Ulaanbaatar - Day 3

After sticking to downtown and roaming the north, today was a trip to the southern side of the city. Zaizan is a new district with modern apartment buildings and where locals strive to now live. There's no evident of Soviet influence here, and they're even building right into the mountains to accommodate the expanding city.

We climbed Zaizan Hill for a view the city. Don't worry, an escalator does take care of a good chunk of the trek. What a view to see the city stretched west to east. Power plants pillow smoke in the west and behind us we could hear the sounds of mining. This was definitely my favorite part of the day to see the city from another angle as well as get a glimpse of the city today.

Next up, the Bogd Khan Palace Museum which also housed a winter palace. After being unsuccessful for cabs, we ended up just walking there. It wasn't too far and the weather was nice. The grounds aren't crowded and we were able to check out some art in 2 of the temples for heading to the palace itself to see artifacts from the king's life.

Another walk had us at the National History Museum where each hall takes you progressively from the Bronze Age to modern day Mongolia. It's quite the journey through history in its exhibits and displays.

For lunch, we went to a coffee shop run by the Down Syndrome Association of Mongolia. The shop was intended to train and develop skills for those with Down. Originally opened with the support of the Polish government, it now also has the support of the Planeterra Foundation from G Adventures.

A low-key afternoon before venturing back to Modern Nomads for dinner. Tomorrow, we are off to the Gobi!Read more