Mongolia

After China we went to Mongolia, the real purpose of our trip. Steve was to meet with government officials, which he and 4 others from USU did. The spouses and some children (teens and above) hung out and had a wonderful experience. The capital city Ulaanbaatar is big and crowded. It was fun to see it and spend some time there. We met with some Parliament officials, walked around, saw a show with traditional Mongolian dance and music and were well fed.
We spent 7 nights in the country, sleeping in Gers (You may know them as Yurts, thats what the Russians call them), driving on bumpy dirt, 4-wheel drive roads, being fed by the herdsmen and their families, seeing beautiful countryside, with herds of cows, horses, sheep and goats. We ate mutton, beef, goat, horse, dried cheese and yogurt, yummy bread and berries. Everyone was sweet and kind to us. We rode a camel, held an eagle on our arm, Steve rode a horse and we rescued a goat from a volleyball net (very strange to have the net out in the middle of nowhere). We got to know the country a little and had a great time.

China

Our trip to China and Mongolia as exciting and fun and full of surprises. In China we visited the Forbidden City, very crowded, the Summer Palace, full of people but more room to walk around, a market place and the best!! the Great Wall of China. Wow it was awesome. We drove about 1 1/2 hours out of Beijing to a section of the wall Mitianyu, which has been restored. We took a chair lift up a steep mountain side to the wall. It is built along the ridge of a mountain range. We spent about 3 hours walking/hiking on the wall. It goes up and down the ridge, amazing, how did they build this thing? (with slaves I am sure) We worked hard and were very sore the next few days, but it was worth it.

We found a marketplace behind the alleyway we were staying in, it was about 2 football fields big, and had everything, from food to clothes, to hardware to services, so fun to see. We enjoyed our time in China and I would love to go back to spend more time there.