Mongolia

In 2011 we took on OAT trip to China. The pre-trip was to Mongolia. It was a fascinating trip. We started in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, and then flew southwest over the Gobi Desert to spent time in a camp where we each had a private "gere" or yurt. They were colorful and satisfactory on the inside, but lacked one thing: a bathroom. It was a long hike, at night, in the wind to the main nice facility when one had to go. Ugh! From there we visited a number of interesting things in the area including a famous archaeological dig area, a camel breeding family, and a religious site. Next we flew to the far northern part of Mongolia where we stayed in another gere camp. It was more in the mountains. There we saw horses and yaks being herded to summer fields and visited a horse breeding family. There was also a stop at a UNESCO site, set up to preserve a religious area from the Russians when they occupied the area.
The pictures below are backwards, and the beginning of the trip is at the bottom. with the end being on the top. This was a function of the photos album on my iPad. Sorry