Mongolia

As far as countries (not territories/places like Greenland)  Mongolia is the least densely populated country in the entire world. There's not quite 3 million people spread out over 603,906 square miles. A lot of that land belongs to the relatively empty Gobi Dessert. The word Gobi means "desert" in Mongolian, so I guess it's the 'desert, desert'. 

The desert basins of the Gobi are bordered by the Altai mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North China Plain to the southwest. 

It's all a vast emptiness where the sky and land meet. It's one of the last few places on earth where nomadic life is still tradition. Herders can still be spotted out on horseback in the quiet grasslands, and just like we talked about in Kyrgyzstan, they live in yurts! 

The nomads even have their own Olympics held every July. The events include: wrestling, horse racing and archery. 

The Mongols have been familiar since our days of Lessons by Dad, where we covered World History, and the Mongols were always the exception.  You know, Genghis Khan, the guy who founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest continuous empire in history, taking over much of central Asia and China- accounting for about one fifth of the entire world. He is also credited with reviving the silk road. Oh, and killing an estimated 40 million people along the way. 

Lots of nationals have tried to claim the nomadic warrior as their own, but it is Mongolia where he is most commonly associated. 

Our landmark was a nod to Genghis Khan, with the gigantic statue of him on horseback that was built in 2008. The statue is about 33 miles outside of Ulaanbaatar, where legend says he found a golden whip. 

The statue is also the biggest equestrian statue in the world. 

To the outside world Genghis Khan was the fearsome Mongolian warrior who conquered half the known world in the 13th century, and is remembered for the brutality, death, and destruction he brought to the regions he conquered. 

But to the Mongolians, he is a national hero, a larger than life figure and a symbol of their culture. He's the guy who cemented their position on the world map. Genghis Khan has a kind of rock star status in Mongolia . He's treated the way the founding fathers are here. 

 There are statues of him all over the place, buildings and businesses named for him, and even a brand of vodka with his name. While the Mongolians aren't unaware of the unpleasant details of his life and rise to power, but they are fairly critical of what they believe is an overly negative image in western literature, film, and other outlets.

And I mean, they kind of have a personal stake in him. With somewhere around 500 wives, and presumably more children, Genghis Khan is believed to be the ancestor of one out of every 200 Central Asian men. That's somewhere around 16 million people today. 

Mongolia's history begins way before the time of Genghis Khan, the Flaming Cliffs in the Gobi desert are the resting place for for fossilized dinosaur bones and nests of dinosaur eggs that have been imprinted into the desert floor. 

Now, before I get to the postcards, this one was kind of funny. We did talk about 'eagle hunters', and Hayden just could not wrap his head around it. We're people hunting eagles?  We're the eagles hunting people? Was it a race between humans and eagles who could hunt the fastest? As he said, it was  'all very confusing.' No matter how many times Calib, Peyton and I all tied to explain it to him, it just didn't matter. 

Falconry is popular in Mongolia, as eagles hunt (with their owners) on horseback, primarily hunting small foxes. In Ocotber every year, they have the Golden Eagle Festival and there are awards for Best Eagle at Hunting Prey, and Best Eagle at Locating its Owner from a Distance. 

The boys made their postcards. 

Calib's included Khan decedents, and dinosaurs. 

Peyton included the falconry. (I don't know why it is blurry!) 

Hayden included the Genghis Khan statue. 

Mongolia was a delayed dinner. We decided we'd just hit up the Mongolian Stir Fry place, aptly named Genghis Grill . We placed an online order for pick up with took forever because of all the options. When Asa went to pay for it, it took the payment but the order never showed up at the restaurant. We called, and they said there was nothing they could do. A week later, they still had our money and finally said we could come in and get our order. But, there really wasn't any sort of 'let us make this up to you' or anything. And giving us our food a week later for a meal we had to pay for, and call about five times about isn't exactly my idea of customer service. 

But, whatever. Tonight we got the food- since with all the dog madness it would be hard to cook a meal. As I type this alone in our bedroom, because it's the only place Porkchop can be away from the other dogs and not get up on furniture, he's staring at me SCREAMING. So, fun times. 

I did also have to eat in here. I mean, it was good enough. But I was a bit soured on the place after my experience. (It also took over a half an hour for Asa to get the order once he arrived tonight- this place had 4 stars, I don't get it!!!) 

Anyway, I kept the order so I could write what we all had, but basically it was a make your own stir fry bowl. 

Everyone liked theirs, I suppose. I didn't get to eat with everyone, so I don't have a table picture for you either. Hopefully someone went and colored in Mongolia finally. 

That's it for Mongolia. 175 countries down, 21 to go! 

Next Up: Seychelles