When you think about Mongolia, the first thing that comes to your mind is Genghis Khan, the tales of his achievements and the strength of his warriors. And then the desert, the Gobi, the dunes. A strange landscape that makes us running with imagination in geography books. Mongolia is much more: it is a country of dust, sounds, never-ending silence, and endless landscapes, horizons that seem to grow without end and without obstacles. Mongolia is reflected in people's eyes: peaceful, calm, always helpful and kind, fair … almost noble in their attitudes. People who live in gers (a name which will not say anything to most of Italian people) but that indicates typical tents where the nomadic Mongols lived and still live. Without continuous light, no running water, no comfort, no division of rooms and even less without bathroom. A tent where every day at any time you find a thermos full of hot water or airag (fermented milk, with a slightly salty taste and alcohol), ready for guests. A small cluster, a small world open to anyone who passes. No matter whom he is, where he comes from, what language he speaks. Just stop on the road (dusty way, sometimes there is not even a path and the driver moves like following an invisible line in the middle of the landscape). Someone will arrive in the saddle of his horse or riding a motorcycle. Probably it will be a child (they are entrusted to their family’s herds) and he will immediately try to figure out how to help. Because you do not stop in the desert, if you do not really need to. You constantly travel, ride, go. And when you leave Ulaanbaatar (or UB, as they call it) you’ll see just that: a long and vast prairie, always changing. Rockets, desert, dunes, mountains and plains. One day you are in t-shirt with 35 ° C. The day after you are obliged to wear gloves and scarf! Heaven and earth meet and touch (average altitude above sea level is from 1000 meters at least, UB is 1330 meters) ... in some places you believe you can touch the clouds. So it is not surprising to find out that one of the main deities is Tenger, the god of the sky. During night the sky is so beautiful and wonderful: immense, starry, where you even look at the shades of blue in the Milky Way (yes, they are not colors you see only in books!)... A sky without interruption of artificial lights for miles, surrounded by a silence that you never imagined could exist. A place to visit because it is one of the few places remaining natural on earth, innocent ... where children still accept a gift collecting it with open hands. Where children do not know what is a deflated balloon. Just to see their eyes lighting in discovering it, it's worth flying up to Mongolia!

Manuela Bolchini