So it’s farewell to this unique country and it’s wide, open spaces and calm, colourful people. Immediately I crossed the border from Russia it was noticeable how different this country is. People smile more. They wear colourful Western and traditional dress. Their cars are new white and grey Japanese numbers. In the capital there is new building of office and apartment blocks on a colossal scale. Hundreds of cranes fill the sky line. This is all down to the discovery of new copper and gold deposits in the south of the country.

Hate are a few interesting facts to leave you with:

50% of the 3 million population live in Ulaanbaatar

The first dinosaur egg was discovered in the Gobi Desert

At the age of 18 the government gives every citizen a plot of land of 500 square metres. They immediately put a wooden fence around the perimeter and erect their ger inside.

There are still 300,000 nomadic herders on the steppes

There’s are still shamans who follow their ancient ceremonies

Mongolians are so very proud of Genghis and there are images of him everywhere although he died over 900 years ago.

These images reflect the many different feature of this magnificent country. I will miss the huge, flat vastness of the desert and the steppes and the peace and calmness that that brings. I will so miss the quiet and the opportunities for reflection.

Till next time and my next adventure.