Our emigration: How is life in Mongolia - ForumDaily
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Our emigration: How is life in Mongolia

Russian Victor Sikirin married to a citizen of Mongolia. They lived together in Russia, but due to family circumstances they had to move to Mongolia. Sikirin told Tinkoff Magazine how to live in Mongolia and why he doesn’t really want to return to Russia.

Фото: Depositphotos

Visa

Russian citizens can come to Mongolia without a visa for 30 days. So that I could stay longer, my wife issued me an invitation. He was given a visa for three months. With her, I drove into the country and submitted documents for an analogue of our temporary residence permit.

Permission to reside in Mongolia is much easier to obtain than in Russia. The whole process took several hours over a couple of days. Confirmation of knowledge of the language is not necessary, apostilles and notarial translations are also not needed. Two months later, they took the finished permit without queues, nerves, heaps of papers and certificates. In Russia, a passport will take more time and effort.

I can renew my residence permit every year. With him, I can work in Mongolia and even arrange state medical insurance.

I did not encounter bureaucracy here. When I applied for a residence permit, I made a mistake and brought the wrong piece of paper. They called me and said that I can bring the necessary document when I go to get my permission.

All documents must be submitted in person, but it is very easy to get them. 25 types of certificates issued by a special terminal: on divorce and marriage, on non-conviction, a temporary passport. You pay 1000 tugriks ($ 0,42) and you get a stamped document. Such machines are in every state institution and at the post office.

Photo by the author

Money and banks

The national currency of Mongolia is Tugrik. The exchange rate of a ruble to a ruble is about $ 0,6-0,7 tugriks for a dollar. Cards are accepted in almost every store. But cash is still needed to pay the taxi driver or buy groceries on the market.

Paying bills is easiest through banking applications. The two main banks are Haan Bank and Golomt Bank. To foreigners, to issue an account and a card, a passport is enough.

You can withdraw money from a Russian card at any ATM. If you withdraw amounts from 100 $ from the card of Tinkoff Bank, then there are no commissions at all.

Among our family and friends, everyone has loans. The most popular are car loans and mortgages. The average rate on consumer and auto loans in Mongolia is 20 — 30% per annum, on mortgages — 8%.

Work

The easiest way to stay in the country on a work visa. Local business needs engineers, builders, programmers. Schools and universities recruit foreign teachers. I was interviewed for a history teacher at a Russian-language school in a provincial town, but at the last moment I changed my mind: the salary is not high there.

The work of technical specialists is paid the highest - 5-10 million tugriks ($1 - 899). Foreign employees with knowledge of English are most valued in mining and construction companies. They are paid several times more than a Mongolian of the same qualifications. The earnings of such specialists range from 3 to 799 thousand dollars per month.

The salary of a foreign teacher in Ulaanbaatar is 2-4 million tugriks ($750-1500), in a provincial city - up to 1,5 million tugriks ($575).

The average salary in Mongolia is from 600 thousand to 1 million tugriks ($ 233 —283) in the province, 1 — 1,5 million tugriks ($ 383 - 574) in the capital. According to statistics, Mongolian women have an average salary of 200 000 tugriks less than men.

In Mongolia, I write texts and articles for Russian sites. Wife works as an interpreter.

Столица

In Mongolia, as in Russia, the capital and provinces live very differently. All business, culture and work are concentrated in Ulaanbaatar. Therefore, capital prices are several times higher than provincial. Outside of Ulan Bator, life is slow, not rich and cheap.

For several months we lived in Ulan Bator, but then moved to the small town of Darkhan. Living in the capital is bad for health because of the environment.

The main reason for the poor ecology of the city are yurts and private houses. They are popular because they are cheap to live in: spending on maintenance will be about 100 000 tugriks ($ 38) per month. Ulan Bator is located in a valley between low mountains, so the wind blows the city badly. On the slopes there are private areas - they all live in yurts and houses, and they heat the houses with coal and firewood. All the smoke comes down to the city and does not go anywhere.

