Into the unknown - Stopover

After 109 days in South America and the Carribean, we are off today, on another big adventure, where we have no idea whatsoever to expect. We are headed to Mongolia, with a few days stopover in Istanbul. Most of the places we go to, either Flo or I, have been to before, but neither of us has been to Mongolia.
We do know that in the period 1200-1350, the Ghengis Kahn and the Mongols built the largest empire in history, only for it to collapse due to in- fighting, bubonic plague, and famine. But what's happened in the last 700 years. What awaits us?

The only thing that we know of well is the Mongolian yurt, which is now popular with Glampers. Those in the US may associate the Mongolian barbeque with the country, but in fact, that dish originated from Taiwan, and strangely, it's a stir-fry, not a barbecue

Normally, we also get info from other travellers, but in this case, we haven't met anyone who has been there. The closest might have been a colleague ( Michael G), who took part in Teams meetings ( online video calls), with a fake yurt background. I don't know if he did that out of love for the country or just to be fashionable.

So it's a leap into the unknown...and from the Caribbean it's a long leap, so long that we have to fly via Madrid and Istanbul. As I write, we are in Madrid, but only for 6 hours.Read more