It almost feels unfair that I've gotten to go to Asia AND see as much of nature as I have.
Especially Mongolian nature.
Did you know that Mongolia is beautiful?
Anyway, here's an account of two grand days in nature I've had over the last two weekends.
FIRST.
Do you all remember the Mongolian girls I mentioned meeting in Pigeon Forge in 2010? Well, I reconnected with them and one of my friends, Oonoo, was loving enough to take my teammate, Angela, and I out to the countryside with her husband and son. We visited the giant Chinggis statue and Terelj National Park.
We saw this guy and his giant birds outside the statue.
All stainless steel, baby.
The biggest boot in Mongolia.
Angela loves Chinggis.
Oonoo also loves Chinggis.
Oonoo's little boy--be still my heart.
I took this picture while stranded on a mountainside in Terelj National Park.
Stranded?
Yes.
Because I'm an idiot who doesn't know when to stop climbing rocks before my fear of rolling down the mountainside kicks in.
Not my best Chaco photo.
Angela made it to the top, though. What a boss.
I promise it was steep, you guys. Oonoo's husband came up and rescued me. This is why I shouldn't climb really big rocks.
Then we snuggled/rode/conquered/sang a remix of "We Three Kings" on the backs of a couple of dromedaries.
This is Turtle Rock, which looks like a turtle from any angle but this one.
SECOND.
Last weekend, our organization took a gaggle (seventeen, to be exact) of us out to Selenge, a province by the Russian border.
It involved two overnight trains (with about 6 combined hours of sleep), which was basically one giant, mobile slumber party.
Saturday morning was rough, but the rest of the day made it worth it.
We started with a quick trip up to the border.
Then we went to see the "Mother Tree", which I accidentally kept referring to as "Eywa" (thanks, Avatar).
The "Mother Tree" is a sort of holy relic. It's so holy, in fact, that it withered under the weight of all the food, dairy products, scarves, and liquor bottles that have been offered to it. What you see in the picture above is Mother's stump, into which people are whispering their wishes.
There is actually more than one holy tree in that spot and there are plenty of places to pitch all of your perishables.
Late afternoon found us at another spot on the Russian border.
Oh my stars and garters, it was breathtaking.
(that's not a real eagle, by the way)
I was a little excited.
We were all a sleep-deprived mess at the end, but WOW.
Mongolia, I have been pleasantly surprised.
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