Land-locked next to the 2 giants – Russia & China, Mongolia bears the strength of generations of warriors able to stand up proudly to the neighbours’ threats. The extreme climate gives rise to beautiful landscape with brilliantly blue sky during the day & brightly lit sky with stars with cold breeze. The sunsets are like the egg yolks, setting in the dark rapidly.
The vast inland differs significantly as we cross 1,000 kms across in an old faithful car. Russian vans, which look like match boxes, are also aplenty along the route. Kilometers of steppe with nothing in between. Try taking a pee in the middle of the road, hiding behind the bushes (or umbrella)!
The white Ger dots the grassland, with animals rearing across the steppe. Whole family stays inside one ger, interestingly with the middle for cooking & warming. Electricity is scarce.
Heading down south from the city centre of Ulaan Batar, the landscape changes to be sparse turning into the sand dunes. In the desert, camels are the main transportation in the olden days. Walking along the sane dunes is not easy as it seems, climbing up an incline in slope is difficult. One step forward, two steps back. A 500 metre climb took 45 minutes! But the sunset views atop the dunes are breathtaking, accompanied by the singing dunes .
Food is foremost meat – lamb & camel. Freshly-grilled lamb is surprisingly tender. Camel meat enveloped in flour dough with fried in hot oil is a favourite of local, although it may not be to everyone’s palate. Camel & horse milk are drank often, and also used to make cheese.
Eastern Mongolia is lush with greens, extremely suitable for horse-riding trails.
The Great Genghis Khan’s capital of Karakorum is simple & unassuming.
Last but not least, the land of Khans is reminiscent of martial art story by Jinyong, Legend of the Condor Heroes 射雕英雄传, an all time favourite with the lead Guo Jing having spent some time in the land of the Khans in his younger days.
The original 铁血丹心 by Roman Tam & Jenni Tseng
铁血丹心 variation through strings ensemble
Cheng's Musings 