Mongolia, Mongolia

After breakfast we checked out of our hotel and drove to the Gandan Monastery, a Tibetan-style Buddhist monastery where over 150 Monks reside.  Inside sits the tallest indoor statue of Buddha, a giant 87-foot gilded statue, inlaid with over 2000 precious stones. It is quite an impressive sight. The perimeter of the inner sanctum of the Monastery is completely lined with prayer wheels. The Monks were chanting while we were there and the aroma of incense permeated the air all around the Monastery. Our next stop was the National History Museum which is a fabulous museum portraying the history of Mongolia though the ages. During our drive, our guide talks about life in Mongolia. English is now taught as the 2nd language in the schools in Mongolia so most of the younger population is quite fluent in English. Most families have 2-4 children and 2 cars and live in apartments or houses around the city center. The most populous animals in Mongolia are sheep and goats, followed by horses and cattle. We had a delicious lunch at Mirage restaurant. Musicians and a contortionist gave an amazing performance during lunch. We also did a bit of shopping at the Cashmere factory next door. After lunch, we transferred to the airport for our 1hr+20min charter flight to Dalanzadgad, our gateway to the Gobi and our Ger Hotel where we will spend two nights. After a fairly smooth ride and scary bumpy landing, we got into our land rovers for the 1 hour drive to the Ger camp. We are driving through the desert on non-existent “roads” to our camp. How in the world they figure out where they’re going is beyond me…..no roads, no signs and no GPS! It is a super bumpy, dusty ride. Kind of frightening to think that we just hopped into a car with 2 Mongols who don’t speak English and are driving us out into the middle of nowhere! Along the drive we see 2 humped camels, wild horses, sheep, goats and cows roaming across the landscape. The Ger camp is absolutely stunning. Wild horses are being herded by a Mongol on a motorcycle as we walk to our Ger. Our Ger, Pallas Cat (how appropriate that they chose that one for us!) is amazing. I’ve taken lots of photo’s. The manager of the lodge personally welcomed us and the staff greeted us with cool wash cloths and a wonderful tea. I’ve fallen in love with the little foal who is roaming outside our Ger. She was a motherless foal who was found by a staffer during a blizzard and is being milk fed by hand. So she now thinks one of the staffers is her Mother. This evening we had a fabulous dinner and then a lecture by Professor Tsogtbaatar, the head of Paleontology Laboratory and Museum of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. No one could understand much of what he said! He kind of mumbles and has an accent. The Ger camp and the Gobi are the most amazing experience ever! I’m in love with our dual Ger. One Ger tent houses our bed and the other attached one houses our bath and shower,. Jim is out drinking bourbon and smoking cigars with Hatim on the front porch of the lodge. I came back to the Ger to find our bed turned down and the stove at the foot of our bed stoked with a nice fire. The attendants will ease back in and stoke it again around 5:30am so it will be warm when we get up. Temperature tonight is very pleasant, probably in the upper 40’s. We’re praying tomorrow’s rain forecast is wrong. The wind blowing against the Ger frame makes a crackling, rustling sound. Kind of peaceful to listen to. Mongolia doesn’t seem like a large country when you look at it on the world map due to the fact that it’s wedged between the giant countries of Russia and China. However, it’s actually large. About 73% of the land is used for agriculture. Coal is one of their major natural resources and heavily exported to China. GANDAN MONASTERY Most Buddhist Monasteries in Mongolia were destroyed during the communist regime, which lasted until 1990. One of the only to survive was Gandan Monastery, being used as a showcase for visitors. It’s official name is Gandantegchinleng Khiid.  Gandan is the largest and most important monastery of Mongolia, with over 400 monks. During the 1930s the socialist government adopted a policy of banning all religious activities in Mongolia. As a consequence all monasteries were closed and monks were executed, jailed and disrobed all over Mongolia. In 1938, Gandantegchinleng Monastery was closed, but reopened in 1944 as the only functioning monastery during the socialist regime. After the democratic change took place in 1990 Buddhism regained its full right of worship. THE GOBI The word, Gobi, means waterless place in the Mongolian language.  The Gobi Desert is the largest desert in Asia and fifth largest in the world and is about twice the size of Texas.  It is located in the southern part of Mongolia and the far northern part of China. The Great Wall of China lies just to the South of the desert.  The Himalayan mountains create a rain shadow effect on the desert by blocking clouds carrying moisture from the Indian Ocean.  Because the Gobi is the most northernmost desert, it can be very cold.  Temperatures range from -40F to 120F. THE NOMADS The free-spirited nomadic lifestyle is a defining characteristic of Mongolian culture. Nomads pick up and move their gers, or traditional felt and canvas dwellings, several times a year based on the availability of food for their animals and the weather patterns. THREE CAMEL LODGE Three Camel Lodge offers a slice of the nomadic lifestyle with an elevated take on the classic ger. A ger (pronounced Gear) is round, cone-shaped tent that has only one door and no windows and is made out of boards with a wool covering so that it is easy to put up and to take down.  It has a small opening at the top, called a ‘toono” which allows smoke to go out of the stove’s chimney. The simple elegance of the gers blends with the Gobi’s remarkable landscape, and in keeping with Mongolian tradition, each has a southward-facing entrance. The ger’s oculus, or central opening to the sky, may have a practical use for nomads as a sundial, but it translates to spectacular stargazing at night from the privacy of your bed. Three Camel Lodge is comprised of 40 individual gers. Handmade using a latticed wood construction and covered with layers of felt and canvas, each ger at the Three Camel Lodge is heated by a wood stove and appointed with hand-painted wood-framed king or double beds and custom furnishings. Each ger also features a private bathroom equipped with a toilet, sink and shower. Mongolian felt slippers and bathrobes are among the locally influenced in-room amenities.  DEL A Del is a Mongolian’s traditional dress. It is a long dress with a sash round the waist and is worn by both men and women. During the summer, people wear dels made out of silk or cotton. In the winter, they are made out of wool with fur lined inside it. Three Camel Lodge (B, L, D daily) 1 US Dollar= 2,000 Mongolian Tugrik