Mongolia | Khentii Aimag | Khökh Nuur to Baldan Bereeven Khiid

Sometime during the night the incessant winds that had been dogging us since our arrival in Khökh Nuur died down and the sky cleared off completely. By four o'clock in the morning Orion was dominating the sky overhead. Daybreak saw a faultless dome of azure overhead and by the time we had finished breakfast temperatures were up in the 60s F. This was the kind of balmy end-of-summer weather I had been anticipating when I planned this trip. In high spirits we scarpered eastward toward our next destination, Baldan Bereeven Khiid.

This is Chingis Khan Country. From our starting point on the Terelj River, near where Temüjin, the young Chingis Khan, was living when the Merkits kidnapped his wife Börte, to the current day town of Binder, near where Temujin was born (according to one school of thought), farther on out to the east, stretches the territory where many of the events in the early life of the future World Conqueror took place. At a place called Tavan Tolgoi we stop to inspect some slabs of rock which local lore maintains were used by Chingis as pot supports at his fireplace when his ger was located here.

Purported pot supports at a “Chingis Slept Here” site

The stone slabs look surprising like the tomb coverings at the Monument to Kontuyuk, the advisor to the eighth century Khökh Turk Chieftain Kultegin. If they were Turk tomb coverings that of course does not mean Chingis could not have used them later as pot supports. Still later we pass by a place where Temüjin and his bosum buddy and later Arch-Nemesis Jamukha had their final falling out.

By lunch time we had arrived at Övör Elegiin Gol where Zevgee assured us there would be water. Much to Zevgee’s chagrin, however, the river was dry where the trail crossed it. We followed the riverbed downstream perhaps a thousand yards and soon came to a pool of water where the underground stream emerged. The water was fresh, clear, and icy cold. By the pool was a grassy glade surrounded by cottonwood trees and nearby dead brush offered plentiful firewood. The three essentials for a successful lunch—us, tülsh, and süüder (water, firewood, and shade)—thus provided for we unloaded our pack horses and threw out carpets on the grass beneath the largest cottonwood tree. We lounged on our carpets as Zevgee’s son-in-law Badmaa and grandson Bondogo fetched water and built a fire and in no time at all we were sipping delightfully fragrant Oolong tea (Shan Ling Xi from Taiwan, highly recommended). Tumen-Ölzii rolled out dough for fresh noodles and soon we were tucking into bowls of Guriltai Shöl—mutton soup with noodles. I hardly wanted to leave this idyllic spot, but finally we had a last bowl of tea and then packed up our horses and moved on.

By early evening we had reached Baruun Bayan Gol. Here, according to legend, was born Boorch, one of Chingis Khan’s boon companions. (See Paragraphs 90–93, 95, 99, 103, 120, 124–25, 156, 163, 172, 177, 202, 205, 209, 210, 220, 240, 242, 259–60, and 266 of the Secret History of the Mongols [also Kindle Version] for more on Boorch.) Camped on the sward by the river, with plentiful firewood nearby. Yunnan Gold tea followed by boiled sheep ribs and potato and cabbage soup heavily larded with stick-to-the-ribs mutton fat.

Yunnan Gold—the Perfect Complement to boiled sheep ribs and mutton fat

Just after dark breathtakingly luminous Jupiter appeared in the southern sky, just above the Sagittarius Teapot and just below the dimmer Sagittarius Teaspoon. The clear, cloudless sky soon revealed a full panoply of stars overhead: the constellations of Cygnus, Cepheus, and my personal favorite Cassiopeia to the northeast; the ever-glorious Scorpius off to the south; and of course the Seven Gods (Big Dipper) to the west. And then in the early hours toward morning magnificent Orion appeared. All and all a mindbogglingly gorgeous night. The next morning we moved out quickly, hoping to reach Baldan Bereeven Khiid by lunch time.

On the Road to Baldan Bereeven Khiid

We soon passed Khangalyn Nuur, where there is a monument to “Nature.” A sign on the monument implores people to protect the environment.

Monument at Khangalyn Nuur

Then we moved into the wooded foothills and began the climb to 4,698-foot Khangalyn Davaa.

Khangalyn Davaa

View eastward from Khangalyn Davaa. Baldan Bereeven Khiid is at the base of the mountain on the right edge of the photo.

We arrived at Baldan Bereeven just after noon. We were of course anxious to visit the monastery but first we set up camp, built a fire, and had a pot of Tie Kwan Yin Oolong tea. Tie Kwan Yin, the Iron Goddess of Mercy, is, as you probably know, the Chinese version of Avalokitesvara (Tibetan: Chenresig; Mongolian: Janraisag), the Bodhisatta of Companion, and thus a fitting drink in the environs of a monastery. In honor of our arrival Tumen-Ölzii also whipped up a big batch of Tsuivan, a much hallowed mutton and noodle dish which holds a special place of honor in the firmament of Mongolian cuisine.

