Mongolia

Mongolia is a vast, thinly populated country between Russia and China, a land of open steppe, deserts and mountains where many people still live as nomadic herders. Ulaanbaatar is the only large city, with the Gandan Monastery and a giant statue of Genghis Khan nearby.

Beyond it lie the grasslands of Terelj, the ancient capital of Karakorum, the dunes and dinosaur fossils of the Gobi, and the lakes and mountains of the far west. Visitors stay in felt gers, and the Naadam festival of wrestling, archery and horse racing takes place each July.

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