my Ulaanbaatar stay. I had three t-shirts I wanted to donate as they were unused during my travels. I found a local Christian church near my apartment through Google Maps. Well, the church I found was located on the third floor of a building that was monitored by a non-English speaking security guard. I explained what I wanted to the security guard, with the help of Google Translate. What transpired next was miraculous.
The security guard took me outside the building towards the first car in the photo below. It was the pastor's car which had his phone number on the dash. My newest friend phoned the pastor on my behalf, motioning me to wait for the pastor to arrive. My friend then brought out a pad that I could sit on while waiting on the steps. He also spent a few minutes with me testing his English including the mutual sharing of our ages.
The pastor and his partner arrived in a few minutes. They were curious (overjoyed, perhaps) how I found their church and were taken back by my donation. How blessed was I that the partner spoke English which made this conversation possible. After the couple took my donation, the pastor wanted a few more moments to say a prayer for me. The three of us joined hands where we were standing in front of the building with the pastor sharing the most kind and thoughtful words to thank me and to keep me safe in my travels (his wife was translating as he spoke). What a most extraordinary moment in my life! Timing was impeccable. I believe the three of us departed company both moved and somewhat changed (for the better) by our short time together.
I realized as I started heading back to my apartment I lacked a memory pic with the man who cared enough to make all this happen. I returned to the front desk to ask for a joint selfie which the security guard, my newest guardian angel, was happy to take.
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Church is on 3rd floor of this building.
We met/spoke on the front steps. |
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| My guardian angel |
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| My blessed friends 🙏 |
Next Week
One week - three countries. My master plan is to take the scenic route through the Fergana Valley to reach Osh by July 22 to meet up with Jane.
I'm on Saturday's overnight train from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I have two nights in Tashkent, then I'm on the train to Andijan, Uzbekistan, near the Kyrgyzstan border for one night. On Wednesday, I take a bus from Andijan to the border, walk across the border, exchange some money and hop onto a local bus/taxi for the 8km/5mi ride to my new home for three nights in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
BTW - I have an early sense that I'm going to enjoy visiting the Stans. 👍
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