Introduction
While Ulaanbaatar isn't the most attractive city architecturally, the friendliness of its people helps to make the Mongolian capital a pleasurable place to spend a few days visiting its sites before heading out into the wild landscapes.
Investment from global mining companies and other conglomerates has turned this once-sleepy backwater into a modern city with great hopes for the future.
Highlights include the Museum of Natural History, with its fine collection of dinosaur skeletons from the Gobi Desert, the atmospheric Gandan monastery, the largest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, and the Choijin Lama Temple.
