Picture of me crossing a river in the Altai Mountains in western Mongolia during a 2-week horse trek. The experience was incredible! As this is one of several journeys to Mongolia.

Kazakh people in the Bayan-Ulgii province of western Mongolia continue the ancient Central Asian tradition of falconry (training raptors to catch wild game). Using golden eagles, the Kazakhs capture such prey as rabbits, red foxes, and wolves in the winter, when their pelts are most plush. Boojum Expeditions introduces travelers to “eagle hunters” and their families, who lead a hunt and welcome you into their nomadic way of life. WHAT YOU’LL DO: Learn from the hunters about how they capture, train, and care for the eagles; on horseback or camelback, join the hunters as they pursue prey; visit other nomadic families who live in gers (yurts). HIGHLIGHTS: Spend several nights in the hunters’ cabin, sharing stories and singing Mongolian folk songs. Sample boiled horsemeat and rice soup with aruul (dried cheese curds), dishes served to honored guests. See Kazakh women make colorful, intricately woven rugs. Boojum Expeditions, (800) 287-0125, 11-day trips for $2,250 plus internal airfare (about $650), including lodging and meals. This appeared in the July/August 2010 issue. 

With no roads in Western Mongolia, it's pretty easy to get lost. While participating in the Mongol Rally (driving from London to Mongolia), we were challenged in many ways. However in Mongolia our challenge was directions! With a map of the country and a compass we set course towards Ulanbaatar, but we took every opportunity to stop and ask for directions which consisted of a local pointing a direction on the horizon and us pointing the car that way. If you decide to do this ultimate Mongolian road trip and drive yourself across the country, then don't be afraid to ask for directions. Locals (and horses) will be more than happy to help!

After crossing Russia by train from Finland, we entered Mongolia, a Country we had both always dreamed about. We were lucky enough to stay in several gers (yurts) and spent our time looking for folk music and learning as much as we could about the people and culture. We used Couchsurfing.com to meet 2 amazing hosts in Tsetserleg and Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia is beyond words, you have to see it for yourself. Here's the movie.

I took this picture of my friend, Phyllis, taking a picture of Khoton Nuur Lake. The starting point of our 2-week horse trek in the Altai mountains of western Mongolia.

There aren't that many rivers in Mongolia but for some odd reason, every one of the handful of bridges we came across were crooked and in all the wrong directions. For some other odd reason, although every bridge was wide enough for us to drive over, we had to cross on foot to get the other side. We couldn't help but laugh under the circumstances! All in a week's journey across the Mongolia steppes!

The Naadam Festival, that takes place every July in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, is full of tradition and pomp and circumstance. The three-day festival kicks off with an opening ceremony that begins with a contingent of thirty horsemen riding into the National Sport Stadium. As they enter, the crowd begins to roar and in seconds, the thundering sound of national pride floods the stadium. The horsemen are dressed in ceremonial military uniforms; the red and blue colors are those of the Mongolian flag. Silver helmets complete the look. Nine of the riders carry banners made from horsetail hair. Collectively, the banners are known as the ceremonial State White Standards (or Tug Sulde) which symbolize Mongolian unity, freedom, power, justice and peace. The State White Standards harkens back to 1206 when Chinggis Khan established their use for ceremony. Back then, there were only two banners. Today, there are nine representing Chinggis Khan and his eight generals who were in command during his reign. The State White Standards are housed in the Government House and are only displayed on three state occasions - the investiture of a new government, the first speech of a new President, and for the Naadam Festival. Watching the horsemen ride in to the stadium, hearing the crowd roar and feeling the electricity in the air, I couldn’t help but get swept up by the moment! I will never ever forget this travel experience!

Every culture seems to have its own ways of making wishes and prayers. I’ve tossed many a coin into many a fountain and blown out many a candle on a cake. In Mongolia, the tradition revolves around the ovoo, a large stone cairn. Ovoos serve mainly as religious sites, used in worship of the mountains and the sky as well as in Buddhist ceremonies. They are also used as landmarks – important on the Mongolian steppes where there are few paved roads, let alone street signs! The tradition for travelers is to walk around the ovoo three times, in a clockwise direction to wish for a safe journey. Three rocks are picked up from the ground and added to the pile each time you circle around the mound. Ovoos will have tree branch or stick in the middle. Worshippers tie a blue khadag, a ceremonial silk scarf that is commonly white in color in northern Buddhist cultures, to the branch. Some of the cairns were large enough that we could actually drive around them and others were far away enough from the road that all we did was honk the horn three times. Apparently, honking the horn is acceptable if you don’t feel like getting out of the car. I’m not superstitious but who doesn’t want to wish for a safe journey so I took every opportunity that I could to walk around the ovoo. Besides, it was really interesting to see them up close. It’s not uncommon for worshippers to leave items behind like animal skulls, bones, and utensils. I even saw bottles of vodka and a crutch!

