It's hard to find anything about Chinggis Khaan's life and times actually in the landscape. His precise birthplace is unknown; as is his grave. He wasn't into building fancy memorials. Mongolians today are actively commemorating their hero by creating monuments and other symbols.
A loop trip northeast from Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, into Hentii Province can take about five days, and give you as a tourist some idea of the old days. You actually travel along a concrete road at first. Suddenly, a huge statue of a stainless steel 50-metre-high representation of the man himself astride a horse comes into view beside the road. After about 30 minutes or so, you detour off the road onto a dry, sandy track into the hills to the 13th Century Park.
13th Century Park
The first stop is a reconstructed staging post for the pony express system. This was similar to the one used in North America before the arrival of trains. In Mongolia it was amazingly efficient at providing relatively quick transport over thousands of kilometres of grassland. Gers (traditional Mongolian felt tents), colorful banners, flags and warriors in costumes feature. The second stop is at the King's Palace, set at the base of huge granite outcrops. You will get served lunch here: bread-type whirls, salad, mutton noodles, mutton bones and milk tea. On the way to the next stop you may come across a camel or two. If you are game you may try to mount one, but be careful as some can spit green slime in your direction and be generally spiteful. A collection of "nicer" camels and horses await at the third stop, and they are more friendly, especially the young ones.
The fourth stop is a Shamanist camp surrounded with tall wooden poles, flags and banners, and containing several ortzes (tepee-like tents of the Tuva reindeer people of the far northwest of Mongolia). Stop number five is a visit to a Mongolian herbalist and a butter-churning woman in a ger. Finally, the last stop is to an educational site with traditional writing, musical instruments and costumes. It is set amongst rock outcrops.
Hoh Nuur
Backtracking somewhat by road and then onto dirt 4WD tracks takes you to a blue lake, where Chinggis Khaan was pronounced khan of his tribe and where he married Borte. The lake is quite small; in winter it is frozen with pale, cold land and plants around it. A commercial ger can provide accommodation. In summer it is a much more enticing area and a good place to camp.
Rolling hills, flat plains, grassland and flowers
For the next three days you pass through wide, open spaces. Mongolia is like a really stretched out concertina with long distances between hills and plains. Leave one valley using a 4WD track up and over a saddle, and then there is another valley, and another one and so on. Private gers can be sought out for accommodation in autumn or spring; commercial cabins or gers are available in summer, or just use your own tents. Don't venture into this area without a driver-guide; you are sure to get lost amongst the maze of tracks with no signposts.
Rashaan Khad
A huge rock sticks up above the plain. Here is a site with some 20 different scripts and animal and human pictures carved or painted on the rock, going back to at least 10,000 years ago. Nearby is an ovoo, a pile of small rocks, blue scarves and broken bottles, first built by Zanabazar (a religious figure who was also a great sculptor) in the 1600s to commemorate Chinggis Khaan.
Baldan Bereeven Khiid (monastery) and deer stones
Farther along you will come to a monastery in the process of restoration - with government funding -using the original techniques of timber joining with no nails It was first built in the 18th century and home to over 5000 lamas. It was destroyed in the communist purges of the 1930s and a fire in the 1970s. It is a spiritual place, silent and alone under a typically brilliantly blue sky. A guide can take you around the site, which has rock shapes to restore one's health and faces that are carved with representations of gods. The area is surrounded by hills (the tiger, lion, dragon and phoenix) and a lake. A magical place.
Not far along the track are some deer stones. These rock slabs point at odd angles to the sky. They may or may not mark actual graves. Their purpose seems to be a way of getting the soul of a deceased person quickly to heaven, via the painted or engraved deer on their surface. Such deer often have wings. Deer stones go back 2000 years. About 700 such sites exist in the world; 500 of these in Mongolia.
Chinggis Khaan's wall
Up a beautiful side valley is the remnant of a wall, some three kilometres or so long. Some say it was built by Chinggis' orders to show his strength; others say it has nothing to do with him at all but was built by the Manchus to keep the Mongol hordes out. Other more professional opinions are that it was part of a fort built in the Khitan period (947-1125) or a grave site in the 8th century .
Binder's memorial
Near the small township of Binder is a monument to celebrate Chinggis Khaan's selection as the leader of all the Mongol tribes in 1206.
The Onon River to Dadal
The Onon Gol is believed to be the source of the word "Mongol". It is a substantial river and flows northeast to join the Amur River in Siberia, which in turn flows out into the Pacific Ocean. It is the 9th longest river system in the world.
Dadal is quite an interesting town. It looks like a small forestry settlement from a distance. Buildings of timber dominate. It has a white-washed portrait of the man on a 10-metre monument, shaped like a mountain peak, to mark the 800th anniversary of Chinggis Khaan's birth. Farther north you can drink pure, clear water from a spring like Chinggis used to do and climb to to the top of a small hill to see a monument to his assumed birth in the area. A lovely area with woods of pine, larch and silver birch, and meandering rivers, valleys and hills.
Return via Ondorhaan
A rather badly pot-holed "road" will take you to the provincial capital, and then by road back to Ulaanbaatar. If you are lucky you may see a herd of Mongolian gazelles before you hit the main road. The capital has muddy or dusty streets depending on the season, but two good museums.
This journey within Chinggis Khaan country is a great way to introduce you to the countryside of Mongolia and its rich history and culture.
John Brundall - Hi there My name is John Brundall. I live in New Zealand - I was born and bred there. I graduated with a master's degree in ...
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