Life-changing travel experiences: China and Mongolia with my parents

“Home is in dialogue with the places you travel, and often serves as an interpretive lens.” – Rolf Potts 

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and his parents reflect their journey to China and Mongolia many years ago. The episode starts with an excerpt of Rolf’s 2001 NPR dispatch about the experience, then they recall their visit Korea four years earlier, when Rolf worked as an English teacher in Pusan (13:00); then they recount their impressions of staying together in a youth hostel in China, and exploring the sights of Beijing (20:00); and finally they recall their train ride to Mongolia, and their unusual experiences in the countryside outside of Ulan Bator (48:00).

George and Alice Potts are retired schoolteachers based in Kansas. Alice taught second graders in the Wichita public schools for more than 30 years. In 1994 her classes succeed in promoting legislation to declare the barred tiger salamander the Kansas State Amphibian. George taught science at various Wichita high schools, as well as at Friends University, where he pioneered graduate-level programs in Zoo Science and Environmental Studies. He also helped facilitate the Outdoor Wildlife Learning Sites (OWLS) program for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Notable Links:

• Raising My Parents in Mongolia, by Rolf Potts (NPR broadcast)
• The Rewatchables (podcast)
• The great railway bizarre (2018 Deviate podcast episode)
• On the Trans-Siberian Express, by Rolf Potts (1999 essay)
• Noraebang (Korean interactive music entertainment)
• Temple of Heaven (complex of religious buildings in Beijing)
• Tiananmen Square (large public square in Beijing)
• Summer Palace (ensemble of gardens and palaces in Beijing)
• Beijing Museum of Natural History
• Beijing Zoo 
• Sedgwick County Zoo (Kansas wildlife park)
• Flint Hills (iconic prairie region in Kansas)
• Naadam (Mongolian festival)
• Ger (Mongolian-style tent)
• Karakorum (old Mongolian imperial capital)
• Tough Mongolian horse-riding girl mentioned in episode (photo)

This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. If you’ve ever planned a trip with multiple stops, you know that finding the right flights can be difficult. Between balancing travel logistics and cost, it often becomes impossible to build an itinerary that matches your travel goals.  AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.