Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: Drive to Kharkorin, roof top seats and beautiful temple

Woke up to a very beautiful morning. Our breakfast was served in the dining hall but there was also the option to enjoy the milk-rice on the terrace and enjoy the sun and the lake.

We left for a short drive today. Only some 75 kilometres but with 3 stops on the way. Kul Tigin Monuments, Erdene Zuu Monastery and Kharkorin museum.

But first we had the option to enjoy the morning drive on the roof top seats. Sitting there really made the Monday morning something special. It was a bit bumpy but we also had the best view of the beautiful landscape surrounding us.

First stop was in the middle of nowhere. Kul Tigin is a small museum which centres around a few stones with inscriptions in Chinese and Mongol. It has taken years to decipher – even a Danish archaeologist was involved and eventually broke the code. Kul Tigin was not sacred but whoever controlled the area also controlled Mongolia in ancient times.

Then it was off to the Erdene Zuu Monastery. One of a few not destroyed by the communists during the 1930's. It was a walled monastery surrounded by a high wall and stupas and there was lot of open space inside the walls. The setting and surroundings made it one of Malene's favourite temples on the whole trip. On the inside of the walls there where both a traditional Buddhist monastery and a Tibetan monastery side by side. Of the more interesting features was a statue of a goddess who fought the Devil, lost, then had the Devils baby, ate the baby and then conquered him – using his dead skin as the saddle for her donkey.

We had lunch in town at a local place and realised that we are now back to local food which includes mutton and noodles. Coming back from the lunch we went to the town museum where there was a really good exhibition about the development of Kharakorin town that used to be the capital of the Mongol empire. It included some really good explanations of the findings they had done excavating a big tomb found outside town. Part of the exhibition was about the Mongol empire and Djengis Chan so a bit of repetition from the museum in Ulaanbaatar but that was okay since it's a lot of history to understand and remember. Next to the museum was a ger where we could try traditional clothing, puzzles and games - like the one at the Intellectual museum on Ulaanbaatar,

We arrived at the Ger camp in the afternoon and realised that Mongolia is luxury Gers. We only have two-person Ger's, ours even had electricity and a sink – and real beds of course.

Dinner was really good with a bit of meat and vegetables and since the weather was so nice we decided to take a walk and climb the nearest hill. There was a monument on top of the hill with mosaics showing the current and ancient sizes of the Mongol empire across Central Asia. Looking out over the landscape we enjoyed the sunset, the horses in the valley and the riving slowly running down there. Looking forward to a couple of days of wild camping.