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Overview of the town

In 1932, Prime Minister Genden visited and proposed creating an administrative region for Kazakhs who live while preserving their traditional culture. Bayan-Ulgii Province was established in August 1940. Though very dry in the Altai Mountains, the water-rich Khovd River flows through the city.

Getting around Ulgii

Mud walls and houses of dried brick are scattered about, and most people in town are Kazakhs, with distinctive clothing. At the zakh (market) in particular you will see many goods not seen elsewhere in Mongolia. In Kazakh it is called a bazaar. The museum, bazaar, souvenir shops, mosque and restaurants are grouped near the provincial office.

Bayan-Ulgii Provincial Museum (Баян-Өлгий аймгийн музей)

To learn about the Kazakh people. The first floor exhibits animals, plants and underground resources, the second floor history, and the third floor folk materials such as Kazakh and Uriankhai costumes, household tools and musical instruments. You can see the cultural differences between Mongol and Kazakh nomads at a glance, and the displays of the traditional Kazakh ui (house in Kazakh is "ui") and ger are well worth seeing.

Mosque (Лальн сум)

A sacred place standing amid the bustle. The most active mosque in Ulgii, it also played a central role in the temple revival movement right after the collapse of socialism. Remove your hat and shoes at the entrance. Women are encouraged to cover as much skin as possible when visiting. An Islamic school stands on the grounds.

Tsambagarav Mountain (Цамбагарав уул)

A 4,165 m mountain on the border of Bayan-Ulgii and Khovd provinces, holding permanent snow. Local people once called it "Tsast (snowy) Mountain," but after a Buddha statue made to match the color of the mountain was named "Tsambagarav," it came to be called Tsambagarav Mountain. People look up at this mountain and are forbidden to touch the nuts, grasses and flowers that grow on it. It was designated a national nature reserve in 2000.

Tsengel Khairkhan Mountain (Цэнгэл хайрхан)

A 3,943 m mountain covered with permanent snow. The basin at the foot, looking up at the mountain, is used as a summer pasture by Kazakhs of Sagsai, who call the area "Kak." You can drive up a mountain of about 3,000 m for a view over Tsengel Khairkhan and the Kak summer pasture.

Khurgan Lake / Khoton Lake (Хурган нуур / Хотон нуур)

Located inside the Altai Tavan Bogd protected area, these are glacial lakes formed by meltwater from the surrounding mountain glaciers. The two lakes are connected by a river only about 2 km long, with a bridge across the middle. Forests grow around them, giving distinctive scenery in the tree-poor Altai Mountains.

Tolbo Lake (Толбо нуур)

A glacial lake lying long and narrow from south to northwest. Water melting from the glacier-covered mountains flows into it. It is surrounded by treeless rocky mountains. The shore of Tolbo Lake is an old battlefield where the Mongolian revolutionary army and the White Russian army fought for 42 days in 1921, and a victory monument stands there. The sky is reflected on the water like a mirror, and it is beautiful.

Tavan Bogd Mountains (Таван богд)

The Tavan Bogd mountains in the Altai include Khuiten (Cold) Peak (4,374 m), the highest peak in western Mongolia. Snow-covered mountains such as Burgut (Golden Eagle) Peak (4,068 m), Malchin (Herder) Peak (4,051 m) and Ulgii (Cradle) Peak (4,050 m) rise here. Since the first ascent in 1956, climbers from Mongolia and abroad have visited. In 1996 the surrounding area was made the Altai Tavan Bogd protected area. It spans Mongolia, Russia and China.

Khokh Serkh Mountain Range (Хөх сэрхийн нуруу)

A mountain range stretching about 50 km in the northern Altai, on the border of Bayan-Ulgii and Khovd provinces. The highest peak is Takhiltyn Mountain (4,019 m). As its Mongolian name, "ridge (nuruu) where the khokh (blue) serkh (ibex) live," suggests, many ibex live here. The snow-capped mountains carve countless deep canyons and are the water source of many tributaries flowing into the Bulgan River, creating a rich natural environment. It is a rare place to observe a variety of wildlife.

Dayan Lake (Даян нуур)

A scenic glacial lake, unusual for the Altai in that its shores are thickly wooded. It stores abundant water flowing from nearby Mount Musto and supplies water from the Khatan River to the Khovd River. Because it lies at a high altitude of 2,232 m, it is cool even in summer, and Kazakhs from Sagsai and elsewhere use it as a summer pasture. The water temperature is about 13°C in June, and the water is a bright green.

Sagsai (Сагсай сум)

A town founded in 1969. About 28 km from Ulgii to the center, it is relatively close and easy for foreigners to visit, and the "Eagle Festival" has been held here since 2003. With much flat land, people are excellent riders, and many place high in traditional Kazakh horse-riding competitions. The town was built in a wide basin along the Sagsai River, which has flooded often since long ago. Two stone figures remain on the riverbank, set up in prayer for the river to stay calm.

Migrants from the Kazakh Steppe

Among the minority peoples living in Mongolia, Kazakhs are the most numerous, numbering over 100,000. They are descendants of Kazakhs who moved from the Kazakh steppe to the southern foot of the Altai Mountains (present-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China), and then to the northern foot of the Altai (present-day western Mongolia), from the late 19th to the early 20th century.

Language, religion and livelihood

About 80% of Kazakhs in Mongolia live in the westernmost Bayan-Ulgii Province. Even Mongolians say that visiting Bayan-Ulgii feels like coming to a foreign country, because the Kazakhs of this province keep their own culture and customs strongly.

