12 ULSTER TO ULAANBAATAR


With a unique riverside location, Marriott’s four-star AC Hotel Belfast is a breath of fresh air for city staycations. Enjoy easy parking, design-led interiors, comfy beds, iconic views, outside terrace and destination restaurant. The hotel is bathed in natural light by day and by night enjoys the buzz of “Novelli at City Quays” for an evening of good company and great food. Stay must be pre-booked and dates are subject to availability.


Travel News


Mongolia – Land of the Eternal Blue Sky


Mongolia including the renowned Gobi Desert that straddles the border with China. Whether travelling independently or as part of a small group, in common with all tours of Mongolia, the price paid typically includes hire of a four wheel drive vehicle along with a driver, an English speaking guide and all food and accomodation. In the latter case, travellers will often find themselves staying each night in a ger frequently alongside a local nomadic family. For the uninitiated , a ger is a large portable white tent, circular in structure and with a wooden frame that nomadic families live in whilst moving with their herds of cashmere goats, sheep and horses across different seasonal pastures. Often families will have several gers, with at least one comfortably furnished and well heated for use by visitors. Typical food


served


You can now vote for the Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year 2022


In what has been a whirlwind two years for the travel


industry, there has never been more demand for a travel agent.


Those who have been there for their clients throughout the


When selecting your choice, it is important to take into considerations the proactive support you received from your travel agent during this period.


And now, with 2022 bringing the reintroduction of demand travel, the agents that have worked efficiently and effectively to get travellers back on their holidays.


last year to sort out rebooking, refunds and all the complex enquiries relating to all forms of travel across all sectors of the industry deserve to be recognised.


The travel agent has given this service under the pressure of staff on furlough and the lack of clarity from government on the changes to travel restrictions. The travel agent has also had to work with the extreme demand pressures placed no airlines in recent months.


There has never been a better time to recognise your travel agent’s quality of service and the reassurance they bring you as a client.


All types of retail agency will be considered for the award, whether single, multi-branch, independent and individual shops of UK multiples or home workers.


The agency should be judged by its performance and service to clients in the period October 2021 – September 2022.


By submitting your nomination for Northern ireland travel agent of the Year 2022, you will be entered into the prize draw to win an overnight stay for two in a king bedroom including breakfast at AC Hotel Belfast.


Nominations close on September 23, 2022


The remarkable country of Mongolia is once again set to become an increasingly popular destination for the adventurous traveller and eco tourist following the lifting of all remaining Covid 19 travel restrictions several months ago. Richard Holmes takes us to visit the country...


S


ITUATED between Russia and China and with a land area almost seven times that of the British Isles, Mongolia has a unique heritage and culture stretching back over the past eight hundred years to the height of the Mongol Empire under the rule of the mighty Chinggis Khan.


Visitors are drawn to Mongolia not only by this unique culture but also the tremendous diversity of the Mongolian landscape which ranges from Swiss style high mountains and lakes through to the arid expanses of the Gobi Desert. These contrasts also extend to the striking differences evident between the countryside and Mongolia’s ever increasingly modern capital city, Ulaanbaatar.


Attractively surrounded by mountains and seemingly endless rolling grasslands, Ulaanbaatar or “UB” as it is colloquially known, is a bustling modern metropolis that is home to roughly a third of Mongolia’s total population of just over three million people. Until 1990, Mongolia was the world’s second longest established communist state, with almost seven decades of Soviet influence still being clearly visible in the architecture of many of the city’s civic buildings and public spaces. Following Mongolia’s peaceful transition to democracy in the early 1990’s, the last three decades have witnessed Ulaanbaatar transform into a busy vibrant city where locals in everyday traditional dress can still be seen alongside the latest internet technology and an ever growing number of Western standard restaurants and hotels.


Centred on the sweeping open space of Sukhbaatar Square, Ulaanbaatar itself is home to a number of visitor attractions that are worthy of attention. Gandan Khiid Monastery, with its twenty six metre high Buddha statues is an impressive reflection of the importance of Buddhism in today’s modern Mongolian society. Of similarly epic proportions many of the world’s most significant dinosaur skeletons were discovered in Mongolia and these can now be viewed in a dedicated Dinosaur Museum, one of several significant museums in Ulaanbaatar. Whilst Ulaanbaatar is an essential starting point for


Nomination: ________________ Name: ____________________ Phone: ____________________ Email: ____________________


If you would like to receive updates via our email newsletter tick this box.


