A wonderful
young lady Viola from Hong Kong, who is having her internship as a teacher in
Mongolia, sent me a postcard from there!
Mongolia is
a country in Asia. The capital is Ulan Bator. The population is about
3,086,918. Official language is Mongolian.
Once the
heartland of an empire stretching to Europe under Genghis Khan, Mongolia is a
landlocked country dominated by sparsely populated steppe and semi-desert.
Mongolia has an extreme climate. Drought and unusually cold and snowy winters
have decimated livestock, destroying the livelihoods of thousands of families.
A land full of vast emptiness, nearly twice the size of Eastern Europe, it is
the least populous country in the world.
There are
few countries in the world with such a stark difference between the rural and
urban populations. Mongolia's nomadic culture is famous – you can sleep in a
herder's ger (traditional felt yurt), help round up the sheep, ride horses and
simply 'get back to nature'. Mongolia’s nomads are herdsmen, surviving by
farming livestock such as camels, cattle and horses, and moving around to
exploit the best conditions for doing so at different times of year. However,
45% of the Mongolian population live in the busy capital, Ulaanbaatar, where
life is a lot more up-to-date and you will find ample museums, shops,
restaurants, bars and clubs.
The anthem
is here:
Thank you so
much for the colorful postcard, Viola!
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