SSoP Podcast Episode 61 — Mongolia: Under the Eternal Blue Sky

If we say ‘Mongolia,’ and you imagine an eagle hunter on horseback silhouetted against an endless blue sky and vast open plains, you are not wrong. Ditto for thinking of Chingiss Khan, frigid winters, and resilient nomads in gers (yurts).

While those perceptions are valid, Mongolia may have some surprises for you. The sun shines 250 days a year, and summer days are luxuriously long and warm. Yes, Khan is a national hero (see: the 3-story glimmering steel statue of the Mongol leader on horseback), but Mongolians are most welcoming. The flap door of a ger is open to all, friends and strangers alike — and a hot bowl of milk tea will appear as soon as you cross the threshold.

In the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, you can eat in restaurants, visit a temple, and wander through museums. When you’ve had enough of the bustle, ride into the steppes — on a horse, a camel, or an all-terrain jeep — and back in time. Under that vast sky, you can head north to spruce forests that stretch toward Russia, or west to the jaggy Altai mountains, or south to the wind-swept dunes of the Gobi Deserts (and, eventually, China).

In this episode, we meet a formidable Mongolian warrior princess, listen to the otherworldly sound of Tuvan throat singing, and travel back in history with the annual Naadam Festival (a.k.a. the Mongolian Olympics).

Then we recommend five great books that took us to Mongolia on the page, including the story of an ancient warrior woman, a nonfiction account of the world’s toughest horse race, a YA novel about a female eagle hunter, an illustrated travelogue of riding the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and the tale of a road trip across Mongolia with twin-brother monks.

Here are the books about Mongolia we recommend on the show:

• Akmaral by Judith Lindbergh

• Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer

• Stand on the Sky by Erin Bow

• Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway by Emma Fick

• When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East: A Novel by Quan Barry

Books, Transcript, and More

For a complete roundup of all the books we recommend, plus a full transcript and the other cool stuff we talked about, visit the Episode 61 show notes.

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Top image courtesy of Fadhil Abhimantra/Unsplash.