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 | Khentii Aimag | Khökh Nuur

After fording the Kherlen Gol near the Old Man’s Bushes we rode for another three hours through open steppe without a sign of water or firewood. Zevgee said we would soon reach a small tributary of the Kherlen where we would camp for the night. But when we got there the tributary was dry. Zevgee said this was the first time he had ever seen this. The nearest water was the Kherlen Gol, at least an hour's ride off to the west. While we took a break to decide what to do a local herdsman came by. He said there was a well at his ger about a mile away and that he would loan us a water container for the night. So we dispatched Zevgee's grandson for some water and set up our tents. There was a winter camp nearby and Zevgee was able to salvage some old logs there for firewood. Soon we enjoying a pot of Yunnan Gold Tea and later a big pot of sheep ribs and soup.

The next morning we followed the tributary east into the mountains, passing several large meadows where herdsmen were cutting wild hay for the winter with scythes. Larch forest creep down lower and lower on the flanks of the mountains until we were riding through park-like woods. Crossing a low pass we emerged on an upland of steppe interspersed by forested hills and ridges. Hidden among these hills was Khökh Nuur, the Blue Lake of the Black Heart Mountain where Temüjin, the future Chingis Khan, had lived with his family when he was a youngster. The family had fallen on hard times and when they lived here the only livestock they owned was nine horses. They surviving on marmots and other wild game. (see Paragraph 89 of The Secret History of the Mongols). Later, in 1189, when Temujin’s fortunes had taken a complete turnabout, he was declared Khan of all the Mongols here (see Paragraph 123 of the Secret History). It may be at this time that he received the title of Chingis Khan, although some sources maintain that he did not get the title of Chingis until later, in 1206. In any case Khökh Nuur is a hallowed site in the early life of Chingis.

Soon we spotted in the distance a large lodge surrounded by half a dozen or more small guest houses. I was a bit surprise to see this resort out here, but even more surprised when we rode a bit farther and saw that the resort was on the shores of Khökh Nuur. We rode a bit farther and saw at one end of the lake what was either another fancy two-story guesthouse or a private home surrounded by a wooden fence encompassing several acres.

Khökh Nuur

This was hardly what I was expecting. When I had first been to Khökh Nuur the first time in 1998 there had been no development of any kind around the lake and we even had a bit of trouble finding the place. We had come not by horse through the mountains from the Kherlen River but via a jeep trail from the süm center of Tsenkhermandal. When I returned again in 2002 someone had set up two gers and was living in one and renting the other one out to visitors. Now it appeared the area had been turned into a major tourist resort. Zevgee, who also had not been here for many years, was a bit nonplussed and not even sure he wanted to camp here. We rode along the side of lake across from the resort and found what looked like a heavily used campsite which was empty at the moment. So we decided to spend the night.

As we were setting up our tents a man in a uniform and wearing a badge arrived on a motorcycle. Now it appeared the lake had been declared a State Protected Area and you had to buy a permit to camp here. The permit was 3000 tögrögs. The ranger stayed for tea. He said the resort was a favorite of members of the Mongolian Parliament who often came here for the weekend. Many of them hoped, he said, to commune with the spirit of Chingis Khan while here and thus gain worldly power. The building in the fenced-in compound was the private residence of a gold miner who was reputed to be the richest man in Khentii Aimag. He came here on weekends and often hosted parties for high-rollers from Ulaan Baatar. When we asked the ranger how this guy could build a house in a State-Protected Area he just laughed and rubbed his thumb and fingers together.

All this was a bit hard to take in. On my first trip here we had camped right where the resort was now. We were the only people there and it seemed like a pretty wild place. Our jeep driver said a few people did come in the fall to pick the plentiful berries on the nearby hillsides, but that was about it. While we were eating breakfast three men who we assumed were local herdsmen, although we had not seen any gers in the area, arrived on horse. They sat down to chat and we offered them tea and soup, bread, and cheese. I noticed that the men wolfed the food down as if they had not eaten in days. Finally they left and a bit later we took the jeep trail back to Tsenkhermandal. After a couple of miles a jeep sped up from behind and flagged us over. Two men in police uniforms jumped out and asked if we had seen three men on horseback. We said we had. They said the three men were escapees from prison who had stolen three horses and were now hiding out in the woods around Khökh Nuur. No wonder they were so hungry. Whatever trouble they were in before they were in more now, since horse rustling in Mongolia carries an automatic five-year sentence.