You can view our full Privacy Policy at nitravelnews.com Send to:


Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year 2022, NI Travel & Tourism Awards, Northern Ireland Travel News Unit 1, Windsor Business Park, 16-18 Lower Windsor Avenue, Belfast, BT9 7DW


any visit to Mongolia, it is the unique landscape and culture that justifiably attracts most travellers to the country. Tours of the Mongolian countryside, ranging from a single day to several weeks can be arranged either prior to departure from the UK or often more cost effectively in advance via email through a growing number of local tour operators based in Ulaanbaatar. Perhaps the most popular one day tour from the capital city is to the easily accessible Terelj National Park, which allows the visitor to sample the way of life in the countryside along with a visit to a huge stainless steel statue of Chinggis Khan on horseback. As the world’s largest equestrian statue standing at over 40 metres high, visitors can climb to the head of Chinggis Khan’s horse to be rewarded with panoramic views over the surrounding open countryside.


Based on my own experiences of travelling extensively throughout Mongolia, for the first time visitor I would especially recommend a visit to the southern regions of


includes buuz (steamed dumplings),


delicious organic yoghurt and the famous airag, fermented mares milk.


Travelling south from the capital city, conventional roads quickly disappear and the scenery is transformed into a series of vast flat grasslands punctuated by a succession of mountain ranges that hold much of Mongolia’s mineral wealth. Although these grassland steppes appear empty, with the exception of occasional gers along with their associated grazing animals, closer inspection reveals numerous small rodents scuttling to feed from the safety of their underground burrows. The availability of such a plentiful food source also ensures the presence large number of eagles, hawks and vultures making Mongolia a paradise for the bird watcher and wildlife enthusiast.


After several days travelling over the steppes, the approach of the Gobi is heralded by an increasingly arid landscape with the grasslands being replaced by a succession of dry stony plains and the first sight of grazing two humped Bactrican camels which are a common feature in the harsh landscape. Travelling through the Gobi region for several days my top recommended sights would include firstly Bayanzag, a series of flaming red cliffs on the edge of a shimmering desert wilderness that merges with the far distant horizon. It was in this remote location that Roy Chapman Andrews, an American adventurer believed to be the model for the later fictional character of Indiana Jones, discovered the world’s first dinosaur eggs in the 1920’s.


Less than a days drive away is Yol (Vulture) Valley,


a steep mountainous valley rich in wildlife and with a unique microclimate that allows sheets of ice to remain year round on the steep sides of the valley despite the incessant summer heat. Finally there are the Sahara like sand dunes of Khongor Els, which suddenly rise within the space of a few hundred metres from a surrounding grassy plain and stretch like a chain of bright yellow mountains into the endless distance.


Given the lengthy distances involved in travelling within Mongolia it takes at best two days by vehicle to reach the Gobi region proper, at least three days to gain a perspective of the region and a further two days to return to Ulaanbaatar by road. The return journey can be undertaken by a more lengthy westerly route, that allows the traveller to experience the more alpine scenery associated with this part of Mongolia. Highlights include the Orkhon waterfall, hidden in a deep gorge and the impressive remains of Erdene Zuu Monastery located at Karakorum. From a historical perspective this was the site of the ancient capital when Chinggis Khan established the Mongol Empire, the world’s largest ever single unitary state, that stretched from present day Poland and Hungary across the world to modern day Korea at its height in the late 13th century. From a practical viewpoint , most travellers choose to visit Mongolia between April and September, with visits in July being especially popular as this coincides with the annual Naadam festival, during which the three manly sports of wrestling, archery and horse racing can be viewed. Winters in Mongolia are however bitterly cold, with the daytime temperature in Ulaanbaatar plummeting to over minus twenty degrees centigrade or lower during the month of January, making this the coldest capital city in the world.


Although Mongolia is a popular stopover on the Moscow – Beijing rail route, air access from Europe typically involves changing planes in Moscow or Beijing. However my preference is to use Turkish Airlines from Dublin to Ulaanbaatar, which only requires a single connection through Istanbul with luggage also able to be checked through to Ulaanbaatar direct from Dublin. All travellers to Mongolia require a visa in advance, however a recent development now allows Irish passport holders to apply for an electronic visa online, rather than having to apply through the Embassy in London as is still the case with UK passport holders. Advice on this and all matters relating to travel and business opportunities in Mongolia can be obtained by contacting Richard Holmes (Honorary Consul of Mongolia) in the first instance by email at mongolia_ni @yahoo.co.uk.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56