Following Ghengis Khan

Today was a bitter sweet day. We had our last Japanese breakfast, and left Japan. But, we headed to Mongolia! I took a lot of pictures out the plane window because it was pretty clear. Below is a picture I took while flying over Japan.              

                                   

This picture is from flying over Beijing. 

  

And below is a picture from flying over Mongolia. While we were flying over the desert, we saw many gers (pronounced like "air" with a g in front, so "gair"). Gers, more commonly known as urts (which is the Turkish word) are mobile tents that the nomadic people live in. We will even be sleeping in a ger tomorrow night in the Gobi desert! 

                

But for now, we are in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia's capital. Who knew that in the middle of a giant desert, there would be a huge city! The name Ulaan Baatar literally means "Red Hero" and the city was named after the Red Army in Russia who helped Mongolia gain independence from China. Below is a picture from when we started to approach the city via plane. 

                                   

After years of wanting to visit Mongolia, we finally made it! 

Before we even went to our hotel, we did a little bit of sightseeing. We went to the National History Museum of Mongolia, which housed many artifacts including jewelry, clothing, animal fossils, pottery, and more. From the bus, we were also able to catch a glimpse of Sükhbaatar Square, the main square of Ulaan Baatar. Inside the white columned building below is a huge statue that reminds me of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. I couldn't tell what was inside, but I'm pretty sure it was a statue of Genghis Khan. 

     

Finally, here is a panoramic shot I took from our hotel room window. You can see an amusement park, the mountain range, and there's Genghis Khan's face etched into one of the mountains if you look very closely. 

Tomorrow we will go on a sightseeing tour to an art museum and Gandan Monastery before heading off to the Gobi Desert to stay in a ger. We will be in the middle of nowhere (it's a 90 minute plane ride and an hour drive in a four wheel drive). So, I will be posting my next entry in a day or two.