We woke up early for day 2 as Baira was going to take us to see an important monastery complex at 10, and we wanted to get some hill hiking done beforehand. It was another beautiful day and we had heard about a so-called turtle rock that lay on top of one of the surrounding hills. We figured out which way to go with the help of our ger 'home'.
The entrance of the ger always faces south and our guide book had explained the turtle rock's location in reference to the monastery. We headed off in hopes of a successful 'treasure hunt'. We passed many rocks in different shapes that could have been the one we were looking for, but we quickly deemed our hunt as unimportant as the views provided as much satisfaction as a hill climb could give. After a while though we started to see some vans parked in a remote hilltop and decided to investigate. As we approached we saw many mongolian women selling souvenirs and knew we had found the spot. The rock is carved in the shape of a turtle, with many blue buddhist flags, vodka bottles and horse skulls left nearby as 'gifts'. We took a few pictures and headed back down to the van and a waiting Baira.
The monastery was quite old and important, however most of the original structures had been destroyed by the communits during the 'purge'. The ones that remained were mostly restructered, but our free guide did a good job of giving us a wide range of info about the different incarnations of Buddha, and the symbols that i would see over the next 3 months in other temples.
We stopped for a mid-morning ice-cream to combat the 90 degree heat and jumped back in the van for the drive toward tsetserleg, about 200 km away.
Once again we chatted away in the van, often staring out the windows, admiring the sights...all of a sudden Sandro pleaded Baira to stop the car immediately, with loud shouts of 'stop, stop, now, stop'. Sandro had had a bad stomach since arriving from Beijing, and I figured he needed an emergency bathroom break. Instead he had spotted a sight on the side of the road that blows me away even to this day. There were two freshly severed horse heads sitting about 10 feet from the road. Sitting calmly by their side was a 2 foot tall eagle, swiveling it's head side to side, either deciding how to start his meal or searching for other birds from which he might have to defend his find. Welcome to Mongolia, I thought.
We asked Baira why horses would have had their heads cut-off, and he had no answer for us. Horses seem to be the most sacred creature in all of Mongolia, and this sight seemed way out of place, but it will have to remain a mystery. Maybe it's better that way.
After a dollar lunch of Khuurshuur(mutton pancakes) and potato and carrot salad and a few hours of driving we arrrived at our second camp in the town of tsertserleg.
After dropping off our bags the 5 of us took a walk into the town center, along the way receiving many a 'hi-ya' from the local towns children. The highlight of the town is a buddhist temple on the top of a hill at the north end of the town. A long moderately steep stair case led us to the temple and a very tall statue of buddha that stood in front of a beautiful rocky cliff as a backdrop.
Bjorn and i took a climb up the rocks, half way up the cliff, and looked out on another stunning view. The town of Tsetserleg surrounded by iconic mongolian hills.
After a stop at an internet cafe...10 cents an hour, we stopped in a local bar for a cheap beer served by pre teen girls listening contently to Britney Spears songs....and thought...globalistaion has arrived in Mongolia, and it's not pretty....:)
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