The great place of complete joy

Position : Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

It's dark , the city is silent, my belly is full of grilled meat and Mongolian beer, and my headlamp is still on . I was asleep , I think. Maybe ten minutes ago, maybe 2 hours. The jet lag is slowly starting to pass and we are becoming accustomed to operation on Mongolian time. I place my book on the floor, turn off the headlamp, and roll over to fall quickly back into sleep.

Opening my eyes again I notice the sun is up and beaming through our second story window , I know this time that hours not minutes have passed and I slowly allow my body to come fully into morning . It' the first we have seen of the sun since we arrived. We make the best of the morning by heading out to main street (Peace Avenue) to get a few photos, some video and to find a quiet park to test our communication systems.

Sitting on a park bench in the Parliament Gardens Eric and Sarah go through our Satellite communication system and test the GPS. I take a few more shots of a stone lion basking in the early morning light and we head to our second stop of the morning, Gandantegchenling Monastery.

The name roughly translates to "the great place of complete joy". Building of this Monastery began in 1838 and over the next century grew to include nine dastans or institutes and became an important center for learning and practicing Buddha's teachings. In the years to follow the temples fell to the religious suppression of communist rule, 900 monasteries were destroyed. In 1990 , after the Democratic Revolution Buddhism began to flourish once again and The Gandan now houses 10 datsans and approximately 900 monks.

A great morning with beautiful light and a little walking tour of UB. Tonight we pack, measure food and wait anxiously for our buggies to come in from Frankfurt.

Curtis