Memories of China and Mongolia.

This is the diary of my trip to China and Mongolia in the summer of 2009.

I'm writing this posting just a shortwhile after having returned to the US. At the moment, I'm sitting at the departure gate at La Guardia airport. My connecting flight back to DC has been delayed by who knows how long thanks to a really bad thunderstorm hovering over Long Island.

It has been an extremely long travel day and I really, really just want to get home. Luckily, I have my computer and all the photos I took on this trip to help me pass the time.

As I scroll through the pictures, I'm still amazed by all the experiences I had on this trip. I had a phenomenal time from start to finish.

Things in China are of scale and scope that is often hard to fathom. Current day China has a largest population in the world and it seems like all of China was visiting the same sights I was.  Everywhere I went, I was surrounded by masses of people.

And, if Beijing is not already the largest city, geography wise, in the world, it soon will be. The size of its airport is most certainly daunting as one terminal is more than a mile long!  Unlike DC, where we only have one highway that encircles the city, Beijing has 5 and I was told there would soon be a sixth Ring Road.  Unbelievable!!

Sain yavaarai!

Back row, from left to right: Sharon (Shaz), Adrian (Doors), Violeta, Erka, Theresa, Puji, Rachel, Gamba, Karen, Forrest, Evan, Adam and another one of our drivers.
Front row, from left to right: Our driver (and I'm so bad for not remembering his name considering we spent 10 days riding around in his car), me, Eric, Cathleen, Jenny, Marilyn and the another of our drivers. Maree took the photo so she's not in the shot.

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he title of this posting is how you say goodbye in Mongolian. Don't ask me how to pronounce it. Puji said it about a million times to me but I just can't get it :-(

Picnics.

When you're travelling across the Mongolian steppe, where villages are far and few between, the only lunchtime dining option is to bring your food along and picnic. So, that's what we did on most of our roadtrip days.

Riding camels on the dunes of the Bayan Gobi.

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he sand dunes of Bayan Gobi were as close as we were going to get to any landscape that remotely resembles the famed Gobi Desert.

On the road.

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here were a lot of long car rides on this trip. Fortunately, good conversation helped bide the time. If no one felt like chatting, I plugged my headphones and listened to some music. One thing for certain, the rides were way to bumpy to do any reading so looking out the window and watching the scenery go by was a good option.

Uh.....

Some things you can't explain. Uh, such is the case with the stone penis that we saw on our way out of Kharkhorin.

Puji said we had to go visit it....it's a famous landmark. Uh....okay. So we went and we saw. Uh, photo op anyone? Not me. I let Puji do the honors.

Supposedly, the penis was erected (no pun intended...*blushing*) so it points up towards a supposedly 'vaginal' slope above. This was allegedly a deterrent to restrain the sexual impulses of the monks and ensure their good behavior.

Uh, sure...*wink, wink*

The Chant of the Monks.

Hard to believe but I was in Tibet for 10 days and during that short stay, I managed to vist quite a few Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. Go figure that I would not hear monks chanting until I visted Erdene Zuu Monastery in Mongolia.

We arrived at Erdene Zuu just in time for the 11am chanting session. I was determined to experience the chanting so I quickly rushed to the chanting hall.

Erdene Zuu.

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ne of the highlights of my trip to Mongolia was our visit to Erdene Zuu Monastery, located on the site of Chingis Khan’s capital city of Kharkhorin. Kharkhorin is often confused with the "Karakorum" (the mountains and highway between Pakistan and China) but it is actually pronounced "Harhorin" . The city was founded in 1220 by Chingis, and completed by his son, Ogedai, after his death.

The Eagle and I.

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got to hold a Golden Eagle!! No, I wasn't hunting. This was very touristy moment that took place in the vendor stalls just outside the entrance to Erdene Zuu Monastery. There was one vendor who for a small fee, (can't remember how much.....didn't really care) would let you put on a leather glove and hold the bird. I simply could not turn down this opportunity and I'm so glad I did it!

The day the moon came between the sun & the earth.

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his morning, we saw a partial solar eclipse!!

A solar eclipse is when the moon sits between the sun and the earth. In a total eclipse, the skies go dark as the moon completely blocks the sun so all you see is the corona of the sun.

Zayain Khüree.

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e arrived into Tsetserleg, the provincial capital of Arkhangai, just after lunch. Finally, a town that I can actually point to on the map! Woohoo! :-)

Taikhar Chuluu. That's some rock!

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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?

Chuluut River Canyon.

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n our way to Tsetserleg, we broke journey to stretch our legs, return Mother Nature's call, and have a look at the Chuluut River Canyon. The canyon was really nothing much to look at especially if you compare it to the spectacular Grand Canyon.

Unlike the Grand Canyon which is composed of layers of sandstone, shale and limestone, the Chuluut River Canyon is a swatch through basalt rock which imparts the predominantly gray coloration.

The Chuluut River is famous for its rich fishing grounds and there are plenty of fish tours that come here. Of course, the waters in Mongolia are so pristine, I think every river and lake is teeming with fish!

Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur. This one didn't get away.

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nown as the "Great White Lake" in English, Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur is a large, freshwater lake located within Khorgo-Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur National Park.

According to legend, the lake was formed when an elderly couple forgot to cap a well after fetching water. Scientifically speaking, the lake was formed by lava flows from a volcanic eruption many millennia ago.

Khorgo Uul.

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horgo Uul is an extinct volcano that ies east of Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur Together, the volcano and the lake are the core of the Khorgo-Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur National Park. We arrived at the volcano late this afternoon. It was a cold and dreary day so I put on the blue plastic rain jacket that we had gotten from Puji. As I got out of the SUV, I felt the raindrops. Luckily, it was just a light drizzle....not enough to deter us from hiking up to the top of the volcano.

Walking on water.

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heep, horses, camels, gers, and wide open sky. These were things I was expecting to see on my trip through Mongolia. Never in a million years was I expecting to see water zorbs. Would you? :-)

As we drove along the shores of Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur (Great White Lake), we all of sudden saw five brightly colored plastic balls floating on the surface of the placid lake. Huh? What was this all about? We had to find out so our caravan of SUVs pulled over and we all jumped out. As we neared the balls, I could tell they were zorbs but I had never seen ones on water.

Jargalant.

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e're in Jargalant....located somewhere in Mongolia....basically, another town in the middle of nowhere. We arrived into Jargalant around mid-morning and had a couple hours to kill. First stop was the local grocery store to pick up some munchies. According to Puji, there is a small Lama Buddhist temple and a museum in town.....in case any one was need of a culture fix. It was a beautiful day so I just decided to wander about, look at the scenery and do some people watching.

Mongolia bridge fallin' down.

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f London bridge is fallin' down, then this wooden bridge that we came across on our way to Jargalant is on it's last stud :-)

Zuun Nuur.

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e arrived at the ger camp at Zuun Nuur in the late afternoon. This was the first time that several of the gers were three person gers. I shared one with Sharon and Adrian and Violeta bunked in with Alexandra and Teresa. Perfect for her because our Portuguese travel mates prefer to be sleeping in a really, really warm ger which is perfect for Violeta.

Khövsgöl Nuur.

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uick lesson in Mongolian. "Nuur" means "lake" so this posting is about our visit to Lake Khövsgöl. Don't ask me how to pronounce the name....I'll mangle it.