June Conference 2007 - where

Boy, did we suffer for you!!!! Sods law dictated that one of the days we chose to go searching for a conference venue was wet, windy, damned cold and then SNOWY. At the bottom of this post is a very brief summary of the places we visited, but we are going for,

Bayan Khongai

A typical ger camp layout with accommodation gers, sleeping 4 to a ger, grouped around a larger restaurant ger. With 38 of us, we will most probably have the whole camp to ourselves. That should destroy the silence!!!!

This camp is near the top of a hill 1 hours drive from VSO to the north west of UB. The off road bit to the camp is a little rough but mercifully short, passing by farms growing potatoes and other veg,

Showers and toilets are housed in the end section of this new-ish looking block. The charming lady we met at the camp declined to show us inside the block because the showers are under repair. But we were told that they would be ready for our visit.

The new block also has houses a smart bar which we can use a conference room when we all need to be together

The restaurant ger is large enough to take us all at one sitting. The quality of the food is untested as it has not being practical to visit any camp for a food tasting session. Shame really, that is usually a perk of this sort of job!!

Loads of space outside, including a hard court for ball games. Depending on the weather, most of the meetings etc can be outside.

So, there you have it, Volunteer Conference, Mongolia, 2007 - venue.

The Runners

We visited 10 ger camps, of which 4 were either under total renovation or new builds, not completed. Places to avoid, I think!!! Of the others.

• per person conference, (ie total cost divided by number attendees), costs based on the item costs given on the visits.
• times based on VSO jeep times

1. Gatchuurt Ger Camp – came in at $37/person conference. Nice location by the river and plenty of space. The camp for 180 people had one shower. The camp is used by weekend revellers from UB. Ok….where is the gate!!!! – 30/40 mins to UB
2. Batan Khongai – came in at $48/person conference. Great location on a hillside with no other camp insight. Good facilities and accommodation. Flexible and good conferencing facilities. – 60/70 mins to UB
   
3. Ovoogiin Enger – came in at $51/person conference. Known to some of you as the country side visit on our first day in Mongolia. Nice setting and facilities very good. Conferencing facilities a bit limited. – 50/60 mins to UB
4. MIAT Camp – came in at $65/person conference. Gers with own ensuite bathroom and toilet. Conference facilities flexible and good recreation options. – 20/30 mins to UB
5. Terelj (Cannot remember the name) – came in at $80/person conference. Traditional camp with good accommodation. Typical of those in the Terelj Park,. No roof on the toilet/shower block!!! The season starts in a couple of weeks, doesn’t it? - 90/110 mins to UB
6. Terelji (Ayanchin) – came in at $85/person conference. This was nice. And I mean very nice. Just opened last year. An American/Mongolian venture. We would have had the place to ourselves………but too much for our budget. Gek and I vowed to return (I will do a post on it soon.) - 90/110 mins to UB