It is hard to navigate without a guide, unless you happen to speak Mongolian, but there is little evidence of any danger to the ordinary traveler. And it is easy to find an interpreter in Mongolia's capital, Ulaan Baatar, and then to make the 90-minute flight from there to Dalandzagad, the provincial capital in the central Gobi. There are always a few surprises. When your flight descends toward Dalandzagad, do not bother looking for a runway. There is none.
Planes simply land on the open, dusty flatlands.
There is little to see in Dalandzagad, once a watering hole and now a full-fledged town of 5,000. It has a hospital and a school and a building where the province's few officials work. Out in the desert, life is pretty quiet for the Mongolians, who tend and milk animals all day. An offer of a meal and a place to stay often follows. Even though it was nearly sundown, Byambaa, a handsome woman of 50 in a blue Mongolian tunic and green kerchief, did not look surprised when Tomur and Lutaa, my guide, randomly chose her ger for a visit.