Zevgee oversees the teapot at our Baldan Beereveen campsite

Mongolia | Gov-Altai Aimag | Bayan Tooroi to Tsagaan Burgasny Bulag

After a memorable night enjoying the delectable delights of the Bayan Tooroi Oasis—a description of which I will omit here, since it lies outside the boundaries of the narrative of our journey to Ülzii Bilegt—we moved on to the ger of a man named Tsogoo from whom we intended to rent camels.

Tsogoo and two of his magnificent camels

Tsogoo’s ger is 18.3 kilometers west of Bayan Tooroi and 23 kilometers east of Eej Khairkhan Uul, in an area known as Zakhuin Gov, much of which covered with ders, a kind of grass which grows in thick clumps reaching heights of over six feet and which is much beloved by camels.

Tsogoo's camels with Eej Khairkhan Uul in the distance

Tsogoo, forty-five years old, is a locally well-known camel herder who we were told by usually reliable sources knew the route from here to Shar Khuls and on to Ülzii Bilegt like his own jugular vein, or the back of his hand, or some other equally familiar body part. With him was a thirty year old man named Sükhee who has also agreed to come with us. He normally works as a ranger in the Gobi Protected Area A, the huge nature preserve which begins just south of Bayan Tooroi and extends south the whole way to the Chinese border. (Gobi Protected Area B is farther west, in Khovd Aimag, in case you’re wondering.) With him along we would not have to worry about unpleasant encounters with rangers in the nature preserve—a reoccurring theme during my previous visits to Gobi Protected Area A—since he himself was the ranger, if you grasp my point. He also claimed to knew the way to Shar Khuls and even claimed to have visited Ülzii Bilegt five or six years earlier while accompanying some people doing research on mazaalai, the extremely rare Gobi bear found only at certain oases in the south Gobi, including Shar Khuls. A mazaalai used to hang around Ülzii Bilegt, Sükhee told us, but he was unable to say if it was still there now.

We spent the morning picking out camels—we would need eight, five and riding and three for baggage and water—and preparing saddles, bridles, lead ropes, and whatnot. I also bought a sheep and a goat which were quickly dispatched and reduced to manageable sized pieces. I was told that it had been quite warm in the Gobi and there was some danger of our meat spoiling during our two-week trip. Hence the goat, the meat of which will keep much longer than sheep meat. We would eat the sheep first and then move on to the goat.

It was soon decided that instead of beginning our camel trip here we would drive by jeep to the Bear Research Station at Tsagaan Burgasny Bulag (bulag = spring) on the north side of Edriin Nuruu (nuruu = mountain range), thirty kilometers south of Tsogoo’s ger. Tsogoo and Sükhee would proceed to here with the camels and the next morning we leave for Shar Khuls.

Tsaidam, or salt flats

From Tsogoo’s ger we drove south across vast salt flats to the northern foothills of Erdriin Nuruu and up a canyon to Tsagaan Burgasny Bulag. Here the administration of the Gobi Protected Area A maintains a tidy little guest house for researchers who come here to study bears and other fauna and flora of the Gobi Desert. Indeed, upon arriving here we encountered a van load of Mongolian and Chinese scientists from Inner Mongolia in China who had stopped by for a quick look around. They quickly departed.

Guest House at Bear Research Station

A young man and woman and their small daughter live year-round here in a ger and serve as caretakers.

Wife and daughter of caretaker at Tsagaan Bugasny Bulag

The man explained that the Gobi Protected Area A Administration hoped to capture a Gobi bear and bring it here so scientists could study it in captivity. They also hoped that paying tourists would come to see the bear and stay in the guest house, thus providing funding for further research. This sounded like a hare-brained scheme to me, but since Gobi bears were outside of my field of interest I did not pursue the matter. The man also confirmed that from here south to Ülzii Bilegt—a distance of exactly 200 kilometers—there was no people whatsoever. We would be completely on our own. Water was available here, but the next water would be at Otgonii Bulag, 38.7 kilometers south of here.

When we were shopping in Altai I had expected camp boss and cook Uyanga to buy noodles, a staple of any trip into the countryside. She had not, explaining that she, like any self-respecting Mongolian housewife, would make her own kherchsen guril—noodles freshly made from flour. After tea (Yunnan Gold) we retired to the cook shed to prepare three kilos of kherchsen guril and four kilos of bortsog, or fried bread, another staple of the countryside. I mentioned to Mojik that I was surprised Uyanga would go to all the trouble to make noodles when we could have easily bought them ready-made in the store. Mojik informed me that both she and Uyanga do not approve of store-bought noodles. They have a tendency, so Mojik claimed, to linger in the intestinal tract for three or four days, often with unpleasant results, while freshly made noodles move right on through with admirable dispatch. I was completely unaware of this. The things you learn on a camel trip!

Mojik making kherchsen guril

The waning gibbous moon rose at 7:23 and the sun set ten minutes later at 7:33. The moon was high in the sky by the time we finished preparing the noodles and bortsog. When we turned in at 10:30 the camel men had still not arrived.