Amarbayasgalant

I was up early this morning to meet my driver at 6 am. I asked his name, but lost it. We had a quiet ride, him knowing no English, and me no Mongolian. The road was paved until the last 35 km, and then it became a contest between the car and the road.

It was still very chilly when we arrived at Amarbayasgalant Khiid (Monastery), but soon the sun made it a pleasant morning.

This place, as all Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia, was decimated during the time of Choibalsan, who was a staunch Stalinist, and who purged the country of an estimated 100,000 intellectuals, political dissenters, and Buddhist monks. He was responsible for destroying almost all religious buildings in the country. This one survived somehow, and it's worth the trouble it took to get to it. The monastery itself was built entirely with wooden nails almost 300 years ago. At its height, there were about 3,000 monks living and studying there, but now the number is around 60. If you visit at the time of the prayer recitals, you are allowed to watch, and I saw mostly young men and boys, aside from the senior monk- but I don't think all of them were in attendance either.

And I have to throw in another toilet shot-

The monastery is in an incredibly beautiful (and remote) valley. There is a small group of houses and gers next to it, and there are a couple of ger camps for tourists in the valley. Aside from that, it's horses, cows, goats, and unending hills and mountains.