Why Mongolia?

Whenever anyone hears of my plans for Mongolia, I am almost certain to be asked some variation of this question. The easiest answer this time around is that I fell in love with this little-known Asian nation when I spent a semester there with a study-abroad program called SIT. In 2008, I spent about 3.5 months taking classed based mainly in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar but with plenty of excursions to live with nomads, visit Buddhist holy sites in the Gobi desert, and sundry other incomparable experiences.


What first attracted me to Mongolia back when I was choosing a country in which to study was its unique situation and history. This is the land of Chinggis (aka Genghis) Khan, where 1/3 of the nation's population still lives the traditional nomadic lifestyle that has existed there for many centuries. This is a land where monuments to Soviet heroes still stand beside billboards screaming the joys of capitalism for all to see. Caught between behemoths Russia and China, Mongolia encompasses everything from the Gobi desert to the second-largest lake in Asia.


But in my opinion, the best thing about Mongolia is the people who live there. Their hospitality culture is so strong that it is possible to stop at random gers and be offered food and drink by the strangers who live there. Plus, the expat community there offers a friendly welcome for any Westerner who might be missing a taste of home.
Why Mongolia? Because it's almost like going home...if home was full of yaks and people who don't speak my language.