Terelj National Park – Mongolia – Day 2

There is only a small group here.  The main group went to the Gobi Desert, sleeping in gers, riding camels and learning to build their own ger – not a skill we need to bring back with us 😉.

Our group has been doing some fun and unusual things.  This morning we visited a nomadic family.  Had yogurt in their ger.  The ger is about 18 feet across and is circular.  This family consisted of 2 adults and 3 children.  This was their summer grazing area.  They follow their animals while they graze.  The entire ger can be dismantled in less than an hour.  The furniture was decorated with bright colors and intricate designs.  The main decorations on the walls were medals that they had won for racing their horses.  The children live in towns with relatives during the school year.

Our next stop was at turtle rock.  

We then drove on to hike to the Temple of Heaven, a Buddhist meditation temple.  The start of the path had many placards with sayings from Buddha, think the old Burma shave signs.  We then crossed a wooden swinging bridge and came to the foot of a staircase with 108 steps!  The view of the valley was nice and earned us dessert for dinner.  Pictured with us is Azaa who has been our guide and translator for our time in Mongolia.

We had a photo stop so we could see a herd of yaks.  These animals are recent imports into Mongolia.  

After hiking we were ready to return to the hotel for lunch, but discovered that the bus driver had locked the keys in the bus.  American ingenuity saved the day!

Later in the afternoon we went to a shaman.  There is nothing I can say about this, the Mongolian people believe that these people can devine the future and help them.  I think the real purpose is so they can drink vodka!

At dinner we were entertained by a champion throats singer.  He also played 4 ancient instruments.  He was wonderful and a fantastic way to end our time here in Mongolia.

Off to Russia in the morning.

Fitbit – 11183 steps, 165 floors and 5.29 miles.