Most travellers fly into the airport – which opened in July 2021 to replace the previous main international gateway, Buyant-Ukhaa – to be driven to the wide-open spaces for which the country is known.

Since 2017, I have returned to Mongolia every year (except during the pandemic) for a 10-day horse riding camp. As someone from land-scarce Singapore, I relish galloping across Mongolia’s endless steppes.

However, during my trip in July 2022, I lingered in Ulaanbaatar to get to know the city better. I also wanted to experience the biggest festival on the Mongolian calendar.

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Naadam, which runs from July 11 to 13 each year, celebrates the traditional sports of wrestling, horse riding and archery.

The opening ceremony is held mostly at Ulaanbaatar’s National Stadium, more commonly known as the Naadam Stadium. The festival is also celebrated in districts and villages all over Mongolia, each having their own events during the five days of public holiday that begin on July 11.

There is very little current information about Ulaanbaatar in English online, making it challenging for foreigners to do more than scratch the city’s surface.

Fortunately, I met Surenbaatar Nergui, chief financial officer at New Juulchinn Tours, one of Mongolia’s top tour operators, who went out of his way to give me pointers as to what was new in his city.

Although parts of Ulaanbaatar remain run-down, with crumbling facades and potholed roads, the city is modernising in some respects: there has been a surge in bar, restaurant and lifestyle-store openings since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, for example.

A glance at the directory in the city’s swankiest shopping centre – the Shangri-La Mall (named after the development’s five-star hotel) – reveals that luxury brands Balmain and Balenciaga can now be found in Ulaanbaatar.

Among the mall’s more interesting bars is Bitsy & Co, a speakeasy opened by a trio of young Mongolians in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic.

Bitsy has a secret access – as speakeasies traditionally should – through a convenience store inside the mall, although there is also an entrance that opens onto the main street.

Having lived in cities overseas, the owners want to raise the standard of cocktail bars in Mongolia, they say. On summer evenings, locals and expatriates spill out of the 500 square foot (46 square metre) bar and onto the pavement.

Bitsy is doing so well, the owners have opened a second bar, Canté, a 20-minute walk away.

Gobi Cashmere, Mongolia’s most well-known cashmere brand, has moved into a flagship store at Galleria, a shopping centre near Sukhbaatar Square, a major city landmark flanked by imposing government buildings.

Galleria also houses the country’s largest restaurant, MG Hot Pot, with a dining floor of around 4,000 square feet, and Otori, an atelier that produces traditional Mongolian costumes with delicate Japanese brocades.

The arts and culture scene is thriving, too. In summer 2022, I saw the play The Last of the Hunnu Empire in the pink-and-white National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, which dates back to 1963.

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The cast featured some of the country’s most famous actors, the costumes were extravagant and the sets lavish. At the end, the packed audience gave a standing ovation.

Book cafes that are sprouting across the city are proving popular with the young and trendy.

Thanks to a government initiative to encourage healthy habits, such as rising early, Juulchin Street – a row of shophouses that has been given a coat of bright colours and is one of two thoroughfares designated as “morning streets” – is now car-free between 6am and 9am.

The cafes and restaurants that line the street serve breakfast and coffee, and then wine after 3pm.

Chick lit and self-help books on mindfulness fill the shelves of Juulchin Street literary cafes such as Anjuna Book & Art.

“Many Mongolians didn’t know the difference between a latte and a cappuccino when we first opened, but more are aware now,” the mother of the owner told me.

Increasingly, as Mongolians return from overseas, they are bringing new ideas with them, especially when it comes to cuisine.

Tegri, a restaurant that serves modern takes on European and Mongolian classics, was opened in the city centre just before the pandemic by Munguntsetseg Orgodol, who had lived in Beijing for five years. The restaurant has since moved to the southern outskirts of Ulaanbaatar.

Although Munguntsetseg imports seafood from South Korea, her beef comes from free-range cattle that feed on nutrient-dense grass and herbs in eastern Mongolia. The beef is aged – a new concept in Mongolia.

Another speciality at Tegri is khorhog, a medley of meats pressure-cooked in a sheep’s stomach and traditionally served at a ger camp as a celebratory dish. Here, though, root vegetables are added to give the meat sweeter and richer flavours.

Five Up was opened in 2019 by Buyan Dorji, a 35-year-old Mongolian who grew up in Switzerland, and can be found a short walk from the Shangri-La Mall.

Trained in French cuisine, Buyan wants to showcase creative ways of using Mongolian staples – such as fermented mare’s milk (airag), yak milk cheese, and plants such as sea buckthorn berries and pine nuts – in Western cooking.

Buyan and his wife set up the non-profit Swiss Mon Edu centre to teach Mongolian children how to eat healthily and to raise young chefs to international standards so they may win overseas culinary scholarships.

“My wife and I want to pass on our knowledge and give opportunities to young Mongolians,” he said.

Over six days in Ulaanbaatar, I stayed at a range of hotels.

The Shangri-La Ulaanbaatar, which remains the most luxurious in the city seven years after opening, is worth a stay for the food alone – the hotel’s Hutong restaurant is reputedly the best Chinese restaurant in the city.

The Novotel Ulaanbaatar is the capital’s newest hotel, having opened in 2018, but it is more functional than fancy.

More enmeshed in the evolving city is the 23-year-old Edelweiss Art Hotel, which underwent a major renovation in 2019 during which the Edelweiss Art Gallery was added.

The gallery runs a calendar of art shows, and displays a collection of work by up-and-coming Mongolian artists that is for sale, commission-free. The hotel also provides accommodation to theatre and art groups, NGOs, development agencies and medical missions at special rates.

I asked Edelweiss Art Hotel manager Gary Biondo, an American who arrived as the pre-opening general manager of the Shangri-La, why he has remained in Ulaanbaatar for nine years.

“I find the society to be forward-looking and interested to make things better,” he said.

“Changes in the city are obvious – there are new buildings, restaurants and shopping malls. There are also improvements to hospitals and schools – all steps to a country’s development.”

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It would have been impossible to obtain tickets for any Naadam events without the help of New Juulchin Tours’ Surenbaatar Nergui, a 41-year-old who has worked in Australia and whose interest goes beyond the professional.

He told me he would like the world to know that there is another side to Mongolia: a modern side, one that goes beyond Genghis Khan’s legacy, the grasslands and ore mining.

As I stood in the national stadium for the Naadam opening ceremony alongside thousands of Mongolians wearing their deel, the traditional costume, all appeared to sing their national anthem with pride.

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Outside the stands, families shopped at makeshift stalls and ate khuushuur – a fried dumpling filled with minced beef or lamb that, during Naadam, takes on a rounded shape instead of the usual crescent.

The ceremony had started at Sukhbaatar Square, where men in uniform paraded banners before riding with them to the Naadam Stadium. President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh led proceedings inside the stadium and the sense of optimism was palpable, as the whole country prepared to celebrate its national identity.

Although the face of Mongolia is changing, it is clear that, in the Land of the Eternal Blue Sky, the city and the grasslands beyond remain inseparable.

On July 1, Miat Mongolian Airlines raised its number of weekly flights from Hong Kong to Ulaanbaatar from three to seven.