Jargalan

A prayer marker.

Traditional transport.

Zayain Khüree Monastery Museum.

The traditional way of transporting a ger from summer to winter grounds.

A local woman basking in the sun.

The view from the Buddha statue.

Ominous clouds over a town on our drive.

Buhuu hanging out.

Our ger camp.

A method to transport a larger ger.

Monday, July 2^nd.

We left camp at 8:15 and our first stop was at the source of the hot springs. It was at the base of a hill and was marked by a wooden tepee structure which the local people draped with prayer flags and other offerings. We could see where the 78-degree water was collected and then piped off to the three ger camp hot spring resorts.

Stopped at another marker like that again a little later for a driver smoke break. All four of them smoke, but none of us do, and this became a routine.

Then we visited Zayain Khüree Monastery Museum which is an old monastery that has been converted into a folk museum. There were displays and paintings that illustrates the tradition ways of the nomadic people. There was a old ger set up so we could see the construction and an ox cart with the dismantled ger on it for transport. There were displays of traditional and special clothing as well. Behind that and hill a hundred steps was a Buddhist statue on a sacred hill that provided an excellent view of the town. When we drove into this town we saw numerous abandoned factories and businesses from the Soviet area. It seems that most of the industry in this provincial capital is gone and that probably helps explain the exodus of people to Ulaanbaatar.

Then we continued our drive north through the low mountains in periods of rain. Sections of the forested area we were driving through looked like the tiga, which is a type of forest that covers much of the northern parts of Canada and Russia, with stinted pine trees that are slow growing because of the harsh winters.

We came to a gorge where we stopped to take photos and thankfully the rain shower stopped just when we arrived. I got a couple of good shots of Bukhbat on the edge. Then we drove across another section of wide open treeless plains to Khorgo Camp for the next two nights Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake NP. We had some down time and I got to talking to a Brazilian and a German biker who were doing a month-long tour of Mongolia on 150cc Chinese motorcycles. They are having a good time, but it is hard riding here with the road conditions, the rain and the remoteness from towns and sources of fuel.

 We met up at 7:00 for anther very nice meal in the large ger restaurant. About half the group went back to their gers for the night and the rest of us enjoyed a beer and swapped more stories before retiring about ten.