WOW from Ulan Bator, the capital city of Mongolia. We have let our hair down and are holding nothing back about the misery of Russia. We did our best to remain positive while there but now we are admitting to each other how difficult it really was. I am so happy and so is the team to have crossed the border. The difference since entering Mongolia is beyond explanation. We have been welcomed with open arms by this spectacular country and its people. We've enjoyed every meal so far. Today, in Ulan Bator familiarly known as "UB," we have access to the outside world again and I can communicate with you all. Once we leave UB we will be out of touch again for awhile, crossing the Gobi Desert, but will be in Beijing before too long. From there on out there should not be a communications issue. Actually it will become insane for us as we transition back into the modern world.

I was a lousy history student but I remembered that at some time in history Mongolia had a Chinese connection. At breakfast we had a long talk with Temuujin, our Run Services guide. His name is the real nee name of Ghengis Khan. He is a history book, well educated with a degree in history and philosophy from Moscow University. Temuujin confirmed that until 1911 Mongolia was a part of Manchuria which included China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, some Muslim countries and southern Khazakstan. Then, with the help of Russia, Mongolia declared its independence. Middle Mongolia went independent, southern Mongolia remained a part of China and northern Mongolia became a part of Russia. Mongolia is 1.5 million kilometers square and has a population of 2.7 million. One million of the people live in UB. There are four industrial cities and 21 smaller cities or towns such as the one we stayed in last night, Sukmbaatar in the Selenge Province. For each Mongolian citizen there is one kilometer square of land available.

Typical rural families have one horse and over 200 sheep and goats. They live in movable yurts that are on the plains during the summer months and moved closer to the mountains out of the wind for the winter. We had the incredible opportunity of visiting a yurt family with our guide. The homeplace area included two yurts and a wooden structure. A monk lived in one of the yurts and I got a short glimpse of him walking in the yard. The yurt we entered was the home of a newly married couple. She was asleep and he greeted us and invited us to partake of a creamy horse's milk on the stove, some homemade curd and hunks of meat and jerky from goat and lamb and who knows what. I was able to avoid the tastings by doing other things in such a way that I don't believe our host noticed that I did not participate. Emmanuel and David went whole hog, particularly Emmanuel who was cutting away at the meats with a knife while in his mouth. Even if I was game under normal circumstances, I was not going to risk it after my stomach upset the last few days.

We saw amazing things today driving through northern Mongolia to UB, including camels, yaks, herds of horses, sheep and goats, and the indicia of Buddhism - the dress, the flags, the statues and other memorials. There is a spirituality that pervades the atmosphere. Prayer flags are draped on trees and poles. The blue flags stand for sky and water, the green for earth, yellow for the sun, red for fire and grayish white for a mother's milk. There were some black ones but I don't know the symbolism of those. The experience was very much like being in Nepal, especially with the smell of yak dung and urine so unique to that environment which is also decorated with Buddhist prayer flags everywhere. The one big difference, comparatively little little. This is a very clean country.

Mongolians live isolated lives on the plains. They experience significant climate changes between seasons, and there is alot of snowfall in the winter to the north. Major industries include gold and copper mining and cashmere wool from the goats and camels. One goat yields just 300 grams of cashmere wool per year, or the worth of approximately $35 U.S. So the yield per goat is very small, therefore the high price of cashmere.

As we drew closer to UB, the "Red Hero" as translated, the animals continued to roam along and across the highways even as the traffic increased. Entry to the City was hilarious much like driving into Albuquerque. It is very spread out with a low horizon profile and takes a long time to get to its center. There is some pollution here but it is an open city, colorful with an amazing gourmet fare of international restaurants. There is construction everywhere of new roads and buildings.

We had two memorable experiences in UB today. First David, Shiri and I we were dropped off at a spa for massages, what were described as sports massage. At the desk we were required to first pay a fee for a sauna and shower. They said the sauna was mandatory and then we could have a massage. shiri and I went in and were directed to strip, lock all our stuff in a locker and then follow this woman to a big door that said sauna. We entered what was a huge room filled with naked women taking hot showers, having their bodies rubbed and lolling around in the sauna room. I went back out to explain that I did not want a sauna as it dehydrates and we are working to stay hydrated. It was so frustrating because of the language barrier. As I was struggling, a woman in the locker area spoke up in English and proceeded to help with the explanation. She led shiri and I up to the massage area and talked with them to get us started. My massage felt good but was not the sports massage I needed so quite disappointing. We just have not been able to get what we need and are looking forward to the States where we can get to a good sports masseuse and talk about what we need. The best part of this was it cost all of about $20 U.S.

Then comes the best part. My friend pedro Spiller from the Coastal Challenge clued me in on a restaurant here, Pizza de la Casa. About 14 of us went with our guide. The vegetarian pizza, the spinach and garlic pizza and the mixed vegetable salad with ice cold Mongolian beer to wash it all down was awesome. I believe it cured whatever was left of my stomach problems, certainly any residuals from that left over in my head. We were also celebrating two birthdays, lead technical director Edo turned 30 today and runner Simon turned 27 the upcoming midnight.

I am around so many talented worldly young people half my age to whom I could be a parent or grandparent. Some times I really miss peer companionship, other times I am fully a part of the mix and awed by the way in which our generations cross and intertwine fluidly. Laughter is often what breaches the age abyss. We need the comic relief. We so needed it in Russia. I am identifying my rigidities and trying to let them go, hoping to return to life in Vermont more able to embrace all that I have and appreciate every waking moment of my life. At the same time, I hope to return with the ability to continue to work on a global scale to help others not as fortunate.

Some Mongolians have a different theory on the ultimate result of global warming; that it won't be another ice age but that the world will be covered by the sands of Asia. In Mongolia, the snowstorms of the past have diminished over the past 10 years, the countryside is more arid, water bodies are shrinking and many of the tributaries into the Gobi Desert have dried up. It has also gotten more windy. The sands of the desert are ever moving so some opine that the sands are being blown particle by particle into the air and to the East to eventually cover the world as we all dry up and become desert. Once again, the phenomenon is all about water.

Water is life. Pass it on!