A day in the Mongolian grasslands

July 28, Bayan Gobi

Just two hours drive from Kharkhorin, Bayan Gobi means “rich Gobi” and it is the northernmost part of the Gobi Desert. The desert here, though, is not “gobi” (gravelly) but pure, soft sand in high dunes. Just before lunch, at 12 noon, we climbed a sand dune – a crazy time of day to do such a thing. The sand was burning hot on my feet, clad in sandals. It was hard to walk in. It would have been perfect at the beach!

Our ger camp here, the Double Zagal, is “a cut above” the last ger camp. The gers are smaller, but the showers are designed with a small changing room each and a bench to put your stuff on, and the hot water works. The sinks are clean, and the overall impression is a much cleaner, better run ger camp. The restaurant is air conditioned! And there is an outdoor covered area with chairs and tables, very pleasant for sitting on a hot day. The temperature went up to about 30 Celsius today – much more pleasant than the 37 the other day, but still pretty hot.

After lunch, we drove to an abandoned monastery that was destroyed twice – once during a civil war in the 1600s and then again in 1937. A wise old woman named Davaa was there, dressed in yellow satin and “ruffling” the Tibetan sutras. Her grandfather was a monk there in the old days and told her father to keep the learning and restore the monastery someday. This father died in the 1980s, but his daughter, Davaa, set about restoring it after the Communists fell in 1990. She is quite an inspiration. She has been praying for rain, and – lo and behold – it rained while we were visiting the ruins of the old monastery. Only a few small temples remain of what was once a monastery with 1500 monks. Now there are four monks, including her two grandsons. It’s wonderful to see how a few Mongolians are trying to restore the old ways, now that the Communists are gone.

At 6 p.m., Jeanne and I rode Mongolian horses! We rode for an hour, with a local wrangler and horse owner named Dashkim. It was great fun. Both of us did pretty well on horseback, and we were able to trot and even get up to a canter briefly. He took us down the hill to a beautiful grassy area, where a large herd of horses were grazing by a small lake. We rode through the lake, and then past the horses and past some sheep, then up around the ger camp and back. Very nice.

We had a typical Mongolian dish for dinner – a type of lightly fried meat pie with beef in it. We also had a vegetarian version and learned how to order beer in Mongolian.

Another good day on the grasslands.