Горхи-Тэрэлж - Gorkhi Terelj National Park

So that my parents would have a chance to get out of UB and
see the countyside we took a day trip out to Gorkhi Terelj
National Park (about 50-60 km east of UB). Gans' brother,
Ganbut, was our driver / guide for the day.


Samuel kindly offered to drive the van.



The national park's most famous landmark is Turtle Rock.
I wonder why they call it that?


We stopped for lunch just near the Turtle Rock and had our
first Mongolian culinary experience.


Little boy outside the ger in which our lunch was
served.


Yum!


Yep, he's everywhere.


Terelj monastery high up on a hill. We walked from the
bottom of the vallery up the the temple. The view was well
worth the walk.


Giddy up, dad!


Everyone enjoying the walk.


This is the caretaker of the monastery. He took great
pride in pointing out that the temple's door handles were
in the shape of two mice by pointing to the doors and
announcing - "mouse, mouse". He then dubbed Samuel
"mouse" and would call out "mouse, mouse" each time he
saw him.


Little boy looking pleased with himself.


The detail of the monastery was gorgeous and had
a particular Mongolia flavour to it. Note the winter scene
of daily activities outside a ger.


Poor elephant.


There are 108 (an auspicious number in
Buddhism) prayer wheels around the
monastery. Samuel insisted on spinning
them all...twice.


Buddhist graffiti above the monastery.


A family adventure, well worth the walk.


The view of Terelj from the Monastery.


Everyone having a rest before the walk back.


Priorities.


The little boy who lived down the lane, perhaps?


There were plenty of smiling faces along the way.


A family's ger and animals on the Steppes of Terelj. The
tire tracks leading to the ger were typical of the 'roads'
we travelled.


Along the way we stopped at another family's camp (note the
solar panel in the background).


We were invited into the family's ger for a cup of salty
milk tea - steamy on the ger's stove in the foreground.


Samuel unfortunately wasn't the most gracious guest.


The ball cheered Samuel up very quickly. Anyone who
has seen Samuel lately will be familar with Samuel's
fondness for balls of all shapes and sizes.


The family's trusty horse...


and his beautiful saddle.


Ganbut chatting to the family's calves.


On the way out of Terelj our van overheated. We
waited until it cooled down and moved on. If you take
in the landscape in the background, you'll get some idea
of the predicament we would have been in if it
hadn't started again.


Ganbut was surprisingly unconcerned
about the van losing its cool.


About half an hour from UB, we came across
this big Chinggis. You can't quite tell how big
it is from this photo but it's not far off Statue of
Liberty proportions. It's still under construction
but when it opens you will apparently be able to take
an elevator up to the horse’s tail and then take stairs
into ol'Chinggis' head where there will be an observation
deck.

Outer Outer Mongolia

For four days we toured around central Mongolia with
a Sarah's friend Gans as our guide and a driver named
Enkbayar from Gans' tour company .


The lack of sealed road meant that we didn't travel a huge
distance. This road is marked on our map of Mongolia as a
major highway. Depsite the slow driving, we saw a lot along
the way. See below.


Samuel in his safari gear, ready for an adventure across
the steppes. Our guide Gans is looking on.


Samuel loved seeing the horses on the steppes. He always greeted
them with an enthusiastic "neiggghhh".


Give me a home on the steppes, with lots of pets, horse out
the back, motor bike out the front and a couple of old gers.


A Mongolian traffic jam.


The toilet at a small road house that we stopped at along the way.


There were many cranes happily at home
on the steppes.


A little ger dweller watching us pass by with interest.


Yak, yak, yak.


A three ger camp like this was a rare sight. The
nomadic families seem to usually keep their gers a fair way
apart to ensure that the surrounding land isn't overgrazed.


Yep, there was actually some traffic out there.


Another little ger dweller wondering what we're doing at his
house.


Although the landscape seemed so barren and
unpopulated, if you could see animals you could
be sure that there would be a family camped
somewhere nearby.

Хархорин - Kharkhorin & Erdene Zuu Khiid

Kharkhorin, with a population of roughly 9000, was the biggest
town we came across outside of UB. It's built near the site of
the imperial capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum.


The entrance to Erdene Zuu Monastery in Kharkhorin.
It was the first Buddhist Monastery to be established in
Mongolia (ca. 1585). It was originally built with the stones
from the ruins of Karakorum and at its height had over
60 temples and 1,600 monks.


Stupas against the sky. The wall of the monastery has 102
stupas on it. 108 is a very auspicious number in Buddism,
so it makes me wonder what happend to the other six stupas.


The vacant space in the foreground was once alive with
activity and the living quaters of monks that called
Erdene Zuu home. In 1939 the Russians purged
the monastery (and many, many others), killing most
of the monks and leaving only three temples, the outer-wall
and the stupas.


One of the remaining temples within the monastery's walls.


Sarah and Hannah (Samuel's on my back at this point in
time) walking towards the remaining temples.


The remaining temple complex within the monastery's walls.


Samuel boy spinning prayer wheels at Erdene Zuu.


The monastery's western gate. The vacant land through the
doors was once the the site of Ögedei Khan's
Karakorum.

Tsenher Hotsprings

We spent a night at this ger camp by the Tsenher hotsprings.
Our Ger was cosy, the food was excellent (e.g. yak bolognese)
and bathing in the hot springs' water was devine. We could
easily have spent a week there.


The gers were quite comfy. It's actually quite easy
to imagine living in one.


Samuel learning the actions to "Ms Polly had a dolly"
with Aunty Sarah before bunking down in the ger.


In the morning, we were greeted by the
most beautiful light and gorgeous scenery.


The ger camp's kitchen and dining hall. The chef at
this camp was great. Samuel had been off his food for a
couple of days, which had us very concerned. The chef
made it his mission to make some dishes that Samuel
would eat and to our delight he suceeded.


The water from the hot springs being piped down to the camp

.

Bathing in the hot springs' water!

Tovkhon Khiid

Enkbayar at the bottom of Tovkhon
Monastery. It was built in, around and
on top of the rocks in the background.
It was the retreat of one of Mongolia's
first religious leaders, Ondor Gegeen
Zanabazar. It is said that he designed
the Soyombo there (left).


We climbed up the rocks to the monastery's temples and
then onward to the top of the mountain.


Some of the small temples in the monastery.


The higher up the mountain / monastery you got, the
easier it became to understand why this was considered
such a holy spot. The view was breathtaking.


The ovoo at the very top of the monastery...well worth the climb.
Ovoos such as this one are all over Mongolia. Each time we passed
one in the car Gans or Enkbayar would toot the horn. If you are walking
passed you are expected to stop and walk around the ovoo three times in
a clockwise direction and add a rock to the pile. A lot of them also had
offerings from passers-by such as money or vodka.


Hannah and Sarah weren't permitted to climb
to the ovoo at the very top. Just to Hannah's
left was a sign which read "woman forbidden".


Gans by the ovoo at the top of the monastery.

Our time in China

En route to Mongolia and on the way out again, we spent a couple of days in Beijing. We explored the Great Wall, the Hutong district, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Below are a few photos from our time in and around Beijing.