KHARKHORIN TOUR

The Erdene Zuu Monastery is probably the earliest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. Located in Uvurkhangai province, approximately 2 km north-east from the center of Kharkhorin and adjacent to the ancient city of Karakorum, it is part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site. Abtai Sain Khan, ruler of the Khalkha Mongols and grandfather of Zanabazar, the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, ordered construction of the Erdene Zuu monastery in 1585 after his meeting with the 3rd Dalai Lama and the declaration of Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion of Mongolia. Stones from the nearby ruins of the ancient Mongol capital of Karakorum were used in its construction. Planners attempted to create a surrounding wall that resembled a Tibetan Buddhist rosary featuring 108 stupas (108 being a sacred number in Buddhism), but this objective was probably never achieved. The monastery's temple walls were painted, and the Chinese-style roof covered with green tiles. The monastery was damaged in 1688 during one of the many wars between Dzungars and Khalkha Mongols. Locals dismantled the wooden fortifications of the abandoned monastery. It was rebuilt in the 18th century and by 1872 had a full 62 temples and housed up to 1000 monks.

Day 1. Khugnu Khan National park. The Blue Gobi team will pick you up from your hotel at 9:00am. Drive to Hugnu Khan National Park - It is a picturesque area of Rocky Mountains, semi desert, Gobi sand dunes and steppes all in one location represents three different natural zones. There is ideal for hiking, wild life observation and photography.  After lunch, we will take short drive to Uvgun Monastery in the national park through the semi-desert. The monastery is located in the rocky Mountains with beautiful panoramic view. In the late afternoon, we will visit local nomadic family and meet nomads, explore their nomadic lifestyle which has not changed for centuries. Stay overnight at tourist ger camp.

Day 2. Kharkhorin & Erdene Zuu Monastery. After breakfast, we will drive through the Elsen tasarkhai sand dunes - surrounded by hills with willow trees, streams and bushes, and appear as a small desert in the center of the country. The sand dune is 80km long and the widest part of the sand dune is 9-10 km. The sand dunes are the perfect place for camel. Then we will continue driving to Kharkhorin and Erdenezuu Monastery. After lunch at Kharkhorin, we will visit museum of Karakorum and the symbolic ruins of ancient city of Mongol Empire, which was the largest contiguous empire in the World history. This city founded Chinggis Khan in the 13th century and lately was moved to Beijing by his grandson Kublai Khan, a founder of the Mongol Yuan dynasty in China. We will visit Erdene Zuu monastery, built in the 16th century with 108 stupas. After exploration of the monastery, we will drive to Ugii Lake  - is located up 1337m above the sea level. This is a pure water lake with 7.9km length and 5km width. We will stay overnight at tourist ger camp near the lake.

Day.3 Ulaanbaatar. After breakfast we will drive back to Ulaanbaatar. On the way we will visit Khustai National Park. This area is home to the Mongolian wild horse known as Prezevalski horse (takhi) with unique landscape that features mountain and steppe. We will have a lunch at Khustai camp and will visit Visitor Information Centre to learn more about the wild horse Takhi. We will do short drive to see a wild horse Takhi deep in the park. There is great opportunity to take photo for these endangered horses. In the late afternoon, we will have 2 hours drive to Ulaanbaatar and arrive in the hotel at 18.00.