Today we finished off our Aravt programme with the last part of the service project work here in Mongolia. We made our way back into Zuunmod to continue the restoration works to the Buddhist Temple there. On arrival we noticed that the temple was already looking very good having had 4 large groups working on it over the previous programme days. We were told that the works that needed completing were the last coats of paint to the roof, and the painting of some of the prayer wheels and statues, so we set to it. Due to the number of us working on the temple, the detailed sections of the roof were all but done by lunch time, and the statues and prayer wheels only requried a final touch up to complete them.
We had lunch in a small building on the edge of the temple compound, with regular interruptions from the young monks studying at the monastery. It was a bit surreal to say the least. After lunch we headed back up onto the roof to finish of the last few bits. While the last bits were being finished, those with nothing left to do spent time playing basketball with the young monks.
At the end of the day, we all felt that we had actually achieved something worthwhile and were very pleased with the end result (thankfully the monks seemed to like it too). We then headed back into the centre of Zuunmod for a good shower before walking back to site for a relaxed dinner and another chilled evening.