I looked at some pictures on Google Earth, it does look nice there. I was imagining the Gobi desert! And wondering why on earth would anyone want to be there? But Ulaanbaatar looks lovely. What do you do there?

Ah, I see the mini 8 is the buggy. It would probably do alright if you just put some 2.2in stadium truck tires on it and geared the pinion down a tooth. Lemme ask you this: How much are you willing to spend? I noticed from the link to Hobby Town was it? That they have the Axial Yeti and the Yeti Trophy Truck. Those would be great for your area.