When I was a kid, I watched a Lonely Planet (Globe Trekker) episode on Mongolia, featuring Ian Wright. The most inspiring thing for me was the vastness of the country and equally vast emptyness... the seemingly cold faces of mongolian people there and the history behind that...very simple life and the every day struggle that they have to put.....and the Mongolian Steppe!
We got first glimpses of the vast country and its landscape from our flight....it was quite hard to take my eyes away from the sight and kept looking at it till my neck started complaining to my brain..All this while, various travel episodes on Mongolia and also the book on Genghis Khan I was reading at that time, kept playing on my mind and it had made an imaginary Mongolia...the real one, to my surprise was not much different..that goes to show the unchanging nature of the country..its description during the period of the Great Khan, the travel show hosted by Ian Wright somewhere during 2004 and the country i witnessed myself, were not much different, well except for a few cities and mainly the capital, Ulaanbaatar..
Landing in UB (as most travelers call it), we braced ourselves for the cold weather, but were greeted by the evening sun, which had warmed up the city...as we headed to the guesthouse in the cab with our friendly hosts, the great expanse of the city revealed itself...barren land on both the sides and the city within...as slowly we entered the city, dust clouds gave way to more clearer view and the Russian impact on this age-old nation became apparent in its architecture..glimpses of karaoke bars, khoosoor houses, pubs and restaurants, banks and offices made it apparent that this city moved at a faster pace than many believed...
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