Today the Gobi Desert showed a different face entirely. We had a lot of strong winds overnight, and in the morning it was blowing like crazy - and it was hot! It felt like the desert!
In the morning most people rested, but Cheryl and one other traveler, Ellen, made the trip to go see petroglyphs at the top of a mountain. It was a really steep climb, but it was worth it because the collection of petroglyphs from the 7th to the 13th century were interesting and varied.
Back at camp, we packed, relaxed and had lunch. After lunch th lodge staff put on a fashion show - demonstrating different kinds of local costumes. It was really sweet seeing how proud and shy the staff were.
The rest of the day was traveling back to UB. We stopped and visited a museum in the regional capital, Dalanzadgad (mostly funded by Rio Tinto and providing a LOT of info about mining in the area). There was also a lot of info on local heroes and dinosaurs - including dinosaur eggs, a famous fossil of a nest of babies and a recreation of the famous fossils of two dinosaurs fighting (the more birdlike one has feathers).
View from the flight back to UB.
Our last day in Mongolia we spent shopping, repacking and visiting the Chinngis Khan Museum.
First we headed to the “State Department Store” a huge Soviet era department store that decided not to change its name when democracy arrived. The store had a fountain that fell 6 stories down, had a whole floor just for cashmere and a whole floor just for souvenirs and traditional crafts. We spent an hour or so discovering cute and clever souvenirs, and admiring the handiwork on the many many items that were out of our price (and packing space) range.
Next we stopped at a huge jewelry marketplace - it was kind of kike a big flea market, but only gold silver and stone snuff bottles were on offer. We got some nice jewelry to remember Mongolia.
Finally we stopped at a Fair Trade craft shop around the corner from the jewelry emporium. We loved all the vintage embroidery work repurposed into coasters and throw pillows.
Back at the hotel, we had lunch and started packing. Around 3:30, we headed to the Chingis Khan museum, which is a new and fabulous museum about the history of empires in Mongolia, featuring the “Great Mongolian Empire” created by Chhingis and his grandson Kublai. The number of artifacts that they assembled were astonishing, and the museum did a great job of putting the objects in context.
We got back in time for a short rest, then headed to our farewell dinner. The meal was good, and afterwards MG had prepared a slideshow of the highlights of our trip. It was really fun to see all the different adventures we had.
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