Suitcase and World: Taikhar Chuluu. That's some rock!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Taikhar Chuluu. That's some rock!


T
aikhar Chuluu is a 25 meter tall pinnacle of granite that rises abruptly from the surrounding grassland. On our way to Tsetserleg, we took a quick stop to check it out. If the vendors were any indication, this place is quite the tourist hotspot. Who would've thought?




I don't know why but apparently, locals worship the rock as a deity. The rock is the subject of many local legends, the most common one being that a great baatar or hero, crushed a huge serpent here by hurling the rock on top of it. I guess because of the legend, some locals worship the rock as a deity.





Other locals claim there are some ancient Tibetan inscriptions on the rock, though the thing is covered with so much graffiti, I don't know how you could spot any ancient writing. It wasn't until I took the photo that I realized there's actually an ovoo on the very top!

From a purely scientific perspective, there is no common agreement amongst geologists about the origin of this huge boulder, and it remains an enigma.

Well, thankfully, it was just a really quick stop because for me, this rock was just a rock :-(