Karakorum and vicinity

It was cold when we woke this morning. Luckily it hasn’t rained as badly as we thought be it was relatively dry, but the nearby peaks had a light blanket of snow. Everyone ended up staying in their tents last night.

The take down of the tents was quicker than we thought once we got the hang of it. After breakfast, we presented a small gift to our hosts and took a group photo before heading to the next camp and hit showers to get clean and warm.

We made you good time and arrived at 10am. The weather is still cold with the dampness and wind. Our gers this time would have the stoves to keep us warm. The fuel used is dried cow poop.

It turns out it’s colder than locals were expecting as I feel bad how much we were burning as the fire would be relit after we returned from visiting the Erdene Zuu Monastery and Karakorum museum. The fire would be lit again after dinner and the again in the next morning.

The Erdene Zuu Monastery grounds is marked by a surrounding wall of stupas. Like other monasteries we’ve visited, many temples were destroyed and restoration now in process. The ancient capital of Karakorum lies behind it but it’s practically just a grass field now. A model in the museum shows what locals believe it once looked like.

Overall a pretty easy day with plenty of downtime at the camp, though one might feel a little too much downtime. We’re happy to be out of the cold though he and sitting by our stoves.Read more