Mongolia | Gov-Altai Aimag | Eej Khairkhan Uul

Six days after leaving Ülzii Bilegt we were back in Bayan Tooroi, where we checked into the comfortable guest house of the Gobi Protected Area A Administration. There was no running water in the guest house but there is a separate shower building with solar-heated water. The girls washed their clothes, took showers, slathered themselves with a host of creams and unguents, applied their makeup, and emerged with nary a trace of their fourteen days in the Gobi remaining. The next day we went to the famous mountain of Eej Khairkhan Mountain west of Bayan Tooroi.

Eej Khairkhan Uul

I recalled the legend I had heard when I was here several years earlier. It seems that once, a long time ago, Eej Khairkhan was married to Aj Bogd Mountain far off to the southwest. But Aj Bogd was old, his head was topped with white year round, and his wife was not happy. Far off to the northeast she could see Burkhan Buudai Mountain. Burkhan Buudai was so handsome, standing tall and proud against the torquoise sky. Aj Bogd’s wife could not take her eyes off of him. With each passing day she liked Aj Bogd less and felt more and more desire for Burkhan Buudai. Finally she decided she must flee to Burkhan Buudai. But Aj Bogd became suspicious of his wife. Every night after she went to sleep he would hide her deel so she would have nothing to wear if she decided to run away. One night his wife woke and decided the time had come to run off to her heart’s desire. But she could not find her deel. In her haste she put on Aj Bogd Uul’s deel and ran off to Burkhan Buudai. Her husband woke up and saw her fleeing across the desert. In his anger he grabbed a big handful of sand and threw it at her. His deel was much too large for his wife and the hem was dragging on the ground behind her. The sand landed on the tail of the deel and held her down. She could not move. She has remained to this day in her present location halfway between Aj Bogd Uul and Burkhan Buudai Uul. The sand which fell on the tail of her deel can still be seen as the big dunes to the southwest of the mountain. But fate was not entirely unkind. Her past was forgotten and she is now longer remembered as an unfaithful wife. Her beautiful form standing alone in the desert brought succor to countless lonely caravan men who could see her from far off and eventually she became known as Eej Khairkhan (“Mother Dearest”) Mountain.

The two breasts of Eej Khairkhan Uul. The cleft below, in the middle, is thought to be the entrance to her yoni: the two hills on either side of the cleft may be seen as her labia majora.

Strange rock formations at Eej Khairkhan Uul

More strange rock formations

Still more strange rock formations

The most famous natural feature of Eej Khairkhan is a series of nine cascading pools of water known as the Pots.

One of the Pots

The Pots

The Pots

Near the base of the mountain is the hermitage of the monk known as Ravdan. Ravdan, a Torgut Mongol, was a disciple of Dambijantsan’s who lived at Gongpochuan. After Dambijantsan was assassinated in 1923 he came here and settled at Eej Khairkhan Uul. He kept one white horse and one white camel and soon became known as the “Lama with One White Horse and One White Camel,” perhaps an echo of Dambijantsan’s nickname of the “Two White Camel Lama.” Ravdan lived alone at the hermitage he built but there was a woman named Munidari who lived nearby and brought him food everyday. Some say the two got married; others say not. Ravdan died in 1928. Munidari went on living by herself for many years. Ravdan’s hermitage is now a much revered pilgrimage site.

Ravdan’s Retreat

Ravdan’s Retreat

Interior of Ravdan’s Retreat

Uyanga could not contain her exuberance at Ravdan’s Retreat

Mojik cogitating at Ravdan’s Retreat