14 Aug - 15 Aug 2012 Karakorum





East Asia
Mongolia
Central Mongolia
Orkhon Valley
Karakorum aka Harhorin
Cancal & Davaasuren’s Homestay +97689977256
Basic guestroom for MNT 16,000.- or US$ 11.80 per night.


Click below for an interactive road map of Cancal & Davaasuren's Homestay in Karakorum and for directions:










Sizing up the awesome sand dunes of Mongolia’s smallest desert, Elsen Tasarkhai, and spotting numerous hawks, kites and eagles as well as kestrels and falcons, e.g. (i) the agile golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), (ii) the large cinereous aka black vulture (Aegypius monachus) and (iii) the delicate lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni).

"I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand."
(Bob Dylan



Discovering the ruins of Chinggis Khaan's capital city, the heart of the Mongol Empire, at Karakorum and visiting the large 1585 CE built Erdene Zuu Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, with its Tibetan-style temple and its distinctive wall with 100 stupas.



Learning from our friend Davaasuren, a resident of Karakorum, about the Mongol Empire (1206 - 1368 CE), the largest contiguous land empire in human history (at its greatest extent it spanned 9,700 km, covered an area of 24,000,000 sqkm, 16 % of the Earth's total land area, and held sway over a population of 100 million), and its simple but effective military organisation based on the decimal system (the number which is the count of fingers and thumbs on both hands).

“If you're afraid - don't do it.
If you're doing it - don't be afraid!”




Facing Asia
© Konni & Matt


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