July 10, 2024: The Largest Equestrian Statue in the World

July 10, 2024 cjbishop@yahoo.com

We met some of our travel companions yesterday as we were transported to the hotel and the remaining members this morning as we gathered in the lobby for our local tour today. There are two ladies from France, a lady professor from China who teaches English there and a lady Philippines professor who teaches math (long time friends reconnecting after many years), an English lady in the midst of a year long vacation with no pre-planned destination in mind and a surgeon and his wife from California. There are nine of us in total-a nice size group that turned out to be a lot of fun.

One of many flower gardens along the roadway in Ulaanbaatar.

Each bus stop has these small shops selling items of interest to bus riders.

Today we will be visiting several local sights, highlighted by the Genghis Khan statue complex located 54 km outside the city. Lesson of the day: the proper pronunciation of his name is “Ching-ess Han” (k is silent). The statue of Khan on his horse is made of stainless steel, and is the tallest equestrian statue in the world, standing 40 meters high. The statue is placed with him pointing east, toward his birthplace. I have to admit it is impressive, especially when you walk up to the top and stand outside on the head of the horse, as we did.

The first of many herds of animals we see during our stay.

Fences are popular in Mongolia. People erect them as soon as they buy a piece of land. They often look very expensive.

The famous steel statue of Genghis Khan.

People like to wear their native attire.

Outside deck on top of the horse’s head.

Standing outside on the horse’s head. Tough getting a clear picture because of all the crowds that gather there.

There was a further surprise while we were there as it became obvious that some dignitary was coming and we soon were honored by the presence of the handsome king of Bhutan and his lovely wife and son! And here we thought the fanfare was for us.

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is the Druk Gyalpo, the monarch of the Kingdom of Bhutan. He is 44 years old.

Camels were available at the site for rides.

The cloud formations in Mongolia were awesome!

Selfie of Scott and me, wearing my colors!

By the time we left the statue complex it was time for lunch at a nearby ger camp called Terelj Lodge. Next lesson: ger is pronounced “gear” and is the name of the popular house that the nomadic people use. Another less common name for these dwellings is “yurt” which is actually a Russian name. Ger camps are the hotels for travelers in Mongolia and we will be spending most of the trip using them once we leave Ulaanbaatar. More on them later. The lunch was surprisingly western in nature.

Another expensive fence surrounding simply a plot of land.

One of the few signs we saw in the area.

The camp was nestled near the mountains.

A very nice salad, the first of many we had on the trip.

From an old cart used to move gers before modern times.

From the ger camp we stopped at a nearby attraction called turtle rock, named obviously by its looks.

A rock called “turtle rock” for obvious reasons.

A visitor holding a vulture for a picture.

The next stop was a visit to the Aryabal Buddhist meditation temple, built in 1810 as a meditation retreat. Monks would climb to the caves high in the cliffs and meditate for months at a time. The temple was destroyed when Stalin ruled Mongolia in the 1920s but it was rebuilt and reopened in 2007. The path to the temple is lined with 144 placards with the teachings of Buddha. 52% of the Mongolian people practice Buddhism.

Our visit to the Aryabal Temple, shown in the circle. There are a series of Buddhist sayings along the walkway to the temple.

A relevant Buddhist saying that caught my eye.

Entrance to the temple area ( picture taken by Scott).

Complements of Scott as I did not walk all the way to the temple..

The last stop of the day was at the ger home of a local nomad where we were able to see what living in a ger entailed. We learned nomads live a simple life with minimal trappings. They can disassemble their ger in 30-45 minutes and be ready to move to a new location, something they commonly do at least four times a year. It was here that we got our first taste of fermented (2% alcohol) mare’s milk called “airag”, a common staple of their diet. Not sure how my body would react I only took a sip of the sour tasting beverage. Research on horse milk has shown that it has relatively high levels of the protein albumin, which can help regulate blood pressure and also has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects. It is an acquired taste in my opinion.