El Condor Pasa

N 47 11.795 E 102 51.821 - 12 October - Kharkhorin

On our way out, we stop at an old grave site, sort of vertical standing stones surrounding flat slabs and a few things of deer stone (carvings of mostly deer pictures). The drive is much of the same as yesterday, just in reverse. The drives are a bit shorter and we reach Kharkhorin fairly quickly. Also, there are a few more actual paved roads here, which seems to bore Dorj a bit.

The huge temple complex at Kharkhorin is pretty good. The vast majority of the temples were destroyed by the Stalinists, but a few remain and are nice to see. I finally get more of a handle on Buddhism here too. We have a guide from the temple who goes into great detail about the various parts of the temple. Ahh, so all the various gods, even the blue ones or the ones with lots of arms, used to be people and they have just ended up becoming enlightened. In the complex, we also pass the inevitable line of vendors, stuff laid out on blankets, yelling out, look here as we walk past. I find it interesting what sorts of things they try to highlight in that few seconds, their sales opportunity, will somebody want to see a metal head with 4 faces, or are they a sword kind of person, or a felt camel? I mostly try to ignore them.

Our ger camp is a pretty touristy one. The city is close to UB and a popular destination, so there are loads of camps around. We are there in the off season though. We had arranged a concert, a local musician who does the throat singing comes into our ger and sings and plays various traditional instruments. It is pretty interesting and something I had wanted to see. Although, he is actually a bit rubbish, especially his flute versions of some other traditional world folk tunes. But the horse fiddle is pretty nice though. I do buy one of his cds, although I won't be able to listen to it likely until I get to Australia and have a cd player again.


N 47 47.185 E 105 09.052 - 13 October - Lum

By now, Dorj's toothache is really bad, he has barely slept for 3 days now. we have given him various painkillers but they don't help. He goes to the local town yesterday and gets it pulled out, but that doesn't really even help much, they leave a few pieces in and he has to go back again. Country doctors. It is finally a day or two before he seems more back to normal. But this morning we are quite worried about him and sing songs in the van to keep his spirits up (and try to keep him awake).

We go for a morning walk up to Turtle Rock and Penis Rock. The turtle is pretty cool looking and the penis, well, I guess it looks like one. Apparently put there to remind wayward monks on their way to the brothel to think again.

We have a shorter drive again today and a few short stops. Mongel Els is a sand dune for those who can't make it down to the Gobi. We walk around there for like 30 minutes while Dorj has a nap. We have lunch in another restaurant, along the main road, a tourist sort of place, and then walking around the town, Zola needed to go to the bank to get some more cash, I smash my head probably the worst yet on the really low doorway of the bank. Hate them. Zola laughs at the bank because they give her a stack of notes about an inch thick for 1000 (worth about 1 USD). Country banks I guess.

We arrive in Lum, or nearby. We are nearly out of petrol by then, luckily we just make it. In the confusion and toothache and all, both had forgotten about getting more. Apparently if you pee in a bottle and put that in the tank, it can get keep you going for a while. Dorj and Zola throw a bottle back and forth and joke about who will have to do that.

The nomad family camp in Lum is really scenic and pretty. They mostly have horses and the grass is greener and they seem to have a pretty good setup. The sunset is really amazing and they prepare a Mongolian BBQ for us. A large pan with sheep and vegetables which they put hot rocks into and let it sit and stew for an hour or so. Even though it is more sheep, it is probably the best meal of the trip, a simple meal.

In the morning, we have a short horse ride around the area. These horses are more spirited than in other places so they don't really let us off the lead. We ride over a lovely hillside and then herd a few sheep. Kind of touristy but it is still nice.

Our main destination for today is the Hustai National Park, where they have reintroduced the takhi horses. Most of the time is spent in the visitor center watching the introduction video. Oh well, at least it was a lot of good information. A short drive through the park, there are the horses. Ok, yeah, they are pretty cool looking and it is really nice that they were brought back from near extinction.

We make it back to UB later that day and am annoyed that our promised double room isn't available. So we are stuck in the dorm that night. We also all head to the vegetarian restaurant, Luna Blanca, and are just so happy. Nothing here has even a little bit of sheep in it. We order loads and are so happy. We leave a pretty obscenely large tip, sort of embarrassing in hindsight, but we did have sheep for 10 days. We were in a bit of a state.

Ok, better end this one for now. There is a bit of Mongolia left, and I've been in China for almost a week now and better get to that. Beijing is pretty cool, I'm really loving it here and am obsessing about somewhat about learning Chinese. I need to get to writing about that, especially since we leave Beijing tonight and will be in Pingyao tomorrow. But ok, later then.