This week’s dream: Mongolia’s underrated capital

International travelers who land in the city of Ulan Bator “tend to leave as soon as they can,” said Josh Weil in The New York Times. I can’t argue that they’re wrong: The great wonders of Mongolia lie in the immense expanse beyond its largest metropolis. The birthplace of Genghis Khan is, after all, the world’s least densely populated nation, “a land where, in the vast sweep of endless steppes, you can lose yourself in quietude.” Fully half the country’s population of 3 million, meanwhile, lives in and around Ulan Bator, many inhabiting a great ring of gers, or canvas yurts, that encircles the city’s “clamorous” concrete core. But there’s a new world being born in this “rough and roiling” north-central Asian capital. After I’d roamed Mongolia’s wilds for three weeks, I felt I owed it a second look.

My stomach soon became my guide. Even the fast-food franchises in Ulan Bator represent “a way to get close to the culture.” When I snarfed down the mutton dumplings and salty milk tea served at chains like Khaan Buuz, I was consuming the same fuel as the yurt-dwellers who’ve been drawn to the city by the nation’s current boom in copper, gold, and coal mining. Far better meals awaited me, though, at a North Korean restaurant tucked inside the Culture Palace and at a tranquil restaurant named after an Indian tribe that followed Genghis Khan’s army to these parts eight centuries ago. A culture built by conquest was beginning to taste more fittingly cosmopolitan.

Caught up in that spirit, I visited a museum to view its holding of works by Zanabazar, Mongolia’s greatest artist. I also soaked in some “air-rattling throat-singing,” courtesy of the Mon-go-lian National Song and Dance Ensemble. One day, I simply walked from the city’s center through its ger slums until I was standing in a cemetery whose headstones were adorned with blue ribbons. Looking back at the city, I could see a new glass-walled hotel tower, the Blue Sky, that invokes the same spiritual tradition. In the Land of the Eternal Blue Sky, past and future are aligning.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

At Nassan’s Guesthouse (nassantours.com), rooms that sleep four start at $30 a night.