Ice Festival Tour 2020 & Winter Holidays You are cordially invited to the Ice Festival in Mongolia of which the capital city of Ulaanbaatar is listed near the top among the most air-polluted cities in the world. Be prepared for survival! Here I give you reasons. Firstly, you will be very welcomed to the coldest capital on earth with a warm greeting oozing from thick smog as soon as you land on my motherland. / The peak months for air pollution are from December to February of winter / I am kindly reminding you dare not to forget your filtering mask and another thing is your winter warm hat if your pretty look deeply depends on your hair (I am serious because smoke makes our hair so shit smelly). Wearing the mask is a must till you check in to your hotel room in any case, we insist you like the World Health Organization. For citizens, we are already used to it so barely one in ten or many more wear the masks even during most tense hours. / The peak months for air pollution are from December to February of winter /

The city is the home to one of every two Mongolian but it is seen as normal that 30-min destination is finally reached after whole three hours trip through heavily congested road at peak hours like in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening, but not early in the morning and at midnight, fortunately. Or you will have a plenty of time to practice how to find your balance on the ice while you are wandering around the city on your foot before you drive out of city to Khovsgol province where a magnificent FROZEN winter is waiting for you. The choice is all yours.

Once you leave behind the kind of challenging city to see the Winter Wonder to the northernmost part of the country bordering Russia’s Siberia braving through freezing cold wind, it is highly recommended to listen to Mongolian traditional long-songs while your eyes are stuck through car windows admiring our almost empty vast steppes. Both eyes and ears enjoy simultaneously, then it definitely brings you a special cozy feeling inside and that’s how it feels like being a Mongolian, we promise. On the other hand, these are all therapeutic. Certainly, our busy brains are always on guard, but when we get into nature, it gets a break. Let me share with you one of shocking services offered in one of Asian countries. Recently, a new service center is opened for public. People visit there and choose a room then check in. Now it is time to release their hidden fury or stress by tossing items in the room with no worries at all. Once you regain your inner peace back, pay a bill for what items are broken then leave with a full of positive energy. This is a paid service but when in Mongolia, particularly while traveling across endless expanses of grassland, you just stop your car wherever you want and just shout out as loud as you can with same reason above, but it is totally free and eco-friendly. You should make the most of your travel. There are whole 12-14 hours long road trip ahead of you to your destination.

Anyway, the Ice Festival is a celebration for enjoying freezing cold season for locals. But our country has also been experiencing a global warming for last few years and it is anticipated to be warmer there than it is expected, but Mongolia is prone to unpredictable weather conditions like showing us how harsh the weather can be by falling degrees by 10C-15C shortly just within a day.

Whatever the degrees be, it is still winter chilly enough for travelers. Compared with the countries where the sky is seen clear only during 60-80 days in a year, we are lucky enough to enjoy around 260 sunny days with surely crystal-clear blue sky. It is also to be said the ice itself that will definitely fascinate you. Though clear, it has deep white cracks through it in six and eight sided facets, like large gems. A bonfire on the ice is another surprise. Burn through and melt the ice? Not a bit. This event was mostly taken part by locals, but it became so popular with more tourists in recent years. The festival earned the Best event of the Year-2019 from Mongolian Tourism Association during Mongolian Tourism Awards last month.

Lake Khovsgol, the Blue Pearl of Mongolia, completely freezes over and creates an extraordinary winter playground. If you are an adventure seeker, programs for this event won’t let you sit relaxed in a single minute and your curiosity never allows you to refuse from driving across the deepest lake in the world, or perhaps you consider yourself as more reserved one or observer like a someone who makes short notes or writes an article about interesting or peculiar about the celebration, a flurry of events for two days including horse sleight races, ice sumo, archery competitions, bone-throwing games, ice sculpture contest, and more-all taking place in the frigid cold on thick, slippery ice, certainly add their special tastes to your writing.

Content Writer : Enkhmandakh. S

Join us for our 20th  Annual Winter Ice Festival in Beauty Khuvsgul Lake! 🏂

Bundle up and join the FREE fun!

 Contact: info@travel2mongolia.com

 Phone:   976 99856789 (Travel expert Soyolo)