Ээж Хайрхан Уул (Eej Khairkhan Uul) "Mother Mountain"

From Left to right: Me, Jerome (Site Mate), Saraa, Oyuna, Jargal and Saraa's Husband/Driver Enkeh

Mother Mountain was by far one of the most breathtaking places I've visited during my time here in Mongolia. Situated 11 hours south of my site (Altai City) in the Gobi-Dessert, Mother Mountain is one of the most famous mountain peaks in the Altai range.  Eej Khairkhan,  the Dearest or Sacred Mother derrives its name from an old legend. Eej Khairkhan was married to Aj Bogd Mountain far off to the southwest. But Aj Bogd was old, his head was topped with white year round, and his wife was not happy. Far off to the northeast she could see Burkhan Buudai Mountain. Burkhan Buudai was so handsome, standing tall and proud against the torquoise sky. Aj Bogd’s wife could not take her eyes off of him. With each passing day she liked Aj Bogd less and felt more and more desire for Burkhan Buudai. Finally she decided she must flee to Burkhan Buudai. But Aj Bogd became suspicious of his wife. Every night after she went to sleep he would hide her deel so she would have nothing to wear if she decided to run away. One night his wife woke and decided the time had come to run off to her heart’s desire. But she could not find her deel. In her haste she put on Aj Bogd Uul’s deel and ran off to Burkhan Buudai. Her husband woke up and saw her fleeing across the desert. In his anger he grabbed a big handful of sand and threw it at her. His deel was much too large for his wife and the hem was dragging on the ground behind her. The sand landed on the tail of the deel and held her down. She could not move. She has remained to this day in her present location halfway between Aj Bogd Uul and Burkhan Buudai Uul. The sand which fell on the tail of her deel can still be seen as the big dunes to the southwest of the mountain. But fate was not entirely unkind. Her past was forgotten and she is no longer remembered as an unfaithful wife. Her beautiful form standing alone in the desert brought succor to countless lonely caravan men who could see her from far off and eventually she became known as Eej Khairkhan (“Mother Dearest”) Mountain.

Eej means mother and Khairkhan is an honorific which translates as dearest. This peak is also noted for its beautiful waterfall which flows into nine pools, called the Nine Pots, each situated like stepping stones down the slope. There was a Buddhist monk who lived in a cave here about one hundred years ago which led to this mountain becoming a popular pilgrimage destination.

Our caravan of seven hopped in our land cruiser around 9 am Friday morning. After a few pit stops for lunch, bathroom breaks and camel sitings we arrived at our destination 11 hours later. This wasn't your typical weekend trip, there were no paved roads or rest stops/stores to refresh and buy food. We were the only people for hundreds of kilometers and to be honest I actually didn't mind it. The serenity of being that far from civilization was tranquil and unique. At one point I could have sworn we were on Mars, the shape of the rock formations and rugged terrain was like nothing I had ever seen before. 

We settled into our cabin around 9pm the evening, loading it with our luggage, sleeping bags, equipment and food. The following morning my site mates and I decided to take a sun rise hike.  After our hike we ventured back to the cabin for breakfast were we indulged in milk tea, bread, various cuts of meat, spreads and fruit. Immediately after breakfast we were back on the trail to explore the mountain. We spent the entire morning and afternoon visiting the former monks cave, napping by the waterfalls and having lunch on a boulder overseeing our camp. That evening we played Monopoly deal , and were invited to dinner by a group of Mongolians from another soum (village). We were blessed with amazing weather and clear skies, so kilometers away from any light pollution we gazed into the sky to watch the constellations. The following morning we ate breakfast piled everything back into our truck and headed back to Altai. I should also mention that Mother Mountain is a national park and is sits on a protected area of approximately 22,475 hectares. I hope I have the opportunity to visit this magnificent ancient wonder again. As always I've posted some pictures from our journey below. Enjoy :) 

Waiting for the sun to rise

There it is :)

We had an awesome view

Site mate Love and I

Our Cabin

Sunrise on the mountains

One of the first gers we stopped at. They had just slaughtered a goat and were cleaning it.

Dog and Horse

On the road again

"Bod" the man to my left happen to be the uncle of one of my counterparts at the health department. Small world huh (more like big Mongolia small population)

Goats and sheep

Bactrian Camels 

Afternoon Hike through Mother Mountain

Our Cabin again at dusk

The cave were a former buddhist monk use to live some 100 years ago

Afternoon Hike

The Cave again

A group from a neighboring soum (village) visiting Mother Mountain as well.

