Mongolia Mongolia was always an obsession of mine - I think I was attracted more to the "idea" of going to Mongolia than actually having any interest whatsoever in the country . 5 weeks later, I was hooked. Mongolia was an experience to say the least; in retrospect, it felt more like cultural immersion 101 than real travel. It was pretty challenging at times; the language barrier being the main obstacle. But I survived and all the better for it. (Get to the point Eddie, I can hear you saying....)Mongolia was so beautiful in everyway: the people, the culture, the landscape (minus Ulaatar Baatar). A country trying to come to gripes with the modern world, entrenched in its Soviet past; the collsion of the past and present was evident in Mongolia. (ie: A nomad herder on a mobile in the middle of nowhere.) I stayed with a host family; an interesting experience: the main being that I got to see a side of Mongolia that I wouldn't have as a tourist. Tourism can be such a barrier: mixing the real and superficial, till you don't know what is what.Anyway, highlights included: camping twice - once with some locals, the second with some tourists; meeting up with an old friend from Seattle who I hadn't seen in 14 years; clubbing with my Mongolian buddies in UB; and, of course (and I know some of you know already) but an apperance I had on Mongolian National television. I spoke absolute rubbish, but since half of the audience had no idea what I was saying, it didn't really matter. I am tempted to keep on writing, but this is an email, not a novel, so I'll carry on to chapter 2.