You should be able to reach Ivolginks Datsan comfortably within an hour by car from Ulan Ude. The journey takes you across rolling plains, past wooden houses and village churches. A notable - and moving - landmark is the hill side with the famous mantra 'Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum' set out in white stone. The monastery emerges from... More

The feeling that it is a working monastery. It does not make any concessions to tourists in the sense that there are information boards, interpretation panels etc. It was very useful to have local colleagues with us who could warn us what to do in the temples.

A little way out of the city of Ulan Ude is Ivolginsky Datsan, a Tibetan monastery which looks pretty spectacular - a complex of beautiful brightly coloured temples nestled in the snow against an impressive backdrop of snow-capped mountains. Before the revolution there were loads of similar ones but most were shut down and the monks sent to gulags in... More