Miles of desert dotted with sheep, horses, goats and yak go by our window. A sleepless night and endless miles of desert do not deter the excitement of what is ahead. The pace of the train is perfect now; it slows down time and allows you to digest your travel and relax. When you give yourself over to the rhythm of the train, you become quiet and observant to the world around you.

Mongolia, I never thought of going to Mongolia. I knew that Ghangis Kahn had lived here and the scenery was spectacular, that people lived in Gers (yurts) and it was rich in minerals. The countryside was where we wanted to go, as cities do not interest us as much. Our guide, a young male Mongolian, met us with a smile and hurried us off to our jeep. Soon we left the city behind, driving across desert with a hint of green. Horses everywhere, we are told they are not wild but belong to the nomad families. It is a nomadic culture that is recently moving into the city. Ulaan Baatar has a population of 1.5 million people, Mongolia has 3 million people.

The land is free for people to build on, the apartments in the city are not. There are gers just outside the city, some with houses and a ger in the same enclosure. We are told people move to the ger in the winter because it is warmer and live in the house in the summer.

In Terelj National park we stop to visit a nomadic woman in her ger and choke down a sip of fermented mare’s milk, eat some pieces of cheese curd and ask her questions through our guide. She moved to the city to take over her parents’ property and animals. She has eight children that live in the city. Her ger is decorated with beautifully painted beds; a TV and refrigerator add a modern touch. She tends the sheep and goats and her horses roam free. I still cannot understand how they get their horses to come to them since they roam for miles around. They appear wild to me.

The ger camp sits under huge rocks that have been sculpted by the winds and the sand. Some rocks teeter precariously ready to topple over. Turtle rock is a famous rock that defies gravity.

Shap and I wake in the middle of the night and take our cameras outside to photograph the scenery and the moon. We disturb the horses and yaks that are grazing by our ger, they wonder who these strangers are ruining their late night snacking.

After the communist left Mongolia in the 1990’s, many of the Buddhist temples were rebuilt where the communist had destroyed during their tenure.. In the park a temple was erected in the same location as the original, among the amazing rock formation. I learned from the caretaker who spoke one English word “elephant” that the 108 stairs to the temple was like an elephants trunk, and the temple wings were its ears. He then took me by the arm and we walked together up the 108 stairs counting 1-10 in Mongolian.

On the way back to Ulaan Baatar, we were treated to the most amazing feat of engineering and sculpture I could ever imagine, a 40 meter high statue of Ghangis Kahn in stainless steel. Conceived by a wealthy businessman it took 500 engineers from all over to put this together. Words cannot begin to describe the grandeur of this sculpture sitting on his horse looking out to the countryside. Is it over the top? Yes! But whatever you think of it, the concept and execution of it is mind-boggling.

A look at the city center where the local ladies are gossiping on the bench in front of the government center, a stop at the huge mall for train food and then on to Lake Bikail and our next adventure.