Photo by the author

The ecological situation is worsened by enterprises and 230 of thousands of cars and buses. It is hard to breathe on the street: sore throat. In winter, clothes absorb the smell of smoke, which is impossible to get rid of. People walk in protective masks. The concentration of harmful substances in the air of the most polluted areas is above the norm in 24 times.

According to Mongolian statistics, 20% of Ulaanbaatar residents die from air pollution: respiratory infections, lung blockage, heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer.

Photo by the author

Everyone who has money, try to live outside the city, closer to the forests and away from the urban smog. But you still have to go to work in Ulaanbaatar. Families often leave to live outside the city at the end of pregnancy to give birth and raise children in normal ecology.

Once Ulan Bator was a small, Soviet-style cozy city. In 90's, it began to chaotically and mindlessly build business centers, ugly residential complexes and shopping centers. In the Mongolian capital, urban infrastructure is poorly developed. There are constant traffic jams and terrible buildings without normal courtyards, parks and walking places.

Because of the ecology and uncomfortability of Ulan Bator, we moved to the small town of Darkhan with a population of only 100 thousand people. Before Darhan from the capital by car to go three hours.

Photo by the author

Province

Most cities in Mongolia are small settlements that resemble Russian urban-type settlements. In addition to Ulan Bator, developed cities are Darkhan and Erdenet.

There is fresh air in Darkhan, there are no traffic jams and at times cheaper than in the capital. The city is small and quiet. There is a swimming pool and fitness rooms, stadiums, shopping centers, coffee shops, although the Mongols drink little coffee. The city is small and very quiet.

Photo by the author

Accomodation

You can rent a one-room or even a two-room apartment in Darkhan for 250 — 400 thousand tugriks a month ($ 96 —152). For comparison, the average price in Ulaanbaatar is 400 — 700 thousand tugriks ($ 152 — 267).

Apartments are usually rented without furniture, charge for 3 — 6 months in advance. Furnished apartments can be more expensive on 100 — 200 thousands of Mugs ($ 38 — 77). We pay 400 000 MUG ($ 152) for a two-room apartment with furniture. The owner wrote in the ad: "I rent an apartment with furniture for foreigners."

Finding housing is best on Facebook and Unague. These are the two main sites in Mongolia. “Unaguy” is the main bulletin board, but in Facebook groups ads appear more quickly. We found our apartment on Facebook.

Contracts of employment are not very common here. All basically agree in words. There are no special requirements to the tenant, the main thing is to pay a fee. From me, the owner asked for only a copy of the passport.

Kommunalku we pay only on the counters. Electricity and water are more expensive than in my native Voronezh, but there is no payment for living quarters. Therefore, the amount is about the same as in Russia: in the winter we pay about 140 000 tugriks ($ 53).

In 4000 tugriks ($ 1,5) per month cost of cleaning the entrance and garbage collection. A cleaning lady knocks on the door during the day and picks up the trash bag. Many tenants simply leave the garbage in the morning at the entrance. I hardly explained that I would take out the garbage myself.

Now we want to buy an apartment in Mongolia. The average price of a two-room apartment in Darkhan is 30 — 50 million tugriks ($ 11 412 —18 993). In Ulaanbaatar, for such an amount, you can buy a one-room apartment, while prices for two-room apartments in the capital start from 90 million tugriks ($ 34 155).

Photo by the author

Taxes and Insurance

Foreign employees pay the same taxes and pay the same insurance as the local ones. I do not pay local taxes because I earn in Russia.

Income tax for the employee progressive - 10 — 25%. If you earn 3,5 million tugriks per month ($ 1 325), the tax is 25%. My friends from Russia, who work in Mongolia as teachers and earn 2 million tugriks per month ($ 798), pay 15% tax.

Voluntary medical insurance costs me in 8400 MNT ​​per month ($ 3). Personnel employees pay 2% of salary, another 2% is paid for by the employer.

Health insurance will cover costs up to 1,32 million tugriks ($ 501) in public clinics and up to half of spending in private clinics. Under insurance, you can get a discount 50 — 80% for drugs in state pharmacies according to a specific list - there are only 380 names in it. Emergency operations such as appendix removal are free. If the case is complicated or you are in the hospital, doctors are thanked.

