After a very enjoyable night’s sleep in a full sized bed, the buffet served at the hotel was more than acceptable. The only issue was that the bacon was cooked US style, and every time one stabbed it with a fork, shards would end up all over the plate. Still, this was easily fixed with fingers, and the hotel had decent coffee, so we counted this as a success.
After checking out and paying the laundry bill, we were taken out to Gandan Monastery, the major monastery for all of Mongolia. This temple is based on the Tibetan style of Buddhism, but has been adjusted to fit in with the Mongolian lifestyle. Monks are allowed to have wives, and also children, but the expectation is for celibacy and enlightenment. Maybe next time round. The monastery itself was mostly austere, with several ranks of prayer wheels and stupas, buildings containing sutras mostly written in a form of Sanscript and the main prayer room filled with monks chanting the daily morning prayers. The complex did contain a 24m tall Buddha crafted from bronze which was fairly spectacular, and plans are in progress to build a new complex containing a golf course, luxury hotel, kid’s adventure playground and a 154m tall bronze Buddha, which would dwarf the Christ on the Mount and even the Statue of Liberty.
We drove from here out of UB towards the east to the Chinggis Khan statue; a 43m tall rendition of Chinggis mounted on a horse, supposedly placed where he found the golden whip which helped to unify all of the Mongol tribes. Now. The statue itself is stunning, I mean, a 43m tall ‘chunk’ of brightly polished stainless steel is going to stick out on the landscape, but you would think that the country would put more care into the maintenance of the monument. There were a large number of broken stairs throughout the complex, the railings weren’t properly fixed to the wall and the toilets didn’t work properly. No wonder Chinggis has a pissed off expression on his face!
From here we drove into the Terelj (a native wildflower, quite rare and looks like an elderweiss) National Park to where we would be staying, at the Buuveit girl campsite. As we pulled up, our guide informed us that as it was late in the season and we were the only ones staying in the camp, and the fact that the water had frozen in the pipes, that there were no showers available. Great. Tomorrow night on a train with no shower access as well. The gir was quite roomy, with everything focussed around the central fireplace, which of course was now smoking hot. All very good, but there was no temperature control on it, and it continued to get warmer inside.
We had a short lunch of salad, vegetable soup and some form of beef curry and were then whisked off to visit a local Mongol family living in a traditional gir. Off course, we were then offered bowl after bowl of their ‘milk tea’, complete with bread and clotted cream, dried whey and biscuits. Immediately after lunch! We managed to fill in about 50 minutes of awkward silence and stilted questions until I showed them a picture of Katie on a horse, and then they seemed more interested. I think in the horse more than anything else.
After being dropped back at our camp, our guide and driver went back to UB, leaving us to our own devices. Ben, John and myself went for a walk up one of the ridges to get a better view of the surrounding area, and then John went and had a few attempts at shooting a Mongolian bow while Ben and I kept walking. Dinner was a quiet affair of steamed dumplings and cabbage and a small Twix bar for desert. The girls fell silent around 8:30-9:30pm, and we all struggled to find a comfortable sleeping position in this ‘sauna on a slope’! One of the camp attendants came into the gir at 10pm, midnight, 3am and 6am to restore the fire in case we got cold. Cold??? The only time I got cold was when I had to pee after the 3am visit and I walked to the outside toilet in a pair of shorts, jumper and my boots!