A rest day spent in Kharkhorin – once the capital of the vast Mongol empire, it’s a lot less central to world affairs these days. Between organising our last week in Mongolia, catching up with loved ones, and bike maintenance, there was plenty of time to walk around and see what was about.

Ger ceiling, not as elaborate as some – but still much nicer than the inside of my tent.

Derelict industrial buildings always intriguing to me.

Strolling down to the old walled complex once home to scores of monasteries – since the Soviet occupation, not so much.

Most of the second ring of new shop buildings still sitting empty. But we did find a good cafe.

Apparently the coffee was good, but the wild rhubarb (of which we’d seen a bit in the hills) pie was of greater interest to me.

Just a small section of the wall of old Kharkhorin.

And a small part inside the walls – was staggeringly vast all up.

Not all the temples were lost, we could go inside some – but no photos.

For big prayers.

Didn’t work out what the occasion was, but good fun watching these guys enjoying themselves.

Finally found some postcards, and a lot of stamps! Back of the cards may have been mostly stamps…

Still loving the meat pockets…

Supermarket shopping a bit challenging – unless one wanted to buy a lot of candy.

We rode ten kilometres or so out of town to stay the night with a family in their ger camp.

First a stop at the big monument to the Mongol empire and Mongolia that we’d seen on the top of a ridge from the other side of the river on our ride into town.

Small empire.

Kharkhorin.

Vast empire.

Heading down there to stay on the true right of the Orkhon.

Yes, another ger. At least the hard beds were less of an issue after having gotten somewhat used to sleeping on the ground when my camping mattress failed.

A bit of wrangling so that we could go for a ride. Turned out to be more of a walk, but one of the adult sons of the family had spent time in New Zealand – so could chat with him a bit easier than most locals.

More homemade dairy goodness.

Ian and I managing to not fall off horses – the first time either of us had ridden one for many years. But as it was so slow, it was very easy going.

Nice evening for wandering the river flats though.