Fred loves train travel. You meet an interesting cross-section of a population and get to peer into a country’s backyards as the train passes. Wherever we go, we take train trips, and Mongolia was no exception. The vast country has relatively few kilometers of rail–all built for them by the Soviet Union. Besides a few… Read more »
Tag: Mongolia
“Gers” and “Yurts” in Mongolia
Mongolia is a wonderful country whose vast landscapes are scattered with round portable nomad tents. The majority of the Mongolian population call theirs “gers”, but the minority Kazakh people in far western Mongolia call theirs “yurts”. Kazakh yurts, however, should not be mistaken for Mongolian gers. There are a number of differences. The two nomadic… Read more »
Driving in Mongolia
Mongolia is a vast country–13th largest in the world–with a small population–3 million. Of interest to the driver, is that it has fewer kilometers of road per person than any country in the world, and some of the worst urban traffic. Until the 1990’s virtually all vehicles, and there weren’t many, were of Russian… Read more »
Why Travel to Mongolia?
Fred and Sharon, former diplomats, have never lived in Mongolia. As a long-time repressive client state of the former Soviet Union, the U.S. didn’t even formally recognize the country until the late 1980’s. As a result, there was no U.S. Embassy in Ulaan Baatar (Red Hero) at which they could serve until too late in… Read more »