For your next getaway, ditch Paris and Portugal for something a little closer to home, and a lot more unexpected. Think slippery sand dunes, icy glaciers and pine forests and inky skies full of stars as well as pink sunsets, incredible culture, and incredible people, all across one terrain. We’re talking about Mongolia, land of the original nomad. Our friend Ambika returned from her recent travels beaming and with the dish on all that’s good in the land of the blue sky.

Stay:
Wherever you pick, make sure you stay in a traditional ger (tent). Made of skin, felt, or concrete (like the one pictured), gers are the traditional tents of the nomads, and essential for a toe-dip into the full nomadic experience.

Eat + Drink:
Try the salty tea made with yak milk, as well as the traditional Mongolian meat sampling available everywhere. Visit:
Gandan Monastery is a Tibetan-style Buddhist Monastery. Its name means “the big place of complete joy” and today is home to hundreds of monks. It houses a huge statue of Megjid-Janraiseg, a bodhisattva who represents compassion.

Experience:
Mongolian shamanism is a system of belief that includes medicine, religion, a reverence of nature, and ancestor worship. I wanted to meet a Shaman on this trip and I wasn't disappointed. I gave the traditional offering of vodka, milk and cigarettes and though I was told not to expect anything, a spirit of an old man entered this lady and told me a few secrets. Also look out for: Ovoos- sacred stone heaps used as altars or shrines for religious nomads. When travelling, it is custom to stop and circle an ovoo three times in clockwise direction, in order to have a safer journey.Discover:
Khongoryn Els also called Duut Mankhan is popularly known as the "Singing Sands". The sand dunes lie within the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park in Mongolia. It's a tough climb but a definite must do! Wear a hat and carry water.