The Yellow River Chronicles Heads to the Nation of the Eternal Blue Sky!

Hello and welcome back to the Yellow River Chronicles!  Your hard-working YRC staff have been rambling the steppes and dunes of Mongolia to bring you a new three-part series on Mongolia, the nation of the Eternal Blue Sky.

As you may remember, the YRC rolled through Mongolia during last year's Trans-Mongolian railroad trip from Moscow to Beijing.  That brief adventure created the idea for a real visit.  One year later we returned to ride the steppe on horseback and plod the sands of the Gobi by camel when our planned visit to Tibet was undone by ...um...travel permit problems.

The YRC staff have just returned and are in the process of rinsing the camel spit out of our hiking gear and oh, what a process that is.  Honey, pass me the gasoline!  But here's a brief overview of all things Mongolian.

Upon spending any amount of time in Mongolia the first thing one becomes aware of is the continued strong influence and respect for Gengis Kahn, know as "Chinggis Khaan" in Mongolia. The airport is named after him, he is on the currency, and pictures and statues of him are still everywhere.  His empire started in 1206, so Mongolians have been revering him for +800 years.   At that time, Europe was still deep in the Dark Ages--the Italian Renaissance would not start for another 150 years.

To help you get in the Mongol mood, here's a clip from the film "Conan the Barbarian", which won Arnold Schwarzenegger an Oscar for "Best Austrian Accent".  It features a version of a famous Kahn quote:

“The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy and drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather to your bosom his wives and daughters.” -Genghis Khan

But IF the Kahn had used the Conan quote, I am sure he would have done a much better job with the word "lamentations".

Great to be here in...where is this again?

Back to Mongolia!

Mongolia features the coldest capital city, the lowest population density and is the second-largest land-locked country in the world. This means they have no navy, ports or seafood to speak of.  While KFC, Mickey D's and Pizza Hut have yet to make an appearance, Long John Silver's has no chance.

The Land of the Blue Sky shares a border with Russia and China, which means as an active democracy, they are politically...nervous.
G.W. Bush was the first American president to visit Mongolia.  The Mongols are still thinking about how he might of answered the question, "What is best in life?"

Many Mongolians get around by horse or camel, but there is also a large number of SUVs to travel an extensive network of unpaved roads.  Travel around Mongolia usually features a long ride bashing around the back of a Russian SUV:

And bash around Mongolia we shall as we head out next week to do some horse trekking and experience the nomadic life in a ger on the Mongolian steppes. Hang on, and we'll see you then!