Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Jim and I were wide awake at 5am so we got up and went out to walk about the quiet streets of Ulaanbaatar. There is a super creepy sculpture of The Predator on a motorcycle near the entry to our hotel. Not sure what the significance of that is! After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and went to visit the Tibetan-style Gandan Monastery where over 150 monks reside. Our visit began with a Tibetan Blessing Ceremony performed by 3 Monks inside a beautiful Ger. It was a chanting ceremony accompanied by a ceremonial drum, hand cymbals and bells.

That was a very cool experience! We then walked to the Monastery building which houses the tallest indoor Buddha, a giant 87-foot gilded statue, inlaid with over 2,000 precious stones.
Next, we are visiting the National History Museum again….we were here last year, so I opted to hang out in the lobby reading and watching the Mongolian children running about.
We had lunch at a local restaurant and then rode by bus approximately two hours to the
Terelj National Park. We began our tour of the park, starting with the massive statue compound dedicated to history’s most successful conqueror, Genghis Khan, on the banks of the Tuul River. We toured the complex with a local historian and then climbed a massive number of stairs inside the statue for a panoramic view from the muzzle of Genghis Khan’s horse. Quite a view from that height!

An hour later we arrived at Terelj hotel and headed to dinner.
Overnight: Terelj Hotel