Occidentally Oriental

We arrived to the monastery after an epic off road driving session through a blanket of snow across plains and mountains. We passed herds of horses, cows, sheep, goat and yaks and their herders on the way, lonely winter ger camps tucked into the lee of the mountains, frozen rivers and ovoos (shrines at high points, usually peaks of mountains). The landscape was stunning and on such a huge scale with maybe 20 people in the entire surroundings, it was mind blowing.

The monastery itself was Tibetan Buddhism of which we had seen in China and the architecture followed in the same styles yet the isolation and the surroundings of this monastery gave it an air of peacefulness that I haven't experienced anywhere else. We were the only people there, even the people that live there weren't there! Several monks had stayed who we heard praying in the morning and a boy and his mother and that was it. No one else. Knowing Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world is different from seeing it, from feeling it (though it definitely helped we were in winter!). This monastery was amazing, the surroundings were amazinge and it was all for us to explore at leisure by ourselves. This was also to be a recurring theme in the trip to come and I feel very fortunate to be able to travel this magical and majestic country. We walked up to the Stupa and Bhudda statute behind the temple to get some views over the valley. Wow. What a first day! Time to go home to our ger :DRead more