ODYSSEY celebrates with new Mongolia guide
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[Hong Kong, December 02, 2009] — Asia’s leading travel publisher ODYSSEY is celebrating a 30th anniversary with the launch of a new armchair guide to Mongolia.
Mongolia: Nomad Empire of Eternal Blue Sky is a lavishly illustrated, comprehensive and insightful guide to the remote and landlocked country of grassy steppes, snow-capped mountains, forested ranges and deserts sprawled across the top of Asia between China and Russia.With a diverse natural history, rich culture and some of the most colourful and hospitable people on earth, Mongolia is a land of constant surprises. The 536-page guide is a mini-encyclopaedia of this little-known land that once gave the world the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan, and has been fully independent only since 1990.
With a reporter’s eye and historian’s ear, veteran foreign correspondent Carl Robinson takes readers on a highly-descriptive, factual and sometimes quirkily personal journey around this vast nation of only three million people who are far outnumbered by their domesticated horses, goats, sheep, cattle and camels.Starting aboard the Trans-Mongolian Train from Beijing, the book explores the capital Ulaanbaatar and then, fully-respecting Mongolian tradition, journeys clockwise around the entire country. Unlike others, this guide uses a more comprehensible approach that emphasises distinct geographic and historic regions instead of provinces. Most destinations are simply not on standard tour itineraries and will stimulate operators and tourists to discover new ones.
Lavishly illustrated with 250 colour photos by the author, and 14 maps, the book provides in-depth chapters on Mongolia’s history, from pre-history and the Mongol Empire to the modern Communist Era and present-day democracy, and also details its natural diversity, people and culture, including cuisine, entertainment and sports.
Scattered throughout are topic essays on geology, roads, traditional medicine, shamanism and staying with a nomad family, plus a range of literary excerpts. Meanwhile, up-to-date practical information, including websites and travel companies, assists readers planning their journeys.
The guide is the product of a long-nurtured relationship and partnership between ODYSSEY’s founder Magnus Bartlett and Khurlee Ankhbayar [or Ankhaa], of the Tengri Group, which was founded by Mongolia’s tourism industry.
“The Tengri Group is at the forefront of promoting sustainable development and protecting the environmental integrity of this beautiful country,” said Mr Bartlett.
The Mongolian National Tourism Organisation (MNTO) also provided invaluable assistance with the project. In recognition of this valuable friendship and despite below-freezing mid-winter temperatures, author Carl Robinson is taking the first copies of the book by train into Mongolia after its official launch at the China Club in Hong Kong on December 9th.This latest travel guide celebrates the 30th anniversary of publisher Magnus Bartlett’s first venture, a guide to Peking which was published in December 1979.Over 100 guides acclaimed by discerning travellers have followed under the Odyssey banner. Destinations have included the Silk Road, Three Gorges of the Yangtze, and Angkor.Recently, the company published a range of guides on Central Asia, including Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
For further information visit: www.odysseypublications.com /
About the Tengri Group
The Tengri Group is a young, dynamic consortium with interests in sectors representing the cornerstones of the Mongolian economy: the tourism and hospitality industries; agriculture; property management; construction; and mining.
It has pioneered new projects including: The Mongol Travel Corporation, improving tourism infrastructure through luxury resorts and lodges in stunning natural settings; Juulchin World Tours Corporation, Mongolia’s leading tour operator; Taimen Tours LLC, which operates fishing expeditions to northern Mongolia; adventure and outfitting companies Altai Outfitters, Gobi & Khangai Outfitters and Mongolian Outfitters Consortium; Edelweiss Hotel, one of only a few boutique hotels in the capital, Ulaanbaatar; and Baikal Gobi Express, which organises full-board sightseeing trips between Lake Baikal, Ulaanbaatar and the Gobi Desert on a comfortable private train (under development).For further information visit: www.tengrigroup.com
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