Ongi Things to Do

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Formerly one of the largest monasteries in Mongolia, Ongi Temple was founded in 1760 and combined two temple complexes on the north and south sides of the Ongi River. The older southern side consisted of various administrative buildings which were linked to the northern side by a bridge over the river which has long since disappeared but you can still see the base foundations of it. It used to have around 1000 monks bustling about their daily services in the 30-odd temples that were originally here. I say originally, as the whole monastery was destroyed by Stalin’s cronies in the 1930's and 200 monks were killed and many more imprisoned or forced to join the Communist army. Other monks escaped certain death by becoming farmers and common workers. The temple was then simply left to decay further. However, after the end of Communism in 1990, 3 monks returned where they had begun their Buddhist education as young children some 60 years prior. Slowly, these monks started laying new foundations upon old ruins with a vision of restoring the temple.

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Our ger camp, which I think was called Tsagaan Ovoo, lies next to the Ongi River and the views of the camp and the surrounding area are really great if you climb up to the top of some of the nearby hills. The river is just like an oasis in the rocky desert terrain with green grass and trees nestling on its banks. More photo's can be found in one of my travelogues.