The Orkhon Valley

Wednesday, July 17

Orkhon Valley

This morning we drove into the “breathtaking” Orkhon Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with rolling hills, pastureland, and many ger settlements, the families raising yaks, horses, sheep and goats.  We drove without the benefit of roads, and our drivers would sometimes play Mongolian music from MP3s on their thumb drives.  Here’s what it was like; there are three clips; the first features Mongolian rap, the third passes a herd of goats and sheep which commonly were seen together:

 


We would stop now and then at a particularly beautiful spot.  If there were rocks, Leah would climb them: 


We came on a herd of horses and the father and sons who managed them: 


This is a winter corral where a family would keep their animals during the snows: 

Here’s herd of yaks:

It was incredibly beautiful.  In the evening we settled in to the Hurkhree ger camp where we’ll stay two nights—the only two night ger stay on the trip: 

It gets cold at night, and the gers have wood stoves.  The bed in the background is typical, and the fire burned out in about 45 minutes: 

In the evening we had a campfire, and our guide, Ganaa, sang the Mongolian national anthem for us:

 

Tomorrow we’ll visit some nomadic people.  More then.

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