You do not need to attach to polyclinics - where they came, they will serve there. It is important only to show the policy.

Social insurance deducts the employer - 10-12% of wages before taxes. To receive a pension, you have to pay insurance for 20 years.

Cashback for all

All checks in Mongolia, it is customary to keep. On each of them there is a kuar code and a numeric code. If you scan them with a special application Ebarimt, early next year 20% VAT paid back. Mongolia's VAT is 10%, so at the end of the year you will be returned approximately 2% of the amount spent. For a year, 80 000 tugriks ($ 30) came running over us. Most small shops do not issue checks, markets also. Therefore, most of the purchases are still not backed by checks.

Once a month among all checks money is played - from 10 thousand to 1 million tugriks ($ 3 - 383). We did not win even once, but our relatives once won 20 000 tugriks ($ 8).

Transport

All the Mongols dream of a car. Used Japanese cars are cheap here. Within 4 million tugriks ($ 1 516), you can buy 10-year-old Toyota or Hyundai Sonata. The not so old Toyota Prius will cost 10 million tugriks ($ 3 799).

Most cars in Mongolia are right-hand drive. The most popular model is the hybrid Toyota Prius. It feels like every third or fourth car in the country.

Owning a car in Mongolia is inexpensive. A-95 gasoline costs 2050 tugriks ($ 0.8) per liter. For the very Toyota Prius, my wife's brother pays a tax of MNT 51 per year ($ 000). Mandatory insurance will cost 19% of the cost of the car per year. The fines are small: the average fine is 1 20 Mugs ($ 000), for example, for improper parking or driving without a belt. There are practically no road police outside the city. Paid parking is available only in Ulaanbaatar - 7.5 tugriks ($ 500) for half an hour.

To reduce traffic flow, in Ulaanbaatar there is a restriction on driving vehicles with certain numbers on specific days of the week. If the number of cars ends in 7, it can not ride on Tuesdays; on 5 - on Fridays. For violation - fine 20 000 tugriks ($ 7,6).

We don’t have a car: we don’t need it in the city. Traveling by bus in Ulaanbaatar costs 500 tugriks ($ 0,2), in Darkhan - 200 tugriks ($ 0,08). I never took a bus in Darkhan: it rarely goes.

Darkhan is a small town, and everywhere you can walk or take 10 — 15 minutes by bike. There are few bicycles here. Basically, everyone drives an illegal taxi. You come out on the side of the road, and the drivers stop to give you a lift. The fare is 500 MNT ​​per person ($ 0,2). There are usually other passengers in the cabin, three in the backseat. Taxi in Ulaanbaatar is more expensive, but by Russian standards it’s still inexpensive: we never paid more 10 000 tugriks ($ 4) to travel from the city center to the outskirts. A short ride costs MNT 2000 ($ 0,8).

You can order an official taxi by phone, but why, if at any time of the day or night hundreds of passing drivers are happy to drop you cheaper. Several times in Ulan Bator, at the bus stop, drivers suggested that we go with them on the way for the cost of traveling by bus.

Between cities you can travel by car, train or plane. There are few trains, but they are very cheap. You can drive 500 km from Ulaanbaatar to Gobi for 10 000 tugriks ($ 4). A bus between the capital and Darkhan costs the same. Most often we go with private traders whom we find in groups on Facebook. A trip from such a driver will cost the same 10 000 tugriks, but will take 3 hours instead of 4 on the bus. If you don’t have time to look for a driver, there are always other taxi drivers at the bus station, but they’ll take you to 15 000 tugriks ($ 6).

When you need to go out of town to nature, somewhere away from the main roads, it is better to take a car. We take from relatives. Here, domestic Russian rights are recognized, but there are almost no Mongolian traffic cops outside the city. For a year I was not stopped even once.

Prices

The income of $ 800 is enough to almost not deny yourself in a provincial city, buy a used Japanese car, rent an apartment and save money.

Appliances, clothing and household trifles of Chinese and Korean production are cheaper in 1,5 — 2 times cheaper than in Russia. For example, jeans will cost 30 000 tugriks ($ 11). We try to buy Mongolian warm clothes and accessories. They are normal and inexpensive, from natural fur and leather. It turns out several times cheaper than in Russia. The female sheepskin coat is worth 200 — 400 thousand tugriks ($ 76 — 152). The skin is mostly cow, sheep fur.

