Being one with the land

With every confident turn our drivers as they navigated the countryside, we shook our heads, “how do they do that?” The response from Mongolians was always, “they’ve taken this route before. They recognize it.” We scoffed. Hours of off-the-road driving on endless slopes of green land with no signs…no way!

But on the way back to Ulaanbaator, my van mates started pointing out hills and houses they recognized from our initial drive out to Kharkhorin. They concluded that Mongolians have such an intense connection to nature that they have superhuman ability to recognize and memorize subtleties in the landscape.

My memory was not as good as my fellow travelers’ but I could tell that all our time in the countryside did leave me with an appreciation for the land. My particular connection to nature was through my bladder. It was what set off a signal of hope whenever I spotted a large rock nestled in tall grass, a valley, or a dip in the land. Toilet pit stop ahead!

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