Mongolia

In Central Mongolia, the road really does go on forever. Paved roads are few and far between outside of the few 'major' cities, but the dirt roads are usually better anyway. These jeep tracks criss-cross the Asian Steppe in all directions, but if the dirt roads won't get you where you're going you're free to just head off in whatever direction you want, for as far as you need. None of these trails are marked and drivers switch roads seemingly at random. They say they are going by intuition, or "Mongolian GPS". I say 'give me a Garmin'.

Gobi Desert, Mongolia. The Bactrian (2-hump) camel is the ultimate survivor in this super-harsh place. With little food or water, and temperatures over 110 degrees in the summer and below -50 in the winter, these camels adapt just fine. They're also the workhorses of the desert and most nomads will have at least a few. This region of the Gobi is called Khongoryn Els, which refers to the large sand dunes in the background. The dunes are also called the "Singing Sands" because of the weird humming noises they make when winds start moving the sand around - it's quite loud and kinda creepy. The largest ones are nearly 1000 feet high! Which we of course climbed.

Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Life's not all work and no play for the Bactrians though. My Mongolian guide Tulga and I set off on a camel ride into the Gobi one fine day. I quickly learned that these things are much more pleasant to ride than the standard middle east style one-humper. For one thing they're more stable cuz you sit between the humps so you have something to hold onto (front hump) and lean back against (rear hump). They're also fluffier, which makes for a softer ride, and have better temperaments - I never once got spit on. And they look cool with all that long hair!

Orkhon Valley, Mongolia. Cutest kid ever, or the next ruthless Mongolian ruler? Time will tell. The funny thing is that the outfit - minus the hat - is typical of what the "country" Mongolian adults wear all the time.

Orkhon Valley, Mongolia. While we're on the subject of cute kids, here's another. And from the same extended family. Turns out there are a lot of kids running around these isolated farming communities because... well, there's just not that much else to do but make more kids when you're stuck in a yurt (or ger in Mongolia) all winter long. These are also some of the most polite, well-mannered kids I've ever met.

Central Mongolia. There's not a lot to do out here, at least by Western standards - no tv, video games, smartphones. But don't tell that to the locals; they lead pretty fun and busy lives, and seem much happier than the average Westerner.

I brought along a small bluetooth printer on this trip, and really enjoyed taking portraits with my iPhone, zapping out photo prints, and handing them out to some of the rural nomads who have few, if any, pictures of their own families. In most cases they were astounded to see a small hi-def color photo pop out of an iPhone-sized printer and the looks on their faces were all the thanks I needed. I had just given our hostess (pictured) a photo of her and her family; she was speechless.

On the road, Mongolia. This is my other guide, Mogee. He likes to eat. A lot. I'm not a huge eater under the best conditions and the food in rural Mongolia could be ... well, challenging at times. So we formed a mutually beneficial partnership during this trip. At each meal I would eat as much as I felt like, but because they serve up huge portions, there was always extra food. Well, this is one of those places where it's kinda rude to not make a good go of cleaning your plate, so this is where Mogee came in. Here he is at lunch somewhere along the way, rampaging through my 'extra' sheep.

Elsen Tasarkhai, Mongolia. It was my last day out on the Steppe, so I got up super-early (around 4:30 am I think) to go for a long walk into the nearby desert/dune field. The sun comes up early here in the summer months, and as it rose over the horizon the lighting just got better and better for photos. This pic was taken much 'later', probably around 6 am.

And I can see how people can get lost in the desert - I set out in a straight line away from camp and walked and walked. Not really paying much attention to navigation I suppose, because after a while a camp came into view straight ahead : MY camp!

Ulaanbaatar. Most Mongolians belong to one sect of Buddhism or another. So there are lots of temples and most of them are open to us outsiders. I enjoy spending some time in Buddhist temples when I'm in this part of the world because they're so colorful, always interesting, usually peaceful, and I like the smell of incense. This is a life-size ceremonial mask of one of the many-many gods in this part of the world. Probably a mean one from the looks of it.

Ulaanbaatar. The capital city. It's loud, polluted, traffic-gridlocked, kinda dirty. But after spending nearly 2 weeks in ger/yurts out in the countryside you begin to appreciate the other side of city life as well : the comfy beds, hot showers, heated rooms, a variety of better food, nightlife, no wild dogs or wolves.

City or country - Take your pick!