Mongolia, Terelj National Park: Our First Ger Camp

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In order to visit one of the most visited and famous places in Mongolia, Terelj National Park, we were taken on a one and a half hour drive north east of Ulaanbaatar. On the way, we stopped near the park entrance to walk up a hill and to capture a view of the valley below; there were a few small wooden houses dotting the barren landscape, but mostly nature prevailed and we didn't see much evidence of human inhabitants for miles and miles in the distance. When we reached the crest of the hill, we came upon a Mongolian prayer mound and, in the true sense of a good Mongolian Buddhist, we each threw small rocks on it as we circled the mound clockwise, for good luck.

Terelj National park was the second destination on our itinerary that was put together by Selena Travel. Therefore, we still had our guide, Chaagii, and our driver, Rentsen. They made sure to stop during the journey from Ulaanbaatar to Terelj so that we could take some photos of the amazing and beautiful Mongolian countryside. At the prayer mound, we saw a Mongolian family approach in a really old banger (that's an old beat-up car for the Americans reading this), and who added their stones to the mound for good luck, too.

Once we were back in Rentsen's car, we headed further into the national park, towards the ger camp where we were due to stay overnight. Before we arrived at Buuveit Ger Camp, we first visited Mongolia's famous Turtle Rock, which was an enormous granite rock formation that resembled a turtle. Chaagii told us that almost all rock formations in Terelj looked like turtles, but we failed to see the connection whenever we spotted other large granite rocks. However, Turtle Rock did look like a turtle, as you will see when you look at the photos for this journal entry. We spent a few minutes taking in the beautiful scenery around the impressive Turtle Rock and then hopped back into Rentsen's car to check into our ger camp.

Buuveit Ger Camp was nestled in the corner of a couple of mountains and was very isolated from other ger camps located within Terelj National Park. On the day we arrived, the weather was absolutely beautiful and the sky was a brilliant shade of blue. Walking up to the ger camp from Rentsen's car made us feel like we were in a film or on some National Geographic special, as everything seemed too good to be true. Being in the national park, where hardly any cars were driving on the distant road, and where there were not many buildings or people around, meant that we could reflect and absorb the quiet surroundings. This was quite a welcome change from the really busy areas we had visited for the past 6 weeks in China.

One of the reasons that we added Mongolia to our travel plans for this year was because we watched and thoroughly enjoyed a Mongolian film called "Story of the Weeping Camel". The film was about a nomadic family's life in the Mongolian countryside and, when we watched the film, we were presented with views of a Mongolian ger, which was a round tent that served as a house for the family. A ger was assembled so that it was easy to disassemble and move when the family needed to relocate in the countryside, due to a change in weather or the season, or to find new grasslands for their animals to graze upon.

Seeing the nomadic family's way of life and the beautiful Mongolian countryside made us both want to visit the country one day. We were really looking forward to sleeping in our first ger that evening in Terelj National Park, and could hardly contain our excitement when we were led to our ger tent when we arrived. The ger tent that we checked into was a good size and accommodated two people quite easily. The inside was very basic, with two beds lined on either side of the circular structure and a stove in the middle of the room, which had a metal pipe leading straight out of the top of the ger to release smoke from any fire that was lit. Since Mongolians use the ger to sleep in and cook in, the pipe was a necessity so that the small tent would not be engulfed with smoke whenever a meal was being prepared or a fire was lit in cold weather.

The view from the front door of our ger was breathtaking. In the distance, we could see rolling hills with pine forests along the sides, and animals roaming freely, grazing whatever grass they could find. We could not see any people or man-made structures from the front door, which added to the beauty of the place. Off to the left from the front door, there was a steep and rounded rock outcropping that many goats were playing on. When the herd decided to move on, a couple of goats couldn't find their way back down the rock and started panicking. After a couple of minutes of running to the edge and peering down at their friends, they finally figured out that they had to return the way they came to get back down, and were soon able to rejoin the herd.

Lunch was ready, so we headed over to the restaurant (a large ger tent within the camp) to check out what was on the menu; we were not disappointed. Lunch was four courses: a shredded carrot and mayonnaise salad, a really nice soup that was called "gruel" and tasted like a creamy peppery soup, a plate of sauteed steak strips served with grilled mushrooms, red and green peppers and rice, and dessert was a chocolate and caramel bar that reminded us of a Twix. We had eaten a delicious meal in Ulaanbaatar at a place called "Modern Nomad's" the night before and our second meal on the tour was just as delicious. We were so pleased with all of the food on our tour that we consider Mongolian food as some of the best food we ate in our 5-1/2 months in Asia.

The afternoon plans included a trip to Aryapala Meditation Temple, which was about a 15 minute drive from Buuveit Ger Camp. The meditation temple was a place that Chaagii was very excited to take us to, since she was quite a strong Buddhist follower. The temple was built on the side of a mountain behind Turtle Rock and Rentsen drove us to the base of the mountain, where we had to walk up to a set of stairs that ascended the mountainside to the temple entrance. The trek up to the monastery was tough because it was hot and the air was thin due to the altitude. However, our guide struggled more than we did, so we were able to fit in some nice breathers where we could take photos and motivate her to keep going.

