Outside China: The Gobi and Ulaanbataar

           Mongolia. A place no one really travels too. Great your reading this because you my friend, will want to travel to Mongolia by the time I'm done. Our trip lasted for the average of about two weeks. We had a tour guide (because who the heck speaks Mongolian here?) who was a big help. No duh. 

          Anyway.. Who wants to cut to the chase and see what Mongolia has in store for you? I do. When you hear the word Mongolia... What do you think about? Desert, Sand dunes and nothing to see for thousands of miles. No. Think wrong. When you land in the capital of Outer Mongolia, Ulaanbataar you might think, Oh just another city. Mongolia is something to be excited about. In the city there are many restaurants to try, places to see and people to talk too. There is a vast variety in restaurants, food and sight seeing destinations. 

          For example, when the gang was all in Ulaanbataar we tried many different things- from Korean barbecue to Mongolian fast food. We saw shows, temples and pigeon parks. We experienced markets that were selling possibly everything you could imagine. It's also a great place to hear new types of music. Being in Mongolia they have high pitched voices creating music above an octave I can sing. When given a beat and band to match those voices the music rocked with a beat we could listen to for ages.

           For the real experience go to the world wide known Gobi Desert. No. You might think the Gobi is miles and miles of sand but in fact sand is the least you must worry about. Filled with vegetation and camels the Gobi offers a variety of fun things to do. Within the 7 days we had we had climbed the biggest sand dune in the world, rode camels (that pooped all the time), saw horses, shared a meal with nomads, found dinosaur bones, saw the first place on finding dinosaur bones,  lived like nomads, walked through the largest city in the Gobi desert,  saw a singing river, bought arrow heads from the Qin Shi Huang Di Period and walked through the mountains to the ice that lasts all year. Mongolia was a package full of surprises. In and out of the city you can expect nothing but fun. 

           It was more of the time to relax, play cards and eat amazing food. You don't stay in no fancy hotels. You get to have the real experience of living in gers, the nomadic houses of the gobi. You shower like them, live like them and sometimes eat like them! Even in the city we did exciting things. Like the weather, when you expect it to be the hottest and most dry place on earth you will be surprised how cold we all were. We did many things there too. We went to the country side and spent some days out there. We rode horses, held eagles, visited a monastery, met the only monks in in Mongolia (who were actually from Thailand?) and paraded around a beautiful terrain both in and out of the city. Out of the many trips we've taken this is a highly recommended one. On going accessories most needed are long clothes, books and card games! We can only wait for our next adventure.