Another trip to Ulaanbaatar today, but this time it wasthe whole expedition group together. This was meant to be a day to mark the end of the Aravt based programme, but due to the day lost in the floods we still have one more day to go. The day began at Gandantegchinlen Buddhist Monastery. We were due to be meeting up with the Venerable Gankhuyag Lama (who we spent 2 weeks with at the World Jamboree in 2007), but it turns out he was very ill. Instead we walked around the monastery to see it in action. In one of the halls there was a large group of monks participating in their morning chanting, which is a beautiful, yet haunting sound, whilst the very young monks were fighting in the back row. We also went to look at the 26.5 metre high statue of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, that was housed in the main temple building.
From the temple, we headed to the sauna so that, for at least one day, we would all be clean. The sauna was brilliant, and not just a sauna. There were hot showers :), a hot pool filled with Green Tea (apparently it’s good for the skin) and a cold pool for after spending time in the sauna itself. Once we left the main room, we were all issued with shorts and t shirts and directed to a relaxation room to finish off our session. In this room, there was mini golf, a sleeping room, a gym, a massage room, an alternative therapy room and a bar. Generally a very good time was had by all, although the girls had a slightly less favourable experience because they were not taken to a relaxation room at all.
After a pub lunch of pizza or stroganoff, we headed on to the Natural History musuem where Rosie gave a very detailed discourse on the history of Palaeolithic man to anyone willing to listen. Free time followed where we took a look around Sükhbaatar Square and the Mongolian Parliament building with it’s huge statue of Chinggis Khan.
We again ate at a pub for dinner where Rosie was educated about Blackadder by Mike, Mark and Eddie. After dinner we headed out to a viewpoint on the outskirts of the city, stopping at “Cashmere World” on the way. Below the viewpoint there was a massive standing statue of Buddha with a mini temple inside. We then got back on the bus and headed back to the gers, where we found we finally had a new roof on ours so it shouldn’t leak so much in the next storm!