Over the weekend I made a quicky trip to Gunjin Temple, 35.5 miles northeast of of Ulaan Baatar as the crow flies, or 63.8 miles by road, in a gorgeous area of tor-topped hills at the upper end of the valley of Kok Chuluutiyn Gol, a tributary of Dund Bayangiyn Gol, which itself is a tributary of the Tuul River. The temple was built in 1740 in honor of the Manchurian princess Amgalan who married one of the Tusheet Khans. She was buried here. The temple was heavily damaged in the iconoclastic upheavals of the late 1930s. Amgalan’s coffin has been disturbed and it is not clear if her body is still presently. Presently there is some restoration work going on.


Ruins of Main Gunjin Temple

Guardhouse in front of the Temple

For the lastest from the NY Times on the Killer Virus in Mongolia see Mongolian Capital Is Subdued by Illness Scare, although there is not much new here.