Misplaced eagle and and other short stories

Eagle-hunting is something the Kazakhs in Western Mongolia do, but on our way to Terelj National Park last Saturday there was a man by the road using his eagle for lucrative purposes. We fell into the trap, of course, and had pictures taken. The eagle was heavy, so I didn't have to feel bad about not having done my biceps exercises for a few days :-)

In the middle of absolutely nowhere an imposing monument has been erected in the honour of the Great Chingghis Khaan (see also my profile picture). It sounds perhaps strange, but the location isn't as odd as you may think. It is somehow natural to see the statue there, on the steppe which was his homeland (well, actually, as faithful readers of my blog may recall, he came from Khentii in the east, but anyway).

The statue is about 40 m high, and in the building it stands on there is a rather interesting museum on Mongolian history. 

You don't need to go to the top of the monument to get a magnificent view - this picture was simply taken from just outside the building.

Inside this rock there is a cave where some 100 Buddhist monks hid from persecutors during the Stalinist era, when almost all temples in Mongolia were destroyed and thousands of monks were killed.

Camel enjoying life.

What you really do in Terelj is horseback riding, even if you never sat on a horse before. I did sit on a horse a couple of times in my life, but I certainly can't ride. But I succumbed to peer pressure and went for an hour-long ride, my horse firmly guided by this man, Horlaa, who, rightly so, had no faith in my capability of getting the horse to go in the right direction.

There is a small temple just a few hundred metres uphill from this spot, but it hadn't yet opened for the season.