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Mongolia Least densely populated country

author
Johan Kruseman
Updated on 5 October 2024


Mongolia! The least densely populated country in the world, sandwiched between the two largest non-Western countries on Earth, always had an indescribable allure for me. Hard to say why. Was it the Donald Duck-like name of the capital city, the fact that it’s the complete opposite of my own country in terms of population density (outside the capital, 1.5 million people live in an area stretching from Nijmegen to Russia and from Breda to Spain), or the images of vast plains filled with constantly galloping horses?

No idea, but now the moment had finally arrived when I actually landed in Ulaanbaatar, with a relative jetlag (according to my iPhone) of only two hours compared to Kyrgyzstan, only to find out a day later that my jetlag was actually an hour extra because Mongolia, for unknown reasons to me and Apple, follows Japan’s time zone.

 


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Traveled route: Ulaanbaatar, Kharkhorin, Hatgal, Khorgo, Tstetserleg, Red Waterfall, Zamiin-Uud
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After landing and the joy of seeing that your debit card can convert a PIN code into a stack of local currency in this country, the taxi mafia comes into play. But I can proudly say that, thanks to a short side note in the Lonely Planet, I managed to

Mongolia

Did this story inspire you to go to Mongolia? Read more on what Mongolia has to offer, what the best months are for visiting and check the handy links for backpacking there.
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