• Language: the main language is Kazakh.
• Religion: the main religion is Islam. Accordingly, events following Islamic customs are held, such as Nauryz (the new year), fasting and the Feast of Sacrifice. Mosques stand all over Ulgii, and people can be seen coming to pray daily.
• Livelihood: the main livelihood is herding. The livestock raised are sheep, goats, horses, cattle (yaks) and camels, the same as Mongolian herders. However, there are many differences in how livestock are managed and how livestock products are used.

Kazakh Clothing, Food and Housing

Housing

The differences between Kazakh and Mongolian culture show clearly in clothing, food and housing. For example, you notice the difference as soon as you step inside a tent-type dwelling. The inside of a Kazakh dwelling is beautifully decorated with brightly colored furnishings and ornaments all around, overwhelming first-time visitors. Whether you look up or down it is full of patterns, and it is harder to find a place that is not decorated.

The Kazakh tent-type dwelling is not called a ger but a "ui" (or "kiiz ui," meaning house of felt). The ui is distinguished by a roomier interior and a higher ceiling than a ger. This difference comes from the structure of the roof poles connecting the roof ring and the walls. The roof poles of a ui are bent where they join the wall, which makes the ceiling higher.

Kazakhs use two kinds of dwellings depending on the season. The tent-type dwelling is used mainly in summer and autumn (May to October). At other times, even herders live in a fixed wooden house called a "stack ui" (meaning warm house).

Food

Kazakhs eat meat so much that they joke about themselves: "The creature that eats the most meat in the world is the wolf, and the second is the Kazakh." All the livestock they raise are eaten, and the most favored meats are mutton, horse and beef.

• Beshbarmak: a feast dish of boiled meat piled high
• Kuje: a soup dish
• Kuurdak: a dish of fried meat mixed with steamed noodles
• Kazy: horse rib-meat sausage. Made as preserved food and rubbed with plenty of salt, so it is quite salty, but it is richly flavored and delicious.

During winter, meat and flour are the staples. In summer, livestock can be milked, so dairy products are eaten actively. Kazakh dairy making differs from Mongolian methods, for example by using plenty of salt and not making distilled liquor.

In Kazakh society, when a guest visits a home, milk tea is always served along with a meat dish. Failing to host a guest is a "shame" to Kazakhs. So when you visit a Kazakh home, you are always welcomed with plenty of tea, sweets and meat dishes. Kazakhs in particular drink a lot of tea. If you keep pace, you will soon drink a whole kettle of tea. When you want to stop being poured more, quickly cover your cup with your hand as a signal.

Folk costume

One representative piece of Kazakh folk costume is the "chapan." A chapan is a kind of coat. Coats of the same type, also called chapan, are widely used among the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. There are those worn daily and those worn on festive and celebratory occasions, and the latter usually have embroidery at the collar and the edges of the garment.

• Men: under the chapan they wear trousers called "shalbar." Winter shalbar are made of leather and lined with fur inside. The hems, which wear out easily, are embroidered with a needle.
• Women: they mainly wear a dress called a "kuilek."
• Headwear: men wear hats and married women wear scarves. Elderly women wear a white embroidered head covering called a "kimeshek."

The Rich Character of Kazakh Culture

Falconers and music

Kazakh cultural features are also a valuable tourist resource for the Kazakhs living in Bayan-Ulgii Province. For example, many tourists visiting the province are strongly interested in the Kazakh falconry culture. In the depths of winter (from December), falconers hunt using the "berkut," the golden eagle. Their main quarry are foxes, hares and manul cats.

Kazakh musical culture also differs from Mongolia's. The most common instrument is the "dombra," a plucked instrument with two strings. Sound is produced by pressing and plucking the strings with the fingers. The tone is light, yet it resonates firmly in the heart. Kazakhs love songs, and there are many about family, lovers and homeland.

Women's handicrafts

Kazakhs decorate clothing, household goods and herding tools with patterns using handicraft techniques such as embroidery and weaving. Embroidery and weaving are women's work.

• Embroidery: done with a crochet hook or a needle. Hook embroidery is called "bizkeste" and is used mainly to decorate wall hangings called "tus kiiz." Embroidery is applied not only for decoration but also to strengthen things. For example, when making a felt rug called a "syrmak," quilting stitches are sewn into the surface with a needle to make it sturdy.
• Weaving: done with a simple tripod and stakes. Weaving is called "terme" in Kazakh, and the cords made by weaving are called "terme bau." To make terme bau, the warp threads set on a stake loom (a loom made by driving stakes into the ground) are picked up with a stick while patterns are woven onto the surface.

Patterns Filled with Feeling

The patterns applied to things are mainly Kazakh patterns. Kazakh patterns are mostly curved in form, and the curves often represent a "ram's horn." Besides horns, they are named after parts of livestock bodies, such as "sheep's heel," "camel's hump," "golden eagle's beak" and "kidney." Floral patterns popular among other peoples, such as the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, are also sometimes used.

Kazakh patterns carry wishes for the happiness of the family. For example, by decorating furniture and tools with many ram's horn patterns, people pray for that many sheep. For herders, sheep are an important "treasure" that brings a rich and happy life. It is the mothers who apply these patterns to things. Perhaps because mothers pour all their feelings and love for the family into the patterns, the Kazakh living space surrounded by patterns is always full of warmth and gentleness, and comfortable.