I arrived in Ulaanbaatar on September 24th in the evening, and I spent nine full days in Mongolia. This was the pre-trip extension of the OAT tour to South Korea and Japan. (I'm now in Seoul.) There were five of us on this pre-trip.
I won't write detailed trip reports, because I write about my travels elsewhere in some detail. (Feel free to send me a PM if you're interested.) But here's an overview
Mongolia Overall Impressions
Mongolia is the most sparsely-populated country in the world. With just 3.5 million inhabitants, the population density is less than 6 per square mile. And half the population live in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, where traffic is insane! (It took nearly 2 hours to get to my hotel from the airport. The total distance is 45 km; the last 15 km took a full hour.)
The people of Mongolia are lovely, friendly, kind, and very proud of their country and their heritage. Everyone we met was gracious, eager to share their stories, their crafts, and their food.
Ulaanbaatar
I can't say Ulaanbaatar is the most beautiful or interesting capital city I've visited. I did enjoy several museums and historic sites, but it's not the kind of city you would enjoy wandering around in just for the sake of seeing the neighborhoods and the architecture. It's become a very modern city since the fall of communism in 1990. (I, for one, was unaware that the collapse of the Soviet Union, which led to all these new democracies in eastern and central Europe, had the exact same effect on Mongolia.) The Soviets had destroyed most of the historic Buddhist architecture, so there is not much left. We did visit one monastery, most of which was built after 1990, but where a few older structures survive. And on my free time I visited the palace of the Bogd Khan, the last Buddhist spiritual and political leader. But that only dates from the early 20th century.
Gobi Desert
We spent three nights in the Gobi Desert, and for me that was the highlight of my time in Mongolia. We stayed in a ger camp. ("Ger" is the Mongolian word for a yurt.) The gers at this particular camp were quite luxurious, with en suite bathrooms. Most ger camps for tourists have shared bathroom facilities. We had WiFi in the gers, heaters (it was very cold, with nighttime temps below freezing and daytimes in the 40s), and a very nice dining facility.
Life in the Gobi Desert was traditionally nomadic, and it still is today. Driving through the desert (which is not really sandy like the Sahara; the ground is compacted and there is grass and other vegetation), you come across herds of horses, camels, sheep and goats, and cattle. All roam freely but are owned by nomad families. Occasionally you pass a cluster of gers where the nomads live. In winter, they will move everything to more sheltered areas. We visited one nomad family in their ger and they took us for a ride on their Bactrian (two-hump) camels.
We visited the Yol Valley, a beautiful mountainous landscape with a small creek running through, and we visited the Flaming Cliffs, where numerous dinosaur fossils have been discovered, and where the setting sun creates a gorgeous red glow. We also climbed a small mountain to check out some interesting petroglyphs.
Back at our camp, we watched a movie called "The Story of the Weeping Camel." The full movie is available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-MRUWbZTIc). I highly recommend it if you want a picture of nomadic life in the Gobi Desert, or if you just want to watch a lovely movie.
We also took apart a ger and then watched some nomads put it back together. It took us 20 minutes to pull down. They put it back up in the same time.
I'm out of space. I'll add links to my photo albums in the comments.