Mongolia Dressed in Snow

I’m blogging from a small hotel room in Mongolia’s second largest city, Darkhan. For the past two days, my colleagues and I have been traveling around the North Central part of Mongolia, talking to herders, crop producers, and local agricultural institutions. It’s been interesting as always, though a little challenging to look at pastures and crop land with all the snow. Tomorrow is our last day in Mongolia’s rural areas, before going back to Ulaanbaatar, and we will meet with more herders. Livestock is the traditional agricultural sector here in Mongolia, and nomadic herders have historically been the backbone of the country. Although Mongolia is rapidly urbanizing, a substantial share of Mongolia’s population are still traditional, nomadic herding households. I hope to be invited in into a traditional gher and I’ve been thoroughly briefed in gher customs such as not to step on the wood in the door post and to walk to the right in the gher, which is women’s side. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Mongolia’s spectacular landscape:

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