Embedded Files
This is the story of how I ended up busking on the streets of Ulaanbaatar with my Russian friend singing in Mongolian. Welcome to another adventurous story.
I had just returned to the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar after a week in the Gobi Desert. As I mingled with the other intrepid travellers in the hostel dining room, the conversation got to what I do for a living. I told them I was a saxophonist and showed them some videos of me playing in the Gobi, and they were amazed.
When you go to jazz school, saxophone is one of the most common instruments. Here I was in a room with people who’ve cycled across the whole of Europe and Central Asia to get to this hostel and they were amazed at some sax? We as sax players need to realise that it's a special thing we take for granted.
Hauke, one of the German guys in the dining room approached me.
He told me that he had seen a Russian guitarist busking and singing in the main square on Peace Avenue that day and had got his contact details. He sent me his Instagram and I got chatting to him. He was initially hesitant on how it would sound and was insistent that we should practice together first.
The next day he came over to the hostel to rehearse. Yellow windbreaker, black sweatpants and camo crocs. His name was Ivan from Asbest. The bro had arrived.
It was a crisp morning as we sat out on the smoker's balcony of the hostel. We were overlooking a high school, and the students were congregating outside. The commuters passing by cruising on their electric scooters, speaking in the incredibly fascinating sounding Mongolian language.
Ivan pulled out his guitar from his case and we began to play.
It was classic singer stuff. Hotel California, Creep and a bunch of Russian pop songs that I happily jammed to. He was chuffed that I didn’t suck at playing, and I was glad he wasn’t bad either. After a jam and a chat, he was eager to hit the streets so we hopped out of the hostel and walked towards the State Department Store to find a spot to busk.
We found a spot next to a bus stop, just outside a CU convenience store and across from the Russian Embassy. He hung his amp from the handle of an e scooter, and we were ready to go.
Busking in Ulaanbaatar was incredibly rewarding. It’s probably the most rewarding place I’ve ever busked, not only money wise, but people wise. After 2 ½ hours of playing away, we had made about 400,000 tugrik, or $190 NZD in total. In comparison I’ve busked in Auckland for the same amount of time and made like 50,000 tugrik. We had a guy come up to us and give us a cold soft drink and a water each, which came in handy in the dry autumn air. And for how much Mongolians earn, 400,000 tugrik is an insane amount of money.
That day I realised how curious and kind the Mongolian people are. They really open up from the staunch demeanor they carry on the streets. It was a heartwarming experience seeing how much we were appreciated.
The next day we did it again. The exact same spot with a feeling of confidence. We had done it before, and we were ready to do it again.
This time Ivan was ready to try something a little different. He got his phone stand up to hold his lyrics, and he began to sing a Mongolian song, appropriately called “Night in Ulaanbaatar”. As soon as he started singing, passers by did a quick double take. A white man in crocs singing in Mongolian must be a sight to see for the average commuter. Sooner or later, a crowd began to form.
People were singing along, couples were holding hands and swaying. I’m glad I was wearing sunglasses because I had tears coming out of my eyes. It was so touching seeing a crowd join us in such a communal manner.
A woman came up to us and said that she’s a journalist for MASS, a Mongolian media page. She filmed us and posted it, and it has thousands of views on Facebook now.
More on the people though. The same guy who gave us drinks the day before came up to us again and bought us more drinks! What a lovely guy.
We also met Badrakh, an English teacher and aspiring footballer. He took us out for some beers and pizza and we had an awesome conversation. His hospitality was a really sweet way of ending our busking adventure.
Writing this now, it brings back so many memories that I’ve forgotten about. Mongolia was an awesome place, and the people really opened up to music. I would highly recommend busking in Mongolia if you end up there. You will be rewarded in so many ways that you never would’ve seen if you were just a regular tourist.
Events took place Sept 2025
Blog Date: 03/06/2026
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse