Mongolia is awesome! We're still
assembling a group to share costs of our overland adventure and the
train from Beijing gets in the day after we flew in so we took a day
trip out to Terelj National Park.
It's a beautiful, rocky piece of Earth,
about two hours outside Ulaanbataar. The roads run out after about
an hour, and you're driving on the dirt tracks of cars that have gone
before you.
The air is crisp and very clean. After
China the feel of all this open space, with not a building or tree to
hem you in, is exhillirating.
We did some walking around and some
horseback riding, and saw some funky rock formations and a
beautifully placed temple. But mostly you just soak in all the
nothing, taking in the miles and miles of unbroken views of rock and
dirt and sand.
We also got a chance to hold a golden
eagle, which I gotta say was one of the coolest experiences. I've
never seen one up close, but to lift one of these behemoths as his
talons grasp the thick leather glove on your hand and look into the
peircing yellow eyes is to feel very, very happy you are not a field
mouse.
