On the road: dramatic landscapes
The western frontier town of Ölgii is little more than a stepping stone to the area's real attraction – the landscape fringed by distant snow-capped mountains. The vast steppes and great distances in Mongolia make road trips mandatory. Bumping over rutted dirt trails across open plains and ploughing through mud-soaked river valleys is part of the adventure leading to Tavan Bogd. Driving a Furgon, a Russian ex-military jeep, is a popular choice especially when grunt overrides grace.The road from Ölgii passes through small villages with brightly coloured rooftops, past wandering camels and grazing livestock, and across miles of pristine wilderness. Scattered across the landscape are ‘deer stones’, upright stone slabs engraved with flying deer or other stylistic symbols. These Bronze Age megaliths are believed to mark ritual or burial sites.
