Mongolia 05 – Roadside Attractions

Dear Reader (2026-09-19 published simultaneously on FB),
Sometimes projects have to go to the time-out shelf until they learn to behave, I learn to be a little kinder to myself, or the fire has to be re-lit. The Mongolia series is one of those projects, where my commitment to it waxes and wanes. So while there is at least a little heat let’s return to the dust and gravel.

The previous post in this series was a month ago , and was titled “On The Road”. In it I mentioned that part of the Mongolia tour was about watching the world go by. This is the companion to that post. Roadside attractions are just that. Sometimes we would stop to see what we could see. At other times, we caught glimpses of monuments, and human presence. Though we saw many camels, we were told most if not all of them are chipped, and many herders can find their camels using drones.

Photo 01 is an ovoo, which is a shrine found at the side of Mongolian roads at places deemed sacred, or at mountain passes or summits. These sacred heaps are typically fashioned from nearby rocks, wood, and strips of colourful silk. In areas where rocks are too few, