Travel the World - Mongolia

I started a 50-week series in 2019 that I called Travel the World. Each week of the series I visited a randomly-selected country, sharing bits of information about that country. I then chose one tidbit of information about that week's country as inspiration for a card. As I explored those 50 countries in 2019, I knew I would continue on until I've visited every one of the 195 countries in the world. By the end of 2021, I'd virtually traveled to 145 countries and plan to complete my journey to all 195 countries by visiting the last 50 this year.

This week's country is...

Mongolia

Mongolia, a landlocked country in East Asia. It is the second-largest landlocked country in the world, behind Kazakhstan.

It lies between China to the South and Russia to the North. It is actually bordered on the three sides (South, East, and West) by China. Kazakhstan is also near to Mongolia.

Mongolia is known for its dry grassy plains, steppelands that support the traditional Mongolian livestock-herding lifestyle.

The word "mongol" means brave.

It is the world's most sparsely populated country. 

Mongolia stands an average of 5,800 feet above sea level.

With an average temperature of minus 1.3 degree Celsius, Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar (“Red Hero”) is the world’s chilliest capital city. The second coldest capital city in the world is Astana in Kazakhstan with an average annual temperature of 3.5 degree Celsius.

You could fit the Netherlands into Mongolia thirty-seven times. It’s the world’s 18th-largest country.

Mongolia's Gobi desert is Asia’s biggest desert. It is like no other in the world.

Larch is the tallest tree in Mongolia, with the highest one recorded reaching 148 feet.

Three million people live in Mongolia. An estimated 25 to 40 per cent of them live as nomadic herders.

Goat, sheep, cattle, camel, and horse are the five main types of stock that nomads of the region raise and breed for a living. These nomads move from place to place in search of the most favorable campsites and pastures.

Almost 3/4th of Mongolia’s land area is pastureland, which supports the lives of its grazing livestock.

Mongolia has three mountain chains: the Khangai Mountains, the Khentii Mountains and the Mongolian Altai Mountains (the highest of the three ranges).

The two-humped Bactrian camel is indigenous to Mongolia. 

There is a camel festival to celebrate these famous camels and protect the species. This camel festival first began in 1997. 

There is a festival dedicated to Eagle Hunting in Mongolia, too. The festival starts with a horseback procession of eagle hunters, where they deliberately showing off their extravagant hunting outfits and accessories. The eagles in the festival are judged for speed and strength, the event begins when the birds are left from the cliff to dive down to the hunters arms.

Despite its landlocked status, Mongolia has many salt lakes. Mongolian lakes and rivers contain more than fifty unique fish species.

Bogd Khan Ull National Park (1783), the oldest national park in the world, is in Mongolia. It predates the Yellowstone by approximately 100 years.

Snow leopards are native to Mongolia, and one-third of the world’s population lives there. Fun fact: a snow leopard cannot roar or purr.

The sky in Mongolia remains cloudless for over two-thirds of the year. Thus, the blue sky is visible throughout the vast stretch of the country on most days. Hence, Mongolia is often referred to as "the Land Of The Blue Sky."

Mongolia’s national dish is a steamed dumpling filled with meat (usually beef or mutton) called Buuz.

Ice cream is a favorite winter treat in Mongolia. In winter you’ll find street vendors selling ice-cream on the street from paper boxes. There’s no need for a freezer at -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit).

Mongolians love children and this is why their average family has 4 children. A mother of five is awarded in the country as “Honored Mother“.

Pointing fingers and talking in a raised voice is considered rude in Mongolian culture.

Use of right hand or both the hands while giving something to elders is considered polite.

Standing or speaking on the threshold of the door in Mongolia is taboo, and so is lighting up a cigarette from a candle.

In Mongolia, it is a practice to shake hands when someone accidentally touches you with their feet. It is a way of apologizing for the mistake.

Mongolian traditional homes – “the Ger or Yurt” are also a part of their national identity. The Ger is also referred to as the White Pearl of the Steppe. The door of the Ger always faces south, because the wind mostly blows from North and Northwest.

Mongolia gets less than 4" of rain annually.

Mongolia’s natural resources include: oil, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, wolfram, fluorspar, gold, silver, iron.

Mongolia’s agriculture includes: wheat, barley, vegetables, forage crops, sheep goats, cattle, camels, and horses.

The first hotel in Mongolia was the Ulaanbaatar Hotel. This opened in 1961. It was also the first public building to have hot and cold running water.

The three most popular sports are horse racing, archery, and Mongolian wrestling.

On September 17, 2011, 6,002 wrestlers participated in the Mongolian National Wrestling Match. It was the largest wrestling competition in the world, according to the Guinness World Records.

The Mongolian Takhi horse is the last wild horse in the world. Mongolians do not name their horses; they refer to them by color.

The world's longest horse race is in Mongolia. The Mongol Derby is raced nearly 625 miles across the vast Mongolian Steppe following Ghengis Khan's ancient postal system route.

Singing while riding a horse is quite popular in the country. Horse riders use a technique known as “Throat Singing” also known as “Khoomi Singing”. Singers use their throat and nose to produce two different sounds at the same time.

My inspiration for this week's card is based on this fact about Mongolia... There are 13 times more horses in Mongolia than humans and sheep outnumber humans 35 to 1.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp Set: Stampin' UP! Let It Ride stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Paper: Neenah 110# Solar White, Recollections Black and Natural/Beige CS and DP from my scrap file

Dies: MFT Stitched Rectangles and MFT Stitched Tag-Corner Rectangles

Embellishments: Gina Marie Enamel Dots