Early morning breathing proves difficult in Ulaanbaatar, dense with coal smoke and car exhaust and frigid temperatures. Our land cruiser is packed and ready for drive to the southern Gobi. Good to see our spare tire is ready for action. This being the 2nd time doing the drive, I'm aware that for the next 12 hours, every organ, muscle and thought will be reacting to the jolts of the 4-wheel road beneath us. Glad I spent a couple of hours stretching this morning.
"You know how to go?", Iskra asks me. More or less. Just head south. Whether we go to the right of that knoll or to the left, we just need to keep the sun on our left until lunch time and we'll be headed the right direction. Or just follow the powerlines. Anyway, our driver will take care of us.

Buddhist cairns also lead the way. And in general, we can follow the traffic, even if they're riding a horse.

The road winds and rolls along the alpine steppes of the Mongolian countryside as the sun sits crowned with a rainbow halo that touches the horizon. Countless horses run wild and free, camels clump together with a fixed gaze on the horizon and we fly along, slowly released from the structure of the rest of the world. This is what I love about Mongolia. It is a place to get lost from the cosmopolitan castles of western countrysides.

Enkhayar stops in front of a ger for lunch. The town serves as a truck stop for travellers. It is warm and cozy inside and the warm milk tea fills our bellies well.

We move on. With my 20 gig music drive on tap, the next 9 hours of 4-wheeling are accompanied by a killer soundtrack. The sun sets an auburn flood across the desert and we arrive to our destination, infused with the mysterious beauty of the Gobi. One long day done well and it's time to curl up next to the stove in my home ger.