MONGOLIA WAS...
There is a mountain, right on the eastern border, called Shiliin Bogd Uul.
I wanted to climb it, see sunrise, and thereby revive my 'spirit'. But I didn't get to it.
And in the ensuing years I came to see this as a failure that was emblematic of my lack of ambition and fulfilment.
At the time I thought: by seeking the mountain you don't reach it.