Monastery and Frogs

2nd August 2017 - part 1
Well I had a good night sleep in the Ger, I started off without my blanket and woke up with it on me so must have felt a little cooler in the night and dragged it over me.
This morning we went on a 2 1/2 hour walk to Erdene Khombo monastery which is run by a lady abbot. It's a small Buddhist monastery that was rebuilt in the 1990's after Mongolia got it's independence from the Soviet Union. Near by is a ruined monastery that was destroyed in the 1930's on the order is Starlin. The monks that lived there at the time were killed, as we're 30,000 through out Mongolia. Starlin did not want the Mongolian people to grow in numbers, also the monk's meant education and politics so they were targeted.
I think that's one of the reasons why Chinggiss Khann is so admired by the Mongolian people. He united the Mongolian tribes to form the largest ever land based empire. After that empire collapsed Mongolia became under Chinese rule, they only got independence from China by becoming part of the Soviet Union. Chinggiss Khann harps back to an earlier time before they were ruled by other powers. Anyway they are once more independent. Our guide does say that he does not like everything using Chinggiss Khann's name. In Ullanbattar there is even the Chinggiss Khann Irish pub!
We drove back to camp in time for lunch. As soon as we got back a thunderstorm started, I opened the door to our Ger to find two frogs hopping around inside. They headed off to the edge of the Ger, I must remember to check my boots before putting them on.
During lunch the rain started and has been coming down on and off for the last couple of hours.
We have all brought gifts for the UK for the local people we visit and Kenzo has collected them ready to be divided between those we visit. We have the visit to the goat herder's planned for this afternoon. Let's hope the rain stops by then. This is day 3 in Mongolia and the third thunderstorm. Not that surprising as it was around 30 degrees Celsius this morning on our walk.
Oh as I write this one of the frogs has just made an appearance.
Anyway hopefully in the next blog entry I'll let you know how we got on with the goats.