Terelj

I was excited at the prospects of visiting Terelj National Park, east and  just a bit north of UB.

I grew up in a rural environment, and have always felt more comfortable in the woods than in the city.  Over these long years I have spent enough times out of doors to learn the names of the most of the trees, plants and all the animals.  I have prayed, meditated, read, ate, and slept in the woods totally alone.  It is marvelous.

The trip to the park involved leaving the road to avoid potholes.  About a third of the trip was on gravel roads.  When we finally got to the park entrance, the booth for collecting the entry fee was empty.  No one knew, but I am guessing that the season for park visiting had waned so much that it was no longer worthwhile to pay someone to collect the few fees.  Indeed, we only saw about a dozen other people our whole time in the park.

Our first stop in the park was at the cave of 100 lamas and I previously wrote about that.  Next we wound slowly through the park towards the back side.  As I gazed out the window, I saw first some golf greens, then later, a driving range.  Well, to be honest, I never expected that in a Mongolian National Park.  My guide explained that the Japanese tourists were fond of golf.  Go figure.

After turning around at the back park boundary and snapping a couple of pictures we head back south, southwest.  A little ways down we stop to climb a big rocky hill.  As we approach the rocky mass, I notice a beautiful red fox scamper from the base of the rocks to the top.  I yell to the guide and driver to look at the fox, as he scrambles up and over the top.  What an obvious gift from G^d; few have seen a fox like this.

This is a good place for lunch, so right there on the coarse grass and warm sunshine we ate yogurt, and a peperoni-like sausage, some bread, and I had a delicious juicy pear.  Delicious.

On the way to our next stop, Turtle Rock, I notice a rock formation on the skyline that is a good version of a man at prayer.  We  stop for a picture and the guide points out “dragon’s head” rock to our right.  Look for the eye near the top.

Terelj Park is a beautiful testimony to G^ds creation.  In fact the beauty is so great that it is all I can do to hold back tears.   As said in Romans 1: 19-20, "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."