Mongolia

In the summer of 2011, we took an OAT trip to China. The pre-trip was for about a week in Mongolia. This was a fascinating country which is currently independent, but had been ruled by the Russians for many years, and bore the scars of that time. The architecture of many buildings in its capital, Ulaanbaatar, were very stark. Our visit took us out into the southern part of the Gobi Desert to spend a couple of nights in a yurt camp, or geer as they call them. The bathrooms were in a separate building. From there we visited a camel breeder and a famous archeological dig site. Then we flew up to the northern part of the country to stay in another yurt camp. It was a very interesting experience.