These clever birds have everyone fooled...(posting from the road)

The first attraction that we visited in Mongolia was the Gandantegchinlen Monastery. Should you ever go, I promise you it won't be the brightly clad monks or the beautifully decaying buildings that you first notice...it will be the pigeons. Millions and millions of pigeons call the Monastery home. Surrounding and throughout the Monastery, kids and crippled people sell tiny bags of birdseed so that you too can pay homage to the pigeons by giving them a little treat.

Yes - that is correct; the pigeons are revered at this location. Somehow the pigeons have been able to convince the Buddhist community at the Gandantegchinlen Monastery that they are symbols of Peace and not the scruffy, urban, flying rats as viewed in the rest of the world.
Much of the present day Tibetan-style monastery was actually rebuilt after the 1930's Russian Communist movement. There is an impressive 27 meter tall Buddha in the main temple that was reconstructed in the 1990’s after the original was snatched by the Stalin lead Russians and melted down to be formed into weapons.

In fact much of the site itself was destroyed by the Russian invasion, but there is one pole that remains from the original structure. We sat for a few minutes and watched the Mongolian people approach this lone pole in the center of the courtyard and tentatively touch it, a few even shedding tears…it was a little perplexing initially until Gerlee, our Mongolian Honcho, explained that over 15, 000 Lamas (monks) were killed at Russian hands – many of their relatives visit the monastery, specifically this pole, to pay their respects. Very moving.

Did you ever wonder how one becomes a monk – especially the children? Gerlee explained that the families can choose to send their kids to live and learn at the monastery at a very young age. She actually wanted to send her son, considering it a great honour, but her husband objected and her son (who is currently 3 y.o.) will remain at home.

We attempted to unobtrusively tour the various temples while the monks carried out their daily activities. Some of the monks were chanting and reading inside one of the temples while others completed gardening activities in the courtyard. I am not sure if I told you much about my travel mates, but one of them is named Will. He is a 6’4 Brit who looks like a lovechild of Jude Law and Prince William. He has recently quit his job (so obviously a hero of mine) as a Finance Director to tour the world with his absolutely stunning girlfriend Sarah – they are that perfect couple that you see in the movies. Will is also a member of the Royal Horticultural Society and fancies himself as a bit of an authority of all things gardening…this explains why he took it upon himself to try and offer aid to the monks.
I myself know absolutely nothing about the world of horticultural, so I didn’t quite follow all the events but I will never forget the sight of this massive British man standing in the monastery flower beds and, with the aid of an interpreter, offering gardening tips to the monks. Luckily the monks are a peaceful bunch and the accepted the advice with the spirit in which it was intended, plus some huge smiles.

Obviously our visit would not be complete without paying our respect to the “birds of peace”. So we coughed up a few Mongolian Tugriks and bought some birdseed – there is a belief that good luck will follow you after you feed the pigeons. The birds, the same ones that we shoo away at home, have set up this feeding racquet to the point where they have become massively overfed. What this means is that I was unable to feed them…I am doomed to bad luck because these stupid birds are too full to eat? Stupid birds.

I am leaving Ulaanbaatar now and heading out to the heart of the Ural Mountains to camp in a Ger – keeping my fingers crossed that feeding habits of the flying rats don’t put a bad luck curse on me! Baayerlaa for reading!