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[ Ulaanbaatar ]

Greetings my friends, I hope you’ve been well.

It’s surprisingly difficult to switch back to verbal communication after 36 days without it. Friends and visitors back home in Nepal often visit our famous Vipassana meditation retreat, a ten-day course of looking inward–rather than communicating outward. These ten days are said to be profound, and profoundly difficult. To those friends, I can now say: What a bunch of LIGHTWEIGHTS!

Just kidding, of course. Structured meditation is a very different beast, and those who attempt to tame it deserve mad props. But 36 days is a loooooong time, and when I say my last 36 days have been non-verbal, I’m scarcely exaggerating; three conversations in broken English over a five-week period is difficult. [The Upside? Put me into any game of charades or Pictionary, and I. Will. DOMINATE.]

As a way to ease the transition, I’ve spent my first 24 hours back in UB focusing on images: sorting through the stills and videos from Phase 1. The images brought the emotions screaming back–the ecstatic highs and crushing lows (yes, there were a few of those)–and the words are hovering; not far behind.

Out of these raw materials, I’ve cobbled together two videos–hoping they will help with one of my primary tasks over the next week: publicity for Phase 2.

The latter of these two videos is attached above: the teaser trailer for Phase 2 of this Mongoliad (2015). Two minutes long, it’s a mere handful of evocative moments. I hope you find them well-chosen, and intriguing enough to pull you into my upcoming struggle–three months and ~3000km of whatever Mongolia, and capricious fate, have on offer.

Until dem nächst…