M-whY

Though technically, this was steppe, not desert. (Had I not said anything, would anyone have corrected me?) The ground was visibly frozen, it looked bitterly cold outside. The occasional Mongolian ger came into view; I wondered how the inhabitants were keeping warm. As the day progressed, the dreary skies cleared, but the temperature hovered around freezing. I prayed my coat would have sufficient insulation.

Across the terrain we meandered, through what must pass for towns in this country. It's a sparsely populated land; There are only 2.8 million Mongolians and a third of them live in Ulaan Baatar. The capital must be the country's only city: A huge sprawl where ger districts were as common as apartment complexes. We pulled in at the station not too long after lunch. A representative from Shuren Travel was there to meet me.

Naki had found Justine and Kirsten already. The three of us had booked identical portions for this part of the journey. Included was a city tour before transfer to our accomodations. First sight was the Ganden Monastery, an active place of worship that had a strong Tibetan flavor. This didn't come as a surprise. I read previously that the two sects had strong ties. Here, I got my first close up look at the locals: Women dressed in traditional dels, lamas in their red and yellow robes, young ladies in their fashionable black boots. Naki acted as our guide; He spoke excellent english and his knowledge was encyclopedic, but unfortunately I was too engrossed by my surroundings (and those chic ladies) to remember much of what he said.

A stop at the bank was followed by a visit to Sukhbaatar Square, where Naki's trivia included the exact number of windiws the Government House has. The main monument here was a statue of the man the square was named after. According to Naki, the statue points northeast, where the sun rises, indicating the directions Sukhbaatur said Mongolians should look to every morning to make their nation great.

"Wait, shouldn't the sun rise in the southeast?" I asked. For a few moments, I pondered the earth's tilt.

"Don't think too hard," suggested Justine, and so I let the matter pass.

Justine made a comment too about the stylish women on our way to Zaishan Hill. This vantage point gave us the best view of the city. But the wind was especially strong up here. We only stayed long enough to do what tourists do, then clambered back inside.

"Look at those kids!" A class of tightly bundled schoolchildren were probably out on a field trip. One by one, the teacher packed them into the van...

"I think they're all getting into that one van!"

"Oh... you're right! Isn't that funny." At least they'd keep each other warm!

Naki promised we'd be melting tonight too, and with our city tour concluded, we were taken out to the Elstei Ger Camp. We passed a truckload of soldiers, who smiled and waved as we took their pictures. 50km later, we arrived at where we'd be staying, in the middle of nowhere. Our guide took us to our ger.

"HAve you ever seen I dream of Jeannie? It's like we're in her bottle," I observed.

The fire man came and got the heater started. Within minutes, we were stripping off layers. It go so toasty that we had to leave the door open, and the camp's puppies took this as an invitation come in.

"They're so cute, I wish I could take one home!" Kirsten and Justine kept gushing. This one seemed open to the proposition, making herself comfortable in my bag.

We had to kick them out when we went for dinner though. The cafeteria cooked up a delicious meal of mutton, of which I had two servings. Stars and planets sparkled in the night sky. No, this wasn't the Australian Outback, but in my opinion, it's just as ger-eat!

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!