Genghis Khan

Mongolia blew my mind this summer. Though I had dreamt of travelling there one day, this trip came as a surprise out of nowhere. Some challenging planning, personal economy struggles and convincing my boss later I found myself in the middle on never-ending Mongolian planes inhabited only by some semi wild horses.

Besides nature the country is known by it's great leader despite the fact he's been dead for nine centuries. Genghis Khan was the first Great Khan, united the nomadic tribes and lead Mongolian army to occupy most of the, then known and not so well known, world. His army was bloodthirsty, obedient and heartless. They were ruled by fear of loosing their lives or staining their honour. Khan's name you can read pretty much all over the country and boy is his statue grand in Tsonjin Boldog, which could also be called in-the-middle-of-nowhere.

Scary as he must have been at his time Genghis Khan also had pretty original ideas. For instance the Great Khan should be elected by Mongolian leaders. (In reality this didn't happen.) He also used religious scholars from Buddhist, Christian, Taoist and Muslim backgrounds as his advisors. This was religious tolerance beyond belief at that time. Genghis Khan was convinced an end would come to his empire and he advised his successors to keep that in mind. How many leaders today would say that out loud?

Finally an end did come. Europeans gave a sigh of relief and Mongolians returned to their nomadic lifestyles occasionally bothered by the Chinese. Little is left from those days in modern Mongolia. The ruins of Karakorum are barely seen and the ancient temple of this former capital has been rebuilt thanks to Japanese aid.

I'd still like to say there's something to learn from this leader despite his cruelty. I mean how many Asian names are so famous worldwide as his dating so far in history.