At the temple's entrance, the view looking back out across the valley was spectacular, like a scene from one of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. There was complete silence around us, with no cars on the small dirt road leading up to the base of the mountain, and no people nearby. Chaagii took us on a quick tour where we circumnavigated the small temple, strolling leisurely around the building whilst spinning the many prayer wheels built on its outside. Chaagii also explained the meaning of many brightly coloured pictures that were painted on the outside of the temple, on the roof's beams.

Chaagii pointed out some particularly interesting pictures that had been painted near the front entrance. The scenes depicted awful and very graphic moments that were supposed to represent punishments for various sins, whereby the people who committed the sins were being sent to hell and tortured along the way. A couple of the images that we looked at depicted sins such as adultery and telling lies, but some of them were too vague for either us or Chaagii to be able to decipher their meanings. Overall, we "got the picture" and decided to stay sin-free as long as we were both in the area, since we wouldn't want to experience the fates that the people in the pictures were experiencing.

It was a little strange to see the graphic pictures painted outside the temple, but we could tell that Chaagii took them very seriously when she explained them to us, so we reckoned that it was a good way to deter people from committing wrongdoings. Once we had looked at the roof beams long enough, we headed inside the temple to check it out. The inside was really beautiful and there were many brightly coloured paintings on the wall, that looked similar to the Tibetan paintings we saw a couple of weeks earlier at Labrang Monastery in Xiahe, China.

As we walked around the inside of the meditation temple, Chaagii explained who some of the gods and guardians were in the different paintings. Some of the people represented were quite ugly and scary and as a result were considered to be guardians of the temple. While some people were guardians, others represented different classes of people (e.g. the poor); visitors to the temple would pray to these different gods in order to improve their living situation (e.g. to pray for money or a better job that creates more income).

When we made it back to Rentsen's car, after descending down the steps and the trail that we had climbed up to the temple, we saw one of the tyres (yes, we really do spell the word with a "y" in the UK) off the car; Rentsen was busily working on the axle. We waited for a few minutes and Chaagii went off for a pee in the bushes. When she returned, Kyle suggested that we start walking back towards Turtle Rock and that Rentsen could pick us up along the road, once he was finished working on his car. Dan and Chaagii thought it was a great idea, especially since the weather was so nice and it was a warm afternoon. Therefore, we all started walking down the dirt road.

It was very quiet during the peaceful walk through the beautiful countryside and, 20 minutes after we had left him, Rentsen drove up in his car. Dan suggested that we continue the walk to Turtle Rock as it was only a little bit further around a bend in the road, and Kyle and Chaagii thought it was a great idea, especially since the weather was still so nice and it was still a warm afternoon, just like we said in the paragraph above. Therefore, we all continued our walk down the dirt road.

The scenery that we observed during the walk was breathtaking with mountain views on either side of us. We also came across many interesting plants on the side of the road as well as insects that roamed the dry and dusty valley floor. The walk was also a good time to bond with our guide as we spoke to her about various topics in the world and even Western music that she knew and liked. She was very happy to know what the title of the Pussycat Dolls song "Don't Cha" meant.

When we arrived back at Turtle Rock, Rentsen was playing pool with a few local Mongolians and was waiting for us to arrive so he could drive us back to Buuveit Ger Camp. He had decided to socialise with a group of men who were playing pool outside, on a pool table that was situated in the middle of the valley; it was a little strange to see this in the middle of nowhere, with only a few horses milling about and a couple of camels sitting nearby. We later found out that this scene was not a unique experience, as horses and camels were very common in Mongolia; also, outdoor pool tables seemed to be a favourite of the Mongolian people.

Rentsen stopped playing pool and loaded us into his car so we could head back to camp and have dinner. When we arrived at camp, it was dusk and we were able to gain a beautiful view of the valley as the sun set. With no light pollution at all, the stars were out in full force and it was the first of many nights where we were able to see more stars than ever before. It was absolutely brilliant to see so many constellations!

When we went into the restaurant ger tent for dinner, we passed a little Mongolian girl who had really blonde hair. At first, we thought she may have been an albino, but her hair was dark blond, so we assumed she was either born blond or had spent a lot of time in the sun, which had lightened her hair. Either way, it was a strange sight as nearly all other Mongolians we saw had dark hair, unless they were older and had bleached or lightened their hair in a salon.

For dinner, we had another large meal that was three courses. First, we had a salad with mayonnaise, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers. Next, we were served fried mutton dumplings that were filled with a nice gravy on the inside. For dessert, we had another chocolate caramel bar, similar to the one that we ate for lunch. Everything was really tasty and we went to bed shortly afterwards, as we were tired from a long day that consisted of a lot of walking. The next morning, we had breakfast (toast with butter and jam, fried pancakes and gruel) and then checked out of the ger camp so we could make our way to our next destination, Gun Galuut Nature Reserve.