Mongolia Chapter 3: Seriously? All That for a Rock Shaped Like a Penis?

Days in Mongolia start around 9:30am, and that's if we have our act together. On this day, we are back in the van. We're stopping at Erdene zuu, the largest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia and then on to the horse ranch where we'll meet our horses and get familiar with them before setting off the next day.

And did I mention that it's dumping down rain again? DUMPING. Like as in nobody even dare get into the van without their rain gear. But the day starts out auspiciously. I find bracelets to take home to my girls. Pook finds a singing bowl.



We head out and the downpour begins instantly. And then we stop. At a rock. A special religious rock that's shaped like a penis. I swear to God that you would think that nobody in our group had ever seen a phallus before by the excitement with which everybody puts on FULL RAIN GEAR to get out of the van and rush ten feet to take a picture of this stone. And that includes Pookie. But Pookie does get the picture, and now you can experience the penis stone without having to get drenched to do it!



And then on to Erdene zuu, which is stunning, and maybe even slightly more stunning in the slightly darkened skies of rain. Erdene zuu is surrounded by a massive wall of 108 stupas. Siri has heard a rumor that the 108 stupas represent the 108 fallacies of man (to which Tina and I replied "Only 108?"). I just read, though, that there may only be 102 stupas in that wall. I did not personally count. I'm not sure if you're up on your Buddhism or not, but 108 is also the number of beads in a Buddhist prayer bead necklace. I looked it up as I was writing this. 108 in Buddhism is the number of defilements to overcome to reach enlightenment, so there you go. Either way - if there were 102 or 108 - the wall of stupas is amazing and massive.



Needless to say, most of the temples in Mongolia were destroyed during Communism (cause you know how the Communist felt about pesky religion). This was was allowed to remain largely as a museum since it was pretty far from the Ulaan Bataar (and probably because they realized destroying it completely would cause riots). Since Democracy came to Mongolia, it's re-opened as an active monastery.

We tour the temples and the monastery. I don't want to sound jaded, but if there's one thing I've seen a ton of in my life, it's Buddhist temples (remember the sadistic hike of 100 temples?), but they're beautiful and peaceful every time. We go to the monastery, and Mandaa has our trip blessed. And you know what? I just wrote two entries about rain, but everybody agreed (and you will too after you're done reading about the trip) that it was a remarkably blessed trip.




After touring the temple, we head out to see the turtle statue. What? You're not familiar with the turtle statues? There were three of them. They marked the borders of Karakorum, which was the capital city of Mongolia during the reign of Ghengis Khan and which ... wait for it ... once stood on the same spot where Erdene zuu now stands. And one of the turtles is left, so we hike out to see it. It's a statue. Of a turtle. But it is kind of crazy to think that one of the most powerful warriors of all time marked the boundaries of his city with statues of funny little animals. It's also massively amazing to think about how long that turtle has been there and what it's probably seen.



There's supposedly some movement in Mongolia to make Karakorum the capital again, but I hope that they don't do that. The fear of course is that it would start to become more citified, and the site of one of the world's oldest and largest monasteries shouldn't be down the street from a fast food joint, you know?

So then we head back to the temple to get a little lunch, and Joel and I decide to divert to one of the side temples where we can buy some prayer scarves. And we get lucky. We walk in just as the daily offerings are being put out, and they make us eat AND we get to be the first people to try Ayrag. Yes, if you just followed that link you know that Ayrag is an alcoholic beverage made of fermented mare's milk. And here is the sad thing - I really loved it. And the sad thing about that is that I was being so super careful about what I ate and drank on this trip because I did not want to get sick and have to miss a day of riding. I drank very little alcohol, and I really limited the taking in of unfamiliar local foods. I totally missed my usual adventurousness with food. It's one of my favorite parts of traveling, but on the other hand, I had a healthy trip, so I'll take it. Anyway, ayrag is surprisingly good, and you know I hate milk products normally. And I was so happy to get to share that moment with Pookie.

Erdene zuu was a great stop. Even with the rain. In fact, in some ways the rain made it better.

On our way out of town, we notice that the local Naadam festival is going on, so we stop there for a while and watch some wrestling and the end of a horse race. This one has more of the feel of a festival because it's a larger town and a bigger crowd. There are stands to sit in, but most people just pull their horses up to the fence and watch the action while sitting on the horse. I can't really do justice to the craziness of seeing this. There are a lot of things in this trip where I could tell you about them or show you pictures, but it wouldn't do things justice. But I'll show you pictures any way.





And then, for the rest of the day, there is driving. Oh, wait, we stop in Tsetserleg to buy beer. I did not just make that up. I mean, we get some dinner, too. But Mandaa has noticed that we like beer, so she's insistent that we stop and stock up for the rest of the trip, and who are we to argue? This is a woman who would literally walk around camp and put beer in your hand. She was amazing.



From there, we ride on to Dava's horse ranch.

And now, you need to meet Dava. Dava was our horse wrangler for the trip. I think he honestly may end up being one of the most remarkable individuals I will ever meet in my life, and I say that not having been able to understand a word that he said. Dava is, quite simply, a lover: a lover of flowers, a lover of horses, a lover of stories, a lover of people, a lover of singing, a lover of his children, a lover of life. And he is infectious. He carries his whole spirit around beside him and while he's talking to you, it's hugging you. He's amazing. And when I tell you what he did on our last night with him, you will cry just like Lizzie and I pretty much did.



Anyway, we get to the ranch and start to pitch our tents, at which point ... it starts to hail. I mean, literally, as we're putting up the tents the hail starts coming down. And it actually ends up being one of the more fun moments of the trip as we all try to band together to get the tents up before the insides get wet. And the hail is worth it, because after the hail the most beautiful rainbow spreads out over the sky.

We meet our horses. I name mine Jerome (after the greatest Steelers running back of recent history), but don't get too attached to him because I dump him after one day. We had a "personality conflict." Pook names his horse "Petey" after Peter Pan. Mandaa doesn't get emotionally attached. Her horse is "brown horse with white legs." And we go for a ride out across a field. And it turns out that there is a nomadic family camped at the other side of the field so we stop and visit and sample some more Ayrag and other dairy treats. Ask cultural questions, and then enjoy a ride back as the sun is setting. We do rally to try to take a group picture on the horses to mark our first day on them, though ...



And then we spend a peaceful evening in Dava's ranch bar with beer and vodka, because the next day, we ride ...