On the side of the lake with the resort is a new monument to Chingis Khan created by the artist Ugtaabayar. By sheer coincidence I had arrived here on the day when Ugtaabayar was putting on the final touches to his work. We had spend the morning at celebrating the 840th Birthday of Chingis Khan at Khodoo Aral and then decided to move on and spend the night at Khôkh Nuur.

New Chingis Monument at Khökh Nuur

Close-up of relief on new monument

Earlier, at the time of my 1998 visit here, there had been a different monument on the same spot as the new one. This older monument had a relief portrait by artist Khurtsgerel which was probably the most reproduced image of Chingis, appearing in dozens, or not hundreds of different places. Once when walking down a street in Graz, Austria, the Dharma Wear Capital of the World, I was startled to see this image staring down at me from a billboard advertising a museum exhibition of Mongolian artwork. This monument has now been moved to a pass a mile or two from the lake.

Older monument with relief of Chingis

Detail of relief

It also appears of the copy of Juvaini’s monumental History of the World Conqueror.

Juvaini’s History of the World Conqueror

The relief appears yet again on John Man’s Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection.

The same artist Khurtsgerel also did the relief now found on the Summit of Burkhan Khaldun, the Mountain Worshipped By Chingis Khan, as portrayed on the cover of the most recent edition of my Travels in Northern Mongolia.

Khurtsgerel’s relief on the summit of Burkhan Khaldun

Zevgee and his wife Tumen-Ölzii at Khökh Nuur

The heart-poundingly luscious Enkha gracing Khökh Nuur with her ineffable presence

Khökh Nuur, the Blue Lake of the Black Heart Mountain

Mongolia | Töv Aimag | Chingis’s Table | Old Man’s Bushes

From Zevgee’s ger on the Terelj Gol (a tributary of the Kherlen Gol, not be be confused with the Terelj Gol north of Ulaan Baatar), to Khökh Nuur is a distance of 21.9 miles as the crow flies. Unfortunately we were riding horses and so had to take a more roundabout route. We rode south along the west bank of the Kherlen Gol to Nomkhan Khairkhan Uul, where according to legend Mongols during the time of Chingis Khan used to gather to pay their respects to Burkhan Khaldun, which can be seen from here far off to the north. Burkhan Khaldun was quite visible today and its summit and upper flanks were covered with snow. Zevgee says this snow just fell in the last two or three days. Indeed, it is surprising chilly even here in the lower Kherlen Valley. I had planted this trip at this time to enjoy the last balmy days of summer, hopefully without flies or mosquitoes, but now autumn was definitely in the air. And there was a sharp wind out of the east which made everyone don their deels.

At the southern end of Nomkhan Khairkhan we stop at a place known locally as Chingis Khan’s Table. This is a big slab of rock which locals claim was used as a table by Chingis Khan personally. Chingis Khan certainly spent a lot of time in this area but the story about him using this rock as a table is no doubt apocryphal. In any case, it is a well-known local landmark, and many people stop here to down a bottle or two of vodka, as evidenced by the many empties nearby.

Chingis’s Table

Just past here is a place known as “Old Man's Bushes.” The story of this place dates back to 1688, when the Zungarian chieftain Galdan Boshigt invaded Khalkh Mongolia. He and his men trashed Erdene Zuu and Khögno Tarnyn Khiid, castrating and/or beheading numerous monks at the latter, then moved on farther east to attack and destroy Saridgiin Khiid, the monastery founded by Zanabazar, the First Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia. By then Zanabazar and his Khalkh Mongol followers were fleeing en masse to eastern Mongolia with Galdan and his army in hot pursuit. Many were traveling in ox-drawn carts with whatever possessions they had managed to take with them. They tried to cross the Kherlen River at a ford here but due to recent rains the river was very high and the carts had trouble crossing. They threw rocks into the river and then drove their carts across the river on the rocks. In the confusion an old man got left behind on the west bank of the river. He was still there when Galdan’s men arrived there the next day. In their fury at not being able to catch the Khalkh Mongols they killed the man, cut him up into manageable pieces, and made bortz, or dried meat, from his flesh. These strips of flesh were hung up to dry on bushes along the river bank. Every since then this ford has had the name of Old Man’s Bushes. There are still bushes along the river bank here, and a pathway of stones can still be discerned across the river.