Communication and Internet

I have a SIM "Unitel", with a special tariff for mobile Internet. For 15 000 tugriks ($ 6) per month I have 15 GB and 20 minutes of talking.

To make cheap calls to Russia, I connect a special service for 5000 Mugs ($ 2), for which I have 30 minutes a month for calls to Russia.

It is easiest to replenish the account through the banking application. There are no payment terminals in Mongolia. You can buy a prepaid card or recharge through an intermediary - most often it is the seller in the store. The mediator concludes an agreement with the operator. When you give him money, he writes an SMS to the operator with your number and amount of payment. Money is credited to your account, and the intermediary receives a small percentage.

In all cities and villages where I was, caught 3G. Free WiFi is available in buses, in most cafes and shopping centers. Home Internet is available in almost every family, even in yurts - via a satellite dish.

Food

Cooking in Mongolia is simple, but insanely tasty. The basis of local cuisine is meat and dough. 20 has more cows and sheep in Mongolia than people. Therefore, they eat meat a lot. Everyone's favorite food is the same: buuzy (analogue of manti), tsuivan (noodles with meat and vegetables), shushura (analogue of chebureks), suute tse (salty tea with milk). Standard lunch or dinner: tsuyvan, soup and rice with meat and vegetables.

Photo by the author

I'm from Voronezh. They say we make first-class meat. But it loses to Mongolian meat: the local is much tastier and richer than ours. Mongolian farmers explain this by the fact that Mongolian cows graze on wild pastures, eat a variety of grass, and generally lead a happier life than animals in barns.

A kilogram of beef is worth 6000 tugriks on the market ($ 2). If you negotiate with the shepherds, you can buy meat in bulk from them on 3000 tugriks per kilogram ($ 1). For a week we eat 3 — 4 kg of meat, and here it does not seem like a lot. Almost every Mongolian family has a separate freezer for meat - in Russia they sell ice cream. In winter, boxes and bags of meat stored on the balcony.

Photo by the author

The choice of other products even in large Mongolian stores is modest. Fruits in Mongolia do not grow, therefore they are twice as expensive as ours: a kilogram of apples costs from 6000 tugriks per kg ($ 2). Chinese fruits are inexpensive but tasteless.

The cheapest to buy in the markets. It is the same as in stores, but about 30% cheaper. Pasteurized milk in the package costs 3000 tugriks ($ 1), fresh water in a bottle - 800 tugriks ($ 0,3).

Cereals, fruits, sweets, household chemicals, cosmetics, canned goods in Mongolia are more expensive than in Russia, 1,5 — 2 times. It is more profitable to buy in the Russian border town of Kyakhta - there the huge Absolute supermarket is located in 200 meters from the checkpoint. Before him from our house to go two hours, not counting the border. The border can be reached in an hour, and you can stay for hours on 6. The queues are always only on the Russian side.

There are no many products familiar to Russia in Mongolia at all, for example, cottage cheese and kefir. Very small selection of fish, it is poorly understood. On local canned food and write: "Fish."

Lunch in an ordinary canteen costs 5000 tugriks ($ 2), on average a restaurant is 2 — 3 times more expensive. The portions are huge. Order only one dish. If the menu says "chicken", it means that you will bring chicken, rice and a few salads. We have never had the opportunity to spend more dinner on a restaurant for more 60 000 tugriks ($ 22).

Leave a tip is not accepted. If you leave, you will most likely be returned. To the tip more or less used to only in the major metropolitan restaurants, which are often visited by tourists.

Photo by the author

Medicine

In free queue clinics and enrollment for treatments for the weeks ahead. It’s cheaper and easier for 20 000 tugriks ($ 8) to go to an appointment with a paid doctor.

Most of the doctors we met here seemed to us more professional than their Russian counterparts. Many of them studied in Korea and China, speak foreign languages ​​and read fresh scientific publications.