Cabin at Sunrise

Breakfast

Afternoon Hike

One of my good friends Jargal and I

The park rangers dog that followed us around all day. He was sooo cute and friendly :)

Wolf Rock

Bear Rock

Bird Rock

Rock Rock

If you look closely the yellow bag in the rock is Oyuna taking a nap in her sleeping bag :)

Crocodile Rock

One of the nine pots

Buddhist Ovoo

Camp grounds

Mother Mountain- Apparently its suppose to resemble a woman laying down. 

Leaving Mother Moutain

Paved road, shamaved road!! 

Wild Horses

Moon

Venus

Another pit stop on our way back at Jargal's niece's Ger. Who needs indoor plumbing when you have a flat screen t.v.

Snow on our way back.

Image: Park ticket. The one time entry fee was 300 tugriks ($0.18 USD).

Camel Countryside

I've been intending to upload this post for quite some time, however I haven't been able to get around to doing so until now. Last spring some fellow PCV site mates and other expat friends of mine along with the HSUM-GAA college professors had an expedition to the "mirage of the Gobi." Now when I was originally approached by Jargal (one of the teachers at HSUM) about this trip I was all for it, camels, off road travel and the desert that's an adventure in the making for sure I thought, and boy o boy was it amazing.  We left the college around 9am and hopped in our russian van loaded with food, water and a gang of eager travelers. It wasn't that long into our journey when we stopped for a morning "snack." The meal consisted of chicken drumsticks, rice, bread and an array of assorted pickled vegetables and sweets. We laid out a blanket for our impromptu picnic and with the beautiful mountains as our backdrop we feasted. Then it was back in the van and we continued our journey for about another hour until we arrived at our destination...Khaliun village. Shortly upon arriving we were ushered into the home of the student that was traveling with us. Not only was this young man our tour guide, we would later find out his family owned the camel farm (if thats what you call it) which is why the teachers asked him to join us. So yea, we entered his home, (belly's still full from the breakfast we had 45 minutes earlier) and were seated in the living room. We were offered aka in Mongolia given traditional milk tea, now don't get me wrong Mongolia is second to none when it comes to hospitality, Mongolians genuinely give even when in some instances they don't have the means to do so. It is seen as being extremely rude to turn down food or drink especially after a journey. After the milk tea, soup, dried meat and pastries, we were back in the van for a short 2 minute ride to where they kept the camels. Much to our surprise it was that time of year when the camels fur is shaved and the new calfs are marked/branded. We had the opportunity to both ride and milk camels. As we were hanging out with the camels, it was then that I realized what Jargal was referring to before about the "mirage of the Gobi." As I looked west there appeared to be some type of body of water either a pond or a small lake (I couldn't tell), but this my friends was the mirage. We would say goodbye to our camel friends have a quick tour of the bag (a small village less than 2,000 people) and were on our way back to Altai. As always I've included some pictures below of our adventures. Enjoy :)

The villages secondary school children.

Meat Drying 

Some of the herders wrangling a camel, in preparation for shaving.  

The New Health Department

Two PCV's and three years later the new GAA health department is completed! Were finally settled in and I'm enjoying the opportunity of sharing an office with three of my counterparts. It's a spacious and cozy workplace, and best of all the heating system actually works. I probably shouldn't speak so soon, it is still fall and we won't really know until winter. About a week after moving in we had a ribbon cutting ceremony, I've posted a few pictures below from that event. Enjoy :)

The ceremony began bright in early at the town square. A fitness exercise was led by our towns athletic director.

Associate head director Toya.

Vegetarian breakfast.

Gifts for the new health department (thats my director Deorge on the right)

More gifts...

Health Department Staff 2013

Compassion Bloggers: Blog Month Post #2

"The presence of dignity doesn't mean poverty is absent"

Dignity is defined as "the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect." In 1 John 4:7 it is written "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." We are called to love one another wholeheartedly, and from love all else will follow. Love is the mother of respect, without love we are not compelled to respect anyone. This same attitude applies to one's self, if you don't love yourself you won't respect yourself. God loves us unconditionally and because of this we should constantly strive to reciprocate the same love for one another. So if love is the foundation for respect and both are present, as stated in the above quote it doesn't necessarily mean that poverty is absent, however love and dignity are the first two steps towards fighting poverty. God is love which means that he is not absent even in the presence of poverty. All men are entitled to dignity even in the midst of poverty. As an expression of your love and dignity for children living in poverty, will you sponsor a child today?