This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Mongolians have a unique and poetic way of categorizing things in nomadic culture. It’s called Earth’s Three. For example, Earth’s Three Fast are clouds riding the wind, the thoughts of a clever person and a horse galloping. So it’s kind of fitting that Mongolia is one of the first places to embrace What3Words, a new way of addressing mail. Mail delivery has always been tricky here what with nomads spread out on a grassland the size of Texas and a lack of street signs in Ulan Bator. What3Words has divided the earth into 57 trillion segments, each one with its very own three word address. Thus, a yurt near Lake Yakhi would be “dissident.sloth.ploy” or a letter to the US Embassy in Ulan Bator would be delivered to “eyebrows.conforms.zebra.” No two of these Earth threes are alike. Comments about this Postcard can be sent to KPR “thank. career.cattle.”

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.