Our next adventure took us about 4 hours to the west to the town of Kharkorin, the location of the former capital established by Chenghis Khan - Karakhorum. Erdene Zuu Monastery Our first stop was the Erdene Zuu Monastery, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery constructed in the late 16th century. We were told we had 90 minutes here, which seemed like a lot, but there was actually quite a bit to see and we wound up a bit rushed, or at least, I was. It was originally intended for the surrounding wall to have 108 stupas, 108 being an important number in Tibetan buddhism, but I did not count. It was also constructed using ruins from the old capital, which did not last long. At its peak, the monastery held 62 temples and housed over 1,000 monks.
... read more