I never was able to set up a tour of the countryside of Mongolia, but I did do some things independently. The first was to Terelj National Park, which I already posted about, and the second was to the ancient Mongolian capital city of Kharkhorin. I was hoping to go the Gobi Desert, but after talking to other travelers, I decided that it was ok if I missed it. Mainly because I already live in a desert, and it probably wasn't going to be a whole lot different. And as I took the train to Beijing, we passed a stretch of the Gobi and sure enough, it looked pretty similar to Arizona. However, the trips out to Terelj and Kharkhorin, let me see plenty of the countryside and so I was satisfied.

To get to Kharkhorin, I took a six hour bus trip from UB. It turns out that taking a 3 day trip to Kharkhorin on my own was actually a lot cheaper then doing it through a tour. Taking a tour would have cost about $200, while I did it on my own for less than $50!! The bus trip was rather uneventful, but the scenery was amazing. Outside of UB, there is basically nothing, just countryside. Plenty of grasslands, mountains and at one point some sand dunes. It was really cold the few days before and so the mountains were dusted with snow. Occasionally we passed by extremely small villages that would consist of maybe a half a dozen small homes or the occassionaly isolated ger. There were plenty of herds of cows, horses, sheep, goats and in the desert areas, camels. The herds roamed were ever they wanted and almost didn't seem to be owned by anyone, though they were. Several times, the bus had to honk to get them off of the road. As I have said before, the infrastructure in Mongolia is fairly limited and it was noticeable on this bus ride. The road was paved up to a point and then it became a dirt road and the roads had plenty of potholes, that the bus was constantly swerving around.

Kharkhorin was named the capital city of the Mongol empire by Chinggis Khan in 1210. However, it was his son, Ogedei, that actually built the city. The Mongols were naturally nomadic, so they didn't have many cities, and more than likely most of the residents of Kharkorin were foreigners or slaves that were captured by the Mongols. The city only lasted as a capital for about 40 years, before Kublai Khan moved the capital to Dadu, which is modern day Beijing. And because of this, the ancient city is now basically nonexistent. There were a few markers that shown the borders of the ancient city, but now it is just an open prairie. The bricks that once made up the city, where used to build the Erdene Zuu Monastery near the site of the city.

Modern day Kharkhorin is just tiny village that is set in a beautiful valley. It has some interesting and some peculiar sites around it. The Erdene Zue Monatery is quite nice, with three gorgeous temples, filled with beautiful Buddhist deities and art. Outside of the monastery is one of four turtle markers, which marked the edges of the ancienty city. The turtle was a symbol of eternity for the Mongol people. However, one of more peculiar sites of the area, is what is called Phallic rock. And as the name implies it is just a large stone penis, that is situated, errogenously pointing to a slope, called the "vaginal slope", which again as it names implies resembles a vagina. Apparently, this peculiar site was meant to keep the monks from fraternizing with the local woman…how, I am not certain!

One of the reason I wanted to come here was because of the history of the place. The Mongol Empire was the largest, continuous empire in the history of the world and for a brief period this was the seat of it's power. Chinggis Khan or Genghis Khan, as you may know him as, was one of the greatest men in history, in fact he was named the Man of the Millennium by the Washington Post in 1995, yet he has a reputation as a bloodthirsty warlord. The truth of the man is quite different. He rose from humble origins to unite the warring tribes of the Mongols, to develop the greatest military machine the world has ever seen. Chinggis conquered a huge empire that range from the Pacific Ocean to the steppes of Russia and his sons and grandsons expanding his empire into the Middle East and into China, India and South East Asia. Yes, the Mongols were brutal in their tactics, at times destroying entire cites and populations, but only if the city defied them. If a city surrended to them and paid them tribute, they left that city completely unmolested.

Once Chinggis Khan gained power, he made a lot of changes to the Mongol systems. He brougth law and art to the Mongols. His law code was so well respected, that it was said that a women could carry a pot of gold across the whole breadth of his empire without any worry about rape or robbery. He also brought religious tolerance to his empire, as any religion could be practiced in his empire. Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and others lived along side each other without incident or persecution. Most of the areas he conquered were ruled by one of there own and were basically free to do as they like, as long as they followed the laws and paid the Mongols tribute, essentially becoming vassal states. However, once he died, the Mongols would slowly get away from his changes and because of this is one reason that the empire would eventually collapse. So, don't think of Chinggis as a brutal, murderous barbarian, because the man was ahead of his time.

That's enough history for now! I write about it, because it's interesting to me, but I do hope some of you find it interesting too! Anyway, I am now on my way to Beijing, so I am leaving Mongolia. I am definately ready to go on, though. Mongolia is a fascinating country, but it is also a difficult country to travel in. For an outdoorsman with a lot of time it would be probably be paradise, because there is plenty of open spaces and nature for camping, hiking and horseback riding. I like camping occassionaly, but I am not really an outdoorsman, but I did enjoy my time here.

I did run into some trouble on my last night in UB, however, so there is another reason I am very glad to be leaving Mongolia right now. I am not going to go into detail, because I don't want anyone to worry, but everything turned out alright and I am fine. It's behind me and now I am getting ready to explore China! See you all later!