I bumped into this adorable toddler and her grandmother in a very remote village in Mongolia. It was her cute face, scraped chin and all, that first caught my eye. However, her necklace really got my attention. I immediately recognized the beads as amber but it seemed like such a large necklace for such a tiny little girl. With my guide interpreting, I asked her grandmother about the necklace. She told me it was to keep her granddaughter from getting sick. I later learned that many traditional medicine practitioners, especially those in the Baltic region, believe that the unique chemical composition of amber makes it the ideal remedy for all sorts of illnesses and ailments. I read that it can eliminate the flu, heal wounds, provide relief from headaches, relieve joint pain and the list goes on. In the present day Baltic countries, babies are still given amber necklaces to soothe teething pain. The application of amber for medicinal purposes actually goes back centuries, all the way to Roman times. In a country like Mongolia, where there is tremendously great distance between a remote village and the nearest town with a doctor practicing *Western* medicine, it’s not surprising that traditional medicine is still being practiced. According to the grandmother, the necklace would only be taken off to lengthen it so it would continue to fit around the little girl’s neck as she grew. Before I walked away, I wished the girl the best of health – she deserves it.

Cross over the border from Western Siberia (Russia) into Mongolia and you will have entered one of the most scenic places in the world. The sky stretches out to infinity and the dirt path seems to lead on into nothingness. It's my perfect Zen moment.

Mongolia is a vast country with abundant landscape and wildlife. After traveling on the train from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar through the endless Gobi dessert, my boyfriend and I found ourselves at the Steppes Nomads Ger Camp. This eco ger camp is two hours east of Ulaanbaatar in the Gun-Galuut Natural Reserve. Far away from the crowds and heat of metropolitan Beijing, the two days we spent at the Steppes Nomad Ger Camp were some of the most peaceful and relaxing of my life. Our ger was as simple as the come, a felt dome with a fireplace, bed, and a door. I will never forgetting horseback riding across the open steppes of the Gun-Galuut Natural Reserve with a local Mongolian herded guiding us along, pointing out marmots, birds, sheep, and fresh rhubarb. His attire and the few words he could speak in English were a testament to his love of nature and the Mongolian way of life. Yet, even in this remote area of the world, America's influence was still ever-present. He asked us where we were from, and after our reluctant answer, he reposed with enthusiasm, "Obama!"

As soon as we got to Mongolia, my two friends and I did a "Ger-to-Ger" four night trip outside of Ulaan Bator. This the the first evening when we climbed the hills beside the ger we were staying at for the first two nights. You can see the ger we were staying at, and the fences keeping the goats and sheep close to the ger. The family we stayed with were so sweet, feeding us amazingly unique mongolian cuisine, we took a camel ride up the hills with the son while he sang traditional Mongolian long song, passed out, and woke up the next morning to a snow storm! It was a perfect way to start our two week adventure in Mongolia.

The Tumen Ekh Ensemble's nightly performances of folk dance and music are especially powerful because the small venue brings you within a few feet of the artists. In this picture, dancers are recreating part of a Tsam dance, an elaborate Buddhist ritual that was historically performed at Mongolia's monasteries, and has been revived in the last two decades. You'll find incredible papier-mache Tsam masks at the Choijin Lama Temple Museum just a few blocks north of Tumen Ekh's theater.

At Terelj National Park on the edge of the Gobi was the first - and probably last - time that I had a hawk sit on my arm. The Mongolian falconer was very patient with me and you can see by the look I got from the bird, just who was in charge...

Not known for its tourist attractions, Ulaanbaatar shouldn't be ignored just because it "ain't gonna win no beauty contest". One thing I did here was go to a traditional throat singing performance, which was surprisingly impressive. I think I spent half the time wondering exactly how he do it (supported by female sopranos), and the other half marvelling at all the various sounds that seemed to be made with very little effort. My travelling campaign tried it at home afterward with mouth wash. He failed.