Anticipation

 July 1, 2024

Anticipation

 On Sunday, July 7, my granddaughter Leah, and I will leave for Mongolia.  We’ll drive to Toronto, fly overnight Sunday night to Istanbul, Turkey, arriving in the mid-afternoon on Monday, July 8.  After a 3 ½ hour layover in Istanbul we’ll fly overnight again to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, arriving at 7:15 AM on Tuesday, July 9.  The getting there is problematic.



 The first couple of days we’ll spend at the Naadam Festival, watching archery, wrestling and horse racing.  More here:  https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/naadam-mongolian-traditional-festival-00395

 Following that we’ll travel across Mongolia, and once we leave the city, we’ll travel by 4-wheel drive vehicles and spend all of our nights in yurts on the steppe or in the Gobi Desert.  We come home on Thursday, July 27.

 I should be able to send notes from the city, but many, if not most, of the yurt villages have no electricity nor an internet connection.  I’ll post on this blog site whenever I can, but at this point I don’t know how often that will be.  I may need to catch up when we come home.

 I’m very much looking forward to experiencing Mongolian throat singing live.  For a sample, try this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WlI24rv__g

 If all goes well, the next post will likely be on Tuesday from Ulaanbaatar. 

Comments

  1. Ann Carol GoldbergJuly 1, 2024 at 3:35 PM

    Victor, we were talking about you today wondering when we could see you before you 2 leave. It will await your return and jet lag recovery. We will follow your trip with envy and glee. How wonderful it will be. Enjoy every "careful" step. Hugs to both of you. Carol

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  2. Ralph P. LockeJuly 1, 2024 at 4:26 PM

    What an astonishing trip to undertake! I'm with Ann Carol Goldberg on this: be careful! But I'll be eager to hear and see what you are able to report, during the trip and afterwards. (This all makes me wonder what situations I have put myself in that required me to be "careful." Multiple trips into East Berlin during my year in West Berlin, for example....)

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