We will meet in the morning at 10 AM at Chez Bernard Café. From here we will leave Ulaanbaatar for the countryside. Our first stop will be 5 hours westwards to the foothills of the Khogno Khan Mountains. It is an impressive massif in the open steppes. Not far from here runs the Tasarkhai Els, a 100 km long sand dune.
We will visit the nice little Uvgun Monastery. Those who want will have the opportunity to climb the sand dunes or to walk up the mountain and enjoy the incredible view over the plains, the sand dune and grasslands.
After breakfast, we will continue driving westward in the direction of Kharkhorin (also called Karakorin, 3 hours driving), site of the 13th century capital of the Mongolian Empire created by Chinggis Khan. Very little is left from this legendary city. In the 16th century, Mongolia's biggest Monastery was build from the ruins of Kharkhorin. Now Erdene Zuu Monastery is all that remains of what once was a huge monastery of 100 temples and about 1.000 lamas residencing there.
We will explore the grounds of Erdene Zuu Monastery surrounded by its massive 400 m X 400 m walls. We will be guided around the 3 remaining temples: Dalai Lama, Zuu of Buddha and Lavrin Temple. We will also see the Turtle Rock and the Phallic Rock.
This morning we will continue driving westward in the direction of Khangai Mountains. The green mountainsides and the network of smaller and larger rivers offer excellent pastureland for the herds of horses, yaks and cows.
Our next stop (6 hours driving) will be the Orkhon waterfalls, which is located in the Orkhon valley. The area surrounding the waterfall is a green, with forest covered mountainous area. The valley is known as the cradle of the Mongolian civilization. Many ancient Mongolian as well as Turkish monuments lie within its borders.
In the evening we will reach Tsenkher hot spring resort. Managed by Japanese this resort has a large open-air pool at its customer's disposal. The hot water of the pool flows continuously in from the hot water spring. At the spring, the temperature of the water is over 80 ° C. A complex pipelines system regulates the water temperature.
Some will spend hours sitting in the pool talking to their friends while staring at the stars or scanning the nightly nature around them.
After breakfast we will hike around the waterfalls. We will hike down to the bottom of the gorges. The most courageous of you will jump into the river for a swim.
In the afternoon we will head northweswards for Tsetserleg, capital city of Arkhangai province (180 km, 6 hours). It is a lovely little town surrounded by forested hills. Here we will visit the Buyandelgeruulekh Monastery, the town main functioning monastery and the nice little Museum of Arkhangai located in Zayaiin Gegeenii Monastery. From the museum we will walk hill upward to a small abandoned monastery and enjoy the beautiful view we have from there over Tsetserleg and the surrounding hills.
We will drive slightly out of town to set up our tented camp.
After a 200 km ride (6 hours) we will reach Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake. It is one of the most beautiful lakes of the country. The lake is surrounded by extinct and craterous volcanoes, and was formed by lava flows from a volcanic eruption many millennia ago. As a result of the volcano eruptions the landscape is covered with black volcanic rocks.
Today we will relax around the lake. We will make an excursion to the top of Khorgo Uul Volcano and we will pass the gorges that lead from Tariat to the volcano.
We will stay a second night next to the lake.
We will leave early in the morning and drive back eastwards. End of the afternoon we will reach Tsenkher hot spring resort. Managed by Japanese this resort has a large open-air pool at its customer's disposal. The hot water of the pool flows continuously in from the hot water spring. At the spring, the temperature of the water is over 80 ° C. A complex pipelines system regulates the water temperature.
Some will spend hours sitting in the pool talking to their friends while staring at the stars or scanning the nightly nature around them.
We will overnight in the gers of the resort.
After our breakfast we will head for Ogiin Lake, one of Mongolia's most beautiful lakes.
On the way we will visit Khulitegenii Dorsal. The principal monument is a flat stone of more than 3 meters high. It is now in a small museum close the place it originally stood. The stone has 68 lines of Turkic runes, two dragons and the mountain goat, device of the Ashina clan. The stone honors Kul-Tegin (684-731), a military leader of the Turkic empire. The stone is part of a larger memorial complex, created the year of the death of Kul-Tegin. It includes statues and a temple of worship.
We will also pass Khar Balgas Citadel. This citadel was founded in 751 as the capital of the Uiighur khanate. It was destroyed by fire, approximately 100 years later during the invasion Kirghiz invaders. Today only fragments of the outer walls and the Buddhist stupa remain.
Today we will drive back to Ulaanbaatar
On the way we will stop by Khar Bushiin Balgas, other ruins of a city dated of the 14th - 15th century. After having visited this ruin, we will drive further to Tsogtiin Tsagaan Baishinh. A large stone monument situated near those ruins bears on inscription in Mongolian and Tibetan characters, stating that at this place the construction of 6 temples began in 1601 and was completed in 1617. The great number of building foundations suggest that a large number of people lived here.
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