A Journey Through Mongolia: A Teenager’s Travelogue from 1993 In the summer of 1993, an 18-year-old American girl embarked on a 9 ½-week journey across Mongolia, hitchhiking or riding horseback through a country newly free from Soviet control. With no email, cell phones, or internet, Anna was cut off from family and the West, leaving loved ones with no way to know if she was safe — or even alive. "I traveled alone, but was never truly alone," she said. Mongolian friends and strangers became guides, companions, and caretakers, welcoming the young explorer into their lives with warmth and curiosity, sometimes whether she liked it or not. From the vast, treeless steppes where she slept in local farmers’ gers (yurts), to the forested mountains where she shared a teepee with reindeer tribes, she witnessed Mongolia in transition, vibrant with hospitality and resilience. This travelogue is drawn from the letters and journal kept during that time, lightly edited, preserving the "slightly immature and occasionally irrational" voice of this young traveler (in her own words). This journal aims to communicate what everyday life was like in Mongolia at the dawn of its new independence in 1993 through the eyes of a lone American teenager. It seeks to offer a glimpse into the nomadic traditions, harsh landscapes, and spirit of a people navigating a new era. What’s Inside: Personal letters and journal entries capturing the raw experiences of a teenage traveler. Vivid accounts of sleeping in strangers’ gers (yurts), crossing open steppes, and visiting remote reindeer tribespeople. Insights into Mongolia’s culture during its shift toward independence in the post-Soviet era. A story of connection, adventure, and discovery in an unfamiliar world. Join us on this unforgettable journey into a Mongolia few outsiders have seen: a world of wide horizons, rugged life, and warm hospitality — a Mongolia that no longer exists as it was then. The author aims to preserve it in these pages.