Beneath the Yurts of Mongolie - Marc Alaux

The plateau of Mongolie stretches from the Siberian taiga to the frontiers of China. Pure landscape, distant horizon: the Land of Grasses seems timeless. Yet seven decades of communism followed by the surge of capitalism have transformed the lives of Genghis Khan's descendants. Marc Alaux has completed four walking journeys through Mongolie, during which he spent a year and a half and covered 6,000 kilometers. He traversed the country's central and eastern grasslands, as well as its southern deserts and its mountainous, forested borders. Eager to share the way of life of the Sons of the Steppe, he immersed himself in the Mongolian language, forged friendships, lived under the yurts of nomadic herders, participated in pastoral tasks, celebrations, and seasonal migrations. He also spent time in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, and in isolated villages, in order to grasp all the nuances of a society rich in spiritual heritage.

An intrepid walker and devoted admirer of the land of the Blue Sky, he delivers a quest for the "Mongolian soul" that reads as both an adventure narrative and an essay in ethnology.

A truly magnificent travel book, precise and with stunning descriptions. An essential discovery.