Mongolia

Because of China's National Holiday, I had a week off school. Together with some other friends, I made the 30 hour train ride (most of which I slept through after an exhausting previous week) to Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. It was neat to see the Asian influence but also the differences unique to Mongolia. We spent most of our time in the capital, but made it out to a national park for one of the days we were there.

The view from the train, when I was awake, was incredible. As we rode along, the Gobi desert crept up - grass, people, and homes slowly disappeared, and weeds, sand, and yurts popped up in their stead.

The train that we rode on goes on to Moscow, so the sign is in Chinese, Mongolian, and Russian. You can tell that Mongolian writing looks similar to Russian, and in Ulan Bator, the Russian influence could be seen in the dress, buildings, and other aspects as well.

This is what we mostly saw outside the city. Mongolia is more than twice the size of Texas, but the population is just under 3 million, with just over 1 million in Ulan Bator.

The Parliament building. Front and center is a sculpture of Ghengis Khan, their hero. He created the largest empire (land-wise) in history. It covered 22% of the world's land, and included over 100 million people.
This was taken in the city square right by the Parliament building.
Men feeding pigeons near the Buddhist temple. There were quite a few people who dressed in traditional cultural dress.
One day we headed outside the city - it was absolutely beautiful! The temperature was perfect for a fall day, the tamerisk tree leaves were bright yellow, contrasted with the bright blue sky, and it was so refreshing to be out in nature and hike around the national park.
Plus, I got to ride a yak.
It seemed like most people live in yurts (called a ger in Mongolian). They have mini doors, and a pipe coming out of the top of them to heat the room. Apparently they heat fast but cool fast, too. The gers were scattered all throughout the city (except in the center) and the countryside, too.

Check out more pictures here!