Khalkhin Gol

So there really isn't much to do or see in Dornod, BUT there is a place, a fabled place we'd only heard stories of, a place so remote that the Mongolian government (military border patrol) makes you get special permission to visit.  What is this place?  Khalkhin Gol, the only WWII battle site in Mongolia...Which also happens to be right on the border with China.  Hence the government lockdown.  I got the idea in my head months ago that I wanted to see this place, and if you know me, you know I'm stubborn enough to get it done.  After confirming who would be going on the trip, getting a letter explaining our purpose in Mongolia from my CD (seriously, we're not spies), submitting that letter and copies of passports to the border patrol in UB and getting permission from the government, we booked a portagon, packed our things and headed East.

First photo-op of the day, just outside the city.

The gang.

Back row L to R: Kate, Ellen, Me, John, Ashley, Chris.
Front row: Koty, Bolormaa, Bimba.

Road?  What road?

First stop and stretch: the Menengiin Tal, the largest open steppe.

Me in the truly wide-open steppe.

It was really, REALLY hot.

Say "hudoo!"

One of the military checkpoints.  While they had our IDs, we had lunch!

 Driving along...

Finally made it to Khalkhin Gol!

This is the Khamar Davaa memorial.

Front side, close up.

Back side, facing China.

The hills in the background are where the Japanese crossed into Mongolia.  The battle took place along the hills and right up to the river.

The museum in Sumber explaining the battle.

Love this!

Japan invaded in August 1939.  Khalkhin Gol has the highest land to downed plane ratio of any WWII battle, meaning that in the smallest amount of space, the most Axis planes went down.

The Japanese came 22km into Mongolia via China.  This is a diorama showing the battle site and the 35 memorials/monuments that now stand.

Stained glass inside the museum.

This was a nifty live-action diorama.

It lit up!

Weaponry.

Gas masks and suits for humans AND horses.

 The museum guide explaining an ammo display case.

Actual battle relics.

Memorial to the soldiers.

Outside the museum.

After the museum, we ate an amazing dinner at a Chinese restaurant then headed to the riverbanks to set up camp.  We made a dung fire and made s'mores!

The dung made the s'mores crazy good!  (Seriously, didn't alter the taste at all.)

 Our tents at 6-ish AM.

We really did camp right along the river!  The driver and his family slept inside which is why the row of seats is removed.

Looking back to the Khamar Davaa from our campsite.

And we were off again, driving through the hudoo to find a few of the 35 monuments/memorials.  That's one in the distance.

Our first stop.

Again, the hills of the battle site.  I walked away from the group to take this picture and even though my grandfathers were no where near Mongolia, I couldn't help but think of them and the sights they must have seen during their respective times in WWII.  Oddly enough, I was the only person in our group to have a grandparent who was in WWII.

A grave.

Another grave.

Koty strolling through the hudoo back to our portagon.

The driver turned too soon to get to the memorial and ended up getting stopped by a ravine, only being able to get down the side, not up the other, so we had to walk.

Battle reenactors.

The next memorial.

80 graves.

The next memorial...

Charge!

Off again through the hudoo, toward our next destination.

This is a giant carving of Janraisig Buddha at Ikh Burkhant.

There were a bunch of other Buddhas lining the walk up.

Kate spinning the drums.

Offerings in front of the Buddha.

More smaller Buddhas behind Janraisig.

 The Ameriks checkin' it out.

Plaque with info about the carving.

Our final stop of the trip: Buir Lake!

There was a huge sandy beach with scrub grass leading up to the lake.

Last on in's a you know what!

Me and Ellen.

It may not have been THE lake, but it was A lake and I sure was happy to be there. Buir Lake is 235 square miles (for perspective, Mille Lacs is 207) and straddles the border of Mongolia and China. I could walk out 100 yards and the water would only be up to my waist.

You can take the girl out of Minnesota, but you can't take the Minnesota out of the girl.  This was hands down my favorite part of the trip.  I didn't realize how much I missed swimming in a big lake.

Even the driver and his sons had a blast!

Buir Lake as we drove away...I was really sad to go and wished we could have camped another night.

 We saw these oil derricks (natural gas?) along the way.  Mining in Mongolia...Go figure!?

 

 The route, roughly.  There were no roads and only Sumber soum (red dot) and Buir Lake (blue dot) are on the map, so I'm just guessing where Ikh Burkant (purple dot) is.  We were stopped at every checkpoint and asked to show our IDs, but for that little hassle, it was worth the trip out!