Musings in Mongolia: 13th Century Park

13th Century Park

Craftsman's Camp

Thursday was a big day. We traveled 96 km. to 13th Century Park.

Lots of empty space

This theme park represents the living conditions, skills and culture in the days when Chinggis Khan formed his great army.

Zorgeo in front of the Khan's Palace - The flags represent the tribes unified under Chinggis Khan's reighn

Jangar was our tour guide and Zorgeo was our van driver.

Jangar between two carts

The ride was paved expect for the last 8 km. where we experienced some countryside road conditions in our 4 wheel drive van.

Countryside driving

We had previously visited these camps last summer during the Senior Couples' trip. It was great to experience these camps with our three daughters who were visiting Mongolia to see the sights in winter.

Guardmen's Camp

We went to five camps: the Guardsman Camp,

Guard and his son

the Craftsman Camp, the Shaman Camp, the Palace Camp, and the Education Camp.

Shaman Camp

People are hired to man the camps year around though some employees rotate in-and-out 2 or 3 months at a time.

Hitler borrowed the swastika symbol from one of Mongolia's 21 tribes

The Nomad Camp doesn't function until summer when a nomad family comes to live and take care of their herds. There is a small drive between camps. It seemed like each camp had a photogenic child who captured our attention.

Notice the rosy cheeks on this little girl - and the rest of the children

There were period costumes at three of the camps - Guardsman, Places and Education Camps. We ate a meal at the winter palace because the Great Khan's Palace is too big and expensive to heat in the winter. We went to the Khan's (King) camp for a dress up opportunity.

A Mongolian lunch

After the Education Camp, we were invited over to the caretaker's personal ger where they showed us a pen full of newborn lambs and kids.

Education Camp - chess set in foreground - Mongolian script on the wall

Proud owners of lambs and kids

It was probably the best visit of all. On the way back to Ulaanbaatar, we stopped at the Chinngis Khan Statue.

Beyond cute!

Modern nomads

We had two more stops, one where camels were made available for tourists to ride and the second was at the song and dance theater for an evening performance. These picture will be shown on our next blog.