But people do not always trust doctors - many prefer to be treated by folk methods, an appeal to shamans is popular. Traditional medicine here is based on meat and milk, and not on herbs. “If the pancreas hurts, you need to eat groundhog meat. Mare's milk helps with coughing. For women in labor there is nothing better than mutton meat. ”

There are a lot of Korean, Chinese, German medicines in pharmacies. For a year I have not seen a single shelf with homeopathy.

From the unpleasant: Russian medicines in Mongolia are twice as expensive as in Russia. For example, the ADC in Mongolia is worth 12 000 tugriks ($ 5), we have $ 2; antibiotic ciprofloxacin - 2000 tugriks ($ 0,8), we have - $ 0,2.

Language and communication

I do not speak Mongolian. I know a few hundred words and a few dozen expressions. This is enough to communicate with the seller, a taxi driver or a neighbor on a feast. I communicate with civil servants with my wife.

Older people are better to contact in Russian, to young people - in English. Young people in Mongolia know English better than most Russian peers. An American school teacher is in order here. At 90, they came as volunteers. Everyone got used to them, and so that they came more often, they began to pay 1 — 2 thousands of dollars. Spending in Mongolia is small, an exotic country, so many come with families.

If you master at least an elementary colloquial Mongolian, you will be respected all around. To provoke sympathy, it is enough to at least try to speak Mongolian. I learned the phrases to say hello and ask how things are: "How do you celebrate New Year?", "How is work?" - people are pleased that I try.

Nature and climate

In Mongolia it is very beautiful. There are mountains, steppes, forests, deserts. If you love trips outside the city, there will be a trip every weekend.

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The climate in Mongolia is continental: the summer is dry and hot, and the winter is sunny but frosty. Due to the dryness of the air, Mongolian −25 ° C is perceived more easily than Voronezh −15 ° C. I walk in the same warm jacket that I wore in Voronezh, and I do not feel cold. But sometimes in winter the temperature drops to −40 ° C - it’s better to dress warmly.

The main plus of the Mongolian climate: here almost always the sun. You perceive rare rainy days as a holiday.

Photo by the author

On weekends I walk on the nearest hills - these are such small mountains. The hills are not high — 100 — 400 meters — but, until you reach the top, your head will be refreshed for a whole week.

In Mongolia, many wild animals: wolves, woodchucks, snakes, deer. Walking in unfamiliar terrain can be dangerous. Particular danger - dogs in the private sector and near single yurts in nature. Almost all the inhabitants of the yurts hold huge dogs to protect their homes and herds. In the yurts, dogs are knocked together. Several times I was almost bitten while jogging in the surrounding hills.

You can not swim in local rivers in unfamiliar places. Rivers in Mongolia are almost all mountainous, with a fast and unpredictable flow. In each village, they will tell you about people who were sure that they were swimming excellently, but the current took them, and they did not see them again.

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Family Relationships

For the Mongols, the family is the main value in life. Not just mom and dad, but all the relatives at once: uncles and aunts, multi-cousins, husbands and wives of distant relatives.

In the summer we went to meet relatives of the wife’s grandfather on the part of the mother. 150 people gathered. Relatives with whom we constantly keep in touch and see each other, are the 50 of them. I grew up as an only child, and this number of relatives is unusual for me.

The first few months after the wedding, I always met with someone and ate a lot: each family set a goal to feed the Russian son-in-law better than anyone.

Photo by the author

Eventually

For me, life in Mongolia has more pluses than minuses.

I like being part of a large Mongolian family: in Russia, I don’t have it. I like wildlife a few dozen meters from the city. In Mongolia, I can quickly go to the desert, to the mountains or to the lakes - and these will be very inexpensive trips. With a small income in Mongolia, I can afford any leisure, car and savings. If I earn more money in 2 — 3 more, I can buy myself a two-story house outside the city.

With the minuses I resigned. In cold weather, you need to dress warmer, and from the smog of Ulan-Bator you can go out of town. But I really miss the cozy streets, normal sidewalks and tall trees.

While we do not plan to leave. I like to see how Mongolia develops and changes. Years through 10 — 20 will not recognize the country, and I want to see the path that it will take.

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