Un-flippin-believable

Mongolia that is. We just got back from a long weekend in our neighbor to the north and both Kenny and I said it easily moved up the ladder to one of our favorite places we've visited. Ulaan Bataar, the capital, is quick 2 hour flight from Beijing (although "quick" is a relative term when you are trying to contain a newly walking 1-year-old on a plane). We learned so much and I can't believe how ignorant I was about Mongolia.

Some facts I learned and that I don't want to forget:

- The Mongol empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206
- 16th and 17th century, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism
- End of the 17th century, it fell under China and the Qing Dynasty which lasted until 1911
- And what really surprised me and made me feel stupid for not knowing, Mongolia was behind the iron curtain, under Soviet "influence" until 1990. This was unbelievably apparent in the writing and language which look and sound Russian, but the people look Asian.
- I didn't think it possible, but the Mongolians are worse drivers than the Chinese. Compound that with the fact that they like to drive fast and their best roads are worse than the US's worst roads. Kenny and I both think we may need some dental work after this trip. It's also such a vast open country that half the time we were just driving on some cattle trails hoping and praying that the driver knew where he was going.

We were so lucky in that Kenny combined the trip with a bit of business (you don't hear me say THAT often) and the man (John) Kenny met with is an American who has lived in Mongolia for 13 years. He's one of the only American business owners there, thus he knows the Mongolian president well, is called on to entertain American senators/dignitaries when they visit and is meeting with Hillary Clinton in the upcoming weeks. He is also an incredibly nice man and helped us with all of our planning, provided us with a driver and hosted us at his ger camp (the round felt tents and Mongols traditional housing) for two nights.

The first night we stayed in a luxury ger camp. The reason I felt I had to put the word luxury in there is that besides being round, they really didn't resemble a traditional ger at all (as John kept reminding us) and I'm fine with that. It was amazing. It was cool though because the main room had the beds, jacuzzi, sitting area, bar, bathroom and then attached was a smaller ger that was supposed to resemble a traditional ger. Nugget can now say he's slept in a real ger since that was his room for the night. They also had a great restaurant where we had a five course dinner. Did I mention it was amazing? You'll get sick of all the pictures I've posted of this camp, but I couldn't stop snapping photos. The wide open spaces it looked out on were incredible. I also became acutely aware of all the light and sound pollution we are inundated with here in China. I've never seen so many stars.

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