I made it out of Murun and all the way to Erdenet in one day. Luckily the road was paved and relatively smooth the whole way. The hotel I checked into was definitely better than freezing to death in the guesthouse in Murun, but my dreams of hot water would unfortunately have to wait. So I settled for being happy with the warm room and cable tv for a few days. I ventured out one day to explore the city a bit. I had absolutely no energy or motivation, but I had to do something. I started at the provincial museum, which was a bit disappointing, and eventually ended up at this communist era monument.

I only walked around for about three hours, but that about did me in. I’ve gotten sick on a few of my trips before, but I’ve always been able to keep going. I don’t remember ever being so effectively stopped in my tracks like this. This has definitely been a miserable week! After my third night in Erdenet, I started heading back to Ulaanbaatar, with a stop at Amarbayasgalant Khiid on the way.

Amarbayasgalant Khiid is a really famous monastery, built in the early 18th century by a Manchu emperor, in Manchu style, and dedicated to Mongolias own spiritual leader, Zanabazar, who’s tomb was here as well for a time.

For such a beautiful monastery in a really beautiful setting, Amarbayasgalant is a perfect picture of neglect as well. I think this place really deserves an award for the amount of bird poop and pigeon carcasses that have been allowed to pile up all over the place inside and out. I walked around, I looked, I took pictures, but I was terrified to touch anything. They really should take better care of the place.

I had planned to visit another monastery on the way back to Ulaanbaatar, but it turned out to be inaccessible due to all the road construction. The road back which is supposed to be paved, apparently is not yet so most of the trip was more off roading and took about twice as long as anticipated. The good news is, I found a nicer and better guesthouse in Ulaanbaatar to base myself at and it has piping HOT water! Yes!

I have a couple of days here to rest and hopefully find the energy to embark on the next leg of this crazy Mongolian adventure. So some of you don’t worry, my next post won’t happen for a couple of weeks, but it will happen. Stay tuned…