Some countries are similar to each other. For example, Indonesia is similar to Malaysia and Brunei in terms of culture, food, and language. Indonesia is similar to Japan in terms of being an island nation. It is similar to other countries lying on the equator in terms of climate.

On the other hand, some countries cannot be any more different from each other. For example, while Indonesia has humid rainforests and deep blue seas, Middle Eastern and North African countries have deserts and oases, Northern European countries and some republics in the Russian Federation have boreal forests and permafrost, and some central Asian countries have steppes and dry winters.

Of all these countries, no one can be any more different from Indonesia other than Mongolia. You might be wondering why. Kazakhstan is also a country whose identity was built on nomadic traditions. It has steppes, and it has a profound love for meat. Why not Yemen? The place is mostly dry weather and wasteland. Why not Chile? It lies from north to south instead of from east to west like the very country that is Indonesia. Below, we will tell you why.

1. Culture
The Mongols and the other people that constitute the Mongolian population, including various Turkic tribes such as Tatars, Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and Turkmens, were, and still significantly are, nomadic-pastoralist people, whose lives depend on the movement of their livestock. Indonesia, meanwhile, is a heavily agricultural country whose populations are relatively sedentary as opposed to moving along with the season.

While Indonesians traditionally built their houses near their paddy fields, the Mongols live in tents called Yurt or Ger that are regularly assembled and disassembled ins search of a place for their herds to graze. Similarly, while the Indonesian diet is heavy in agricultural products, Mongolian cuisines almost, if not all, comprise only meats and dairy products.

 

 

 

 

 

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2. Religion
While claiming to be secular, Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country with Christian, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, and folk believer minorities. In Mongolia, a truly secular country, the situation is the opposite. Buddhism and Tengrism (heaven worship) are the religion of the majority, while Islam is a minor religion practiced mainly by the previously mentioned Turkic peoples. This is what sets Mongolia apart from other nomad-based Asian steppe countries such as Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, where most of the population are Muslims.

 

 

 

 

 

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3. Geography
Indonesia is an archipelago, meaning it comprises many islands. Indonesia borders Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor Leste by land and borders Australia, India, Palau, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam by land. Mongolia, on the other hand, is a landlocked country sandwiched between the Federation of Russia to the North and the People's Democratic Republic of China to the south.

While there are countless volcanoes in Indonesia, there is only a handful in Mongolia. While rainforests and beaches dominate the Indonesian landscapes, the Mongolian landscapes are all steppes, deserts, or taigas. While less than one percent of the land in Mongolia is arable, a little over 14 percent is arable in Indonesia.

 

 

 

 

 

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4. Population
Indonesia is one of the most populous countries in the world, with the island of Java being home to more people (Over 1,000 people per square kilometer) than the entire population of Russia. In Mongolia, one of the least densely populated countries in the world, there are roughly only two people living under each square kilometer of its endless blue sky.

 

 

 

 

 

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That being said, both Indonesia and Mongolia are beautiful countries in their own way. Let's visit Mongolia together sometimes, shall we?