Mongolia Day 4: Icons of the Steppe

​After a delightful nights sleep in our own private gers, we woke up to a startlingly blue sky and another day in the lovely Terelj National Park.

We started the day with a trip to visit the largest equestrian statue in the world - yes,  a giant stainless steel Chhingis Khan.  We traveled about an hour to get there, and along the way learned about Temuujin (his real name) and his difficult youth, and how the success of his father as a general meant that the family had a lot of enemies that Young Temuujin had to win over (or defeat). 

It was an interesting story. We also learned that part of his success in battle, was that each soldier traveled with five horses, making the army appear far larger than it was.  Chhingis Khan was also a smart leader who worked to make allies of former enemies, and who left the conquered areas to retain their religious and political practices as long as they paid their taxes. Since he didn’t have a lot of luck with his family, his five most trusted generals guarded the gate to the monument.

The statue complex included a small museum, several gift shops, and the opportunity to go up five flights of steps to stand in the horse's head.  It was all quite entertaining.

We returned to the lodge, had a delicious lunch and, since it wasn’t raining yet, decided to go for a walk up the hillside behind our gers. We had a lovely walk up a steep hill covered with wild flowers, stepping on low-growing sage as we walked , so everything smelled wonderful.  In addition to the mountain flowers, we saw trees, huge rocks and big fluffy clouds!  So pretty!

In the afternoon we visited a family that makes their living from horses.  We learned about their annual migration cycle, how they move from place to place through the seasons, and how they make fermented mare’s milk. The man trains race horses, so we also learned a lot about the traditional horse races that occur as part of Naandam and other festivals.

We also learned about how they make their ropes and other tack with softened cow hide. Several of us took turns on a device that twisted, stretched and tanned strips of cowhide that are used as ropes for many purposes, including reins for the horses.  The young man demonstrated some of the tools he uses to herd the horses.  The horses are still partly wild, so it was interesting to watch him give them their annual haircut. It was really a fun afternoon.

After a short rest, MG our tour leader taught us a number of Mongolian games played with sheep and goat knuckle bones.  We learned three different games, of the MANY that can be played with a felt bucket of bones.  We all decided we would need more practice before we would be ready for competition.

We had a nice dinner at the lodge, talking about the park and how it is used.  Then home for bed.