Tricycle | Awake in the World

Twenty hours in the air and half a planet away from home, we finally catch sight of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, in a treeless valley surrounded by the four sacred peaks of Bogd Khan, Bayanzurkh, Chingeltei, and Songino Khairkhan. It’s 10 p.m. when we land, yet the sun is only just setting at this northern latitude. Burnt-orange light streaks the ground between long shadows. The darkening sky and the treeless plain squeeze between them the last minutes of day. On the horizon, an iridescent thunderstorm pours torrential rain down its mushroom stalk. Soviet-era helicopters sit in the weeds and rust under sagging rotors.