Orkhon Valley

VISIT: LATE NOVEMBER 2023

Orkhon Valley has been covered a couple of times in reviews but never in winter. I made a combined visit with the Deer Stones at Khoid Tamir valley. I did not stay overnight in Karakorum but visited two places. Balgas Ordu Baliq on my way from Ulaanbaatar to Tsetserleg and the Erdene Zuu Monastery on the way back. The roads are well paved and also cleaned if there is snow but still in winter the drive takes long.

Balgas Ordu Baliq can only be reached in winter if there is not fresh snowfall and you can see the tracks of others. As, it's off-road and if you do not see where you go you will get stuck in a ditch in no time. Luckily, on my way to Tsetserleg there was not that much snow so I visited Balgas Ordu Baliq first. The site is not huge, there is a wall left, a pagoda and several towers around. It is however in ruins and weather has a big impact. I walked around an hour and left to Tsetserleg.

On my wat back from Tsetserleg I visited Erdene Zuu. The iconic view outside from the wall and pagodas in the snow is mesmerizing. Inside the walls, I kept my visit short as temperatures dropped to minus 29 Celsius (about minus 20 Fahrenheit). Luckily I was just in time to witness a short ceremony of the monks. After warming up inside the temple, I continued …

One of the easier Mongolia sites with a bus going daily from UB and it "only" takes most of the day with lunch break. The main reason would be to visiting Karakorum's Erdene Zuu. The town is small and was the capital of the Mongol Empire for only a short time. One often thinks of the Mongol Empire as a huuuuuge place but people were scarce and if they would join the empire it's mainly because "woah this guy has a horse" and they never see him again. Well you might giggle now but this wasn't exactly Alexander the Great conquesting the area. With the monastery gone (it's an hour visit tops and right in town) you can arrange for your hotel/homestay to go visit the locals. Anything will do because you basically "ticked off" the site with the monastery but it would be nice if you go for something nice, like local yurts and their horses. The valley is large and empty so I suggest you spend a few days here. The only hotel they have is nice but quoted a huge sum (are we still in Mongolia??) so the local places are the way to go, plus they will help you visit locals more and you get to meet other travels.

Visit in March 2022

This was the first Site that I visited during my hastily-arranged trip to Mongolia, just after the country had reopened after being closed for the previous two years. Though it is not ideal, it is possible to make a rewarding visit to this Site during the final, at least according to the calendar, week of winter. However, that particular time of the year did significantly affect the type of visit that I was able to make. While I normally would have preferred to travel to the Site and back by bicycling—there is now a reasonable-quality paved road for the entire distance from Ulaanbaatar to Kharkorin—the limited amount of time I had available and, more importantly, the still-cold weather ruled out that option. I also considered traveling on my own to Kharkorin by bus and then finding someone locally to take me around to the interesting locations. However, while I think that would be possible in the summertime, and more so in a “normal” year, I was not confident that I would be able to make those arrangements under the circumstances, especially given that some tourism facilities and services had not completely restarted at the time. Therefore, I needed to book a package tour from a guiding company based in Ulaanbaatar. The trip would require four days, one to travel most of the way to the Site, two for visiting various points of interest, and one to return to UB, with three nights accommodation in traditional …

As an inveterate “listophile” I maintain a large number of travel-related lists. “Ancient Capital Cities of the World” is one – so the chance to “pick up” that of Ghengis Khan at Kharkhorin (“Karakorum”) in Mongolia when we visited in August 2002 was not to be missed! In fact, if you visit Mongolia, you are not likely to miss it. Mongolia has many merits as a destination (particularly its wonderful open spaces and the chance to see/experience a nomadic lifestyle) but historical remains are not a major feature. The nature of the country and its people’s lifestyle meant that Buddhist monasteries were the main permanent buildings and the Stalinist purges of the 1930s destroyed many of these. So, almost any tour of the country is likely to take in the main restored monasteries in Ulaan Baatar and Erdene Zuu.

Mongolia has chosen to badge this WHS inscription as “Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape” rather than specifically as “Karakorum” or the main monastery of the area at Erdene Zuu. A good choice I think. By including all the old sites AND the pastureland, still spotted by gers (yurts) and the herds of horses, yak and camels of nomad families, it ties together past and present very nicely and emphasises the continuity of lifestyle involved. The landscape of the valley and the nearby holy mountains with their shamanistic heritage provides a microcosm of Mongolian culture and is well worth spending a couple of days to see. We were a “group” of just …

Erdene Zuu is a remarkable place. I was lucky enough to be there almost on my own, and I found the atmosphere of remoteness and history almost tangible. Apart form the slightly tacky, but almost inevitable gift shop and trinket sellers it is possible to get a feeling for the amazing ancient society that was based around here. The town nearby is nothign to write home about, but was once home to Chinggis Khan and his warroir hordes. That they survived in such a remote place is one thing; that they ruled such a huge part of the world from such a place is something else entirely.

Karakorum nowadays is a small town in the center of Mongolia. There's even a road there from Ulan Bator, one of the few in Mongolia. The town hosts the country's major tourist attraction: Erdene Zuu monastery. So we weren't the only visitors here. The monastery buildings are encircled by a wall of 108 white stupas: just great!

The next day, after staying the night in a comfortable ger camp, we drove on to Tövkin Khid. This is a smaller monastery in the mountains, a few hours from Karakorum. The drive to get there is completely off-road, crossing a river and driving along the paths in the grasslands. This day was undoubtedly the best day of my stay in Mongolia: I wished it would never end. The landscape around here is greener and hillier than in the rest of Central Mongolia, and so pure. We also visited a nomadic family on the move, dismantling their ger with help from their neighbours.

In the Orkhon area you can see quite a number of gers from nomadic families, maybe because of the proximity of a 'big city'. This traditional way of living is still quite common in rural areas, though I wonder for how long. The grasslands are getting drier and drier by the year.