Tavan Bogd (Part 2 of Epic Adventure)

After another full day of driving, we entered this beautiful, picturesque valley:

The further we progressed, the more titanic, snowier, and colder it became. All the camels and sheet disappeared and were replaced by shaggy horses and yaks. And all of a sudden, we were in Tavan Bogd National Park.

View outside the Tuvan house we were staying at – unreal

 

Wow, right?

Somehow, Part 2 was even more eventful than Part 1, so here’s my list:

– we stayed with a lovely Tuvan family, another minority ethnic group of Mongolia who live primarily in Tavan Bogd

– once again, our gers weren’t ready so we did a 10 person + slumber party with the family and our guides

– the grandfather of the family was fluent in German as he had studied im Dresden 20 years ago….so random, considering we were pretty much at the end of the earth, only 50 ish km give or take from Kazakhstan, Russia, and China. My cousin had a great time conversing in German with him

– witnessing a mongolian brawl, fight, stitches

– no water for a day and a half

– did I mention, no showers?

– this last point is for you, Blaire’s mom! Lastly, I was so excited to go horseback riding since, if you’ve read one of my previous posts, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

This time was pretty fun, even though we almost got frostbite, it was -20 degrees Celsius, not counting the tearing wind, and when we finally got up to the top after 2 ish hours, we rode into a snowstorm and could not see the five Holy peaks, one of the greatest and most beautiful sites in all of Mongolia (apparently, anyway, since we didn’t see it)… then our guide wanted to have lunch on the top! Crazy. Needless to say we vetoed that decision and made our way down ASAP. Oh ya, and the horses were half wild and some made it their mission to throw people.

Grumpy horses

But I had no problems, and minus the cold, it was great!

The cold is no problem for this Canadian!

Overall, it was a challenging, exhilarating, beautiful, unbelievable trip. I wouldn’t change it for the world, except maybe for a hot shower or two.

Eagle Festival in Bayan Olgii (Part 1 of Epic Adventure)

Before I left Canada, my dear friends Frank and Elizabeth urged me to 1) buy a really warm jacket, or 2) do something unusual.

I guess this trip, the topic of my post, is in the unusual category.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to join a group of fantabulous Aussies (and one Kiwi!) for a one week epic adventure, travelling to Western Mongolia for the Eagle Festival and to horse ride in Tavan Bogd National Park. Since so many things happened, the trip will be divided into two posts, as stated in the title. Anywho.

I’m trying to recount my trip, but I really can’t. SO many things happened…to make things easier, I’ll make a list:

– I was blessed to have my lovely cousin, Phuong-Y join me! Yay girl bonding time!

– typical things you would expect out of a Mongolian adventure, such as no showers, no hot water, no toilets (unless you count nature as one big toilet), buuummmpyyyyy looooonnnngggg van rides, van break downs, van stuck in a river, sketchy hotels, no privacy ever

Van stuck in river

– staying with a lovely Kazakh family (FYI Kazakhs, originating from Kazakhstan, are Mongolia’s largest minority and comprise 95% of the Bayan Olgii province population)

– 10 person + slumber party on the living room floor or the Kazakh family

– singing, meat, and speeches!

– meeting Ashol-Pan! She is basically a celebrity, but don’t take my word for it, read the original BBC article about her here. Crazy story: My cousin loves her and wanted to meet her…coincidentally our driver knows her family, and surprised us by bringing her to our hotel door! My cousin burst into tears, naturally, but Ashol-Pan and her father were so sweet to come see us…especially after riding for two days just to get to Olgii. (FYI this was her first time competing at the Eagle Festival. FYI she won).

– oh ya, and seeing super cool decked out eagle hunters do their thing!

In this event, they are calling down their eagle who is at the top of the mountain. Fastest time wins!

 

Opening parade

Opening parade – camels!

Poser Eagle Hunter shot – bet you didn’t see this one coming

 

 

 

The Da Vinci of Mongolia

Kind of an overdue post, but a couple weeks ago when I went to the Gobi, I had the opportunity to visit the Energy Centre with Bryan and Baigalmaa.

The Energy Centre was founded by Dulduityn Danzanravjaa (1803-1856), who was basically the Leonardo Da Vinci of Mongolia except better, because he was reputed to have spiritual powers. He was an artist, a composer, writer, physician, educator, and the Fifth Lama of the Gobi. He built two Energy Centres, one of which we visited, and believed in public education. He died under mysterious circumstances, but one of his students had the foresight to gather his precious relics and hide them.

The map which led to the location of over 40 relic-filled cases was passed down to male heirs from generation to generation until 1991 when the most recent male heir unearthed them and gave them to a small museum in Sainchan, which we visited.

Pretty cool huh? We visited tons of spiritual sites, legacies of Danzanravjaa, and it was so interesting to glimpse insights of this shaman-buddhism religion.

Danzanravjaa – lookin’ good

Entrance to the Energy Centre

It is believed that touching the red rocks of the Gobi will bring you good spiritual energy. Some people walked barefoot, others lay shirtless, soaking it all in.

View from the worship caves, a series of tiny caves that house statues and areas of worship. If you crawl through one of the tiny (and I mean seriously tiny) tunnels, it is said you will be reborn without sins.

Place to worship Buddha, but also the great Gobi desert

Offerings of seeds, milk, vodka, cookies, candy, money, for the birds

Money and candy were shoved into tiny crevices all over the worship caves

These two monuments don’t look like breasts for nothing – here, only women are allowed to pray and worship their mother’s love. You also throw milk and seeds to the monuments.

So much milk….puddles of it

Crusty milk and seeds

Throwing vodka to the Owner of Mountain. Apparently this one is hard of hearing, so if you want him to listen to you, you better yell him your wishes.

Wish Mountain