The River Ford at Old Man’s Bushes

Mongolia | Töv Aimag | Horse and Camel Trips

Skipped out to Töv Aimag to meet up with Zevgee and his family. The general idea was to make an eight-day horse trip east into Khentii Aimag with stops at Khökh Nuur and Baltan Bereeven Khiid. This would be the 10th horse or camel trip I have done with Zevgee.

Let’s see: there was my first trip with Zevgee and his son Bayaraa in 1997, described in my Travels in Northern Mongolia. Then a 10-day 160-mile horse trip from Zevgee’s ger on Terelj Gol to the Minj River in the Khentii Mountains, just south of the Siberian border, retracing the route used by Temüjin, Chingis Khan, when he went to Siberia to capture his wife Börte back from the Merkits.

Looking north from the pass leading to the Minj River.

The extremely remote Minj River Valley near the Siberian border

Irises in bloom along the Minj River

Zevgee, momentarily befuddled, getting directions from Irina

On the way back from the Minj River we crossed Ongoljiin Davaa to the beginning of Ongoljiin Gol. This is the ultimate source of the 2,728 mile-long Ongoljiin-Onon-Shilka-Amur River System, according the National Geographic Altas of the World the 9th longest river system in the world.

Zevgee at the ultimate source of the Ongoljiin-Onon-Shilka-Amur River System

A year or two later Zegvee, his son Bayara, and I traveled to Bayankhongor Aimag, where Zevgee was born and where his brothers still live, and did a 124-mile camel trip from near the süm center of Shinejinst to the Sacred Mountain of Segs Tsagaan Bogd Uul near the Chinese border.

That was followed by a 109 mile horse trip Circumnavigating Burkhan Khaldun Uul, the mountain worshipped by Chingis Khan, with a stop at the Onon Hot Springs.

Then a 118 mile horse trip to Yestiin Rashaan the Hotsprings studied by Zanabazar, First Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia, with a stop at the ruins of Saridgiin Khiid, the monastery constructed by Zanabazar.

A year later we returned to Bayankhongor Aimag for a 272 mile camel trip following the Route of the 13th Dalai Lama from Shar Khuls Oasis to Amarbuyant Monastery.

Then back to Töv Aimag for a 168 mile horse trip to Asralt Khairkhan, the highest peak in the Khentii Range and after that yet another trip (my third) to the Summit of Burkhan Khaldun, the mountain worshipped by Chingis.

And just last year we did a Trip to Khargiin Khar Nuur with Gunj, the International Adventuress. I also visited Zevgee and Tümen Olzii for Tsagaan Sar Last Year in Baga Nuur.

Zevgee is a keen collector of photos for his family album so every year I take a family photo for him.

2008 Family Photo

Zevgee’s newest grandson, Kherlenbat

Then I bought a sheep and we prepared it for the upcoming horse trip. The first sheep I bought from Zevgee in 1997 cost $10. For this one I paid $55. And of course I did not claim the innards, the head, or the skin. The next morning we packed up our horses and left for Khökh Nuur.

Mongolia | Travels

Polar Star Books is happy to announce that the 3rd edition of Travels in Northern Mongolia is now available in Ulaan Baatar stores. One place you can pick it up is the Seven Summits Outdoor Equipment Store just across the street from the Central Post Office. Mongolia Adventure and Guide to Locales Connected with the Life of Zanabazar are also available at Seven Summits. The 3rd edition should be available on Amazon.com in a month or so. The 2nd Edition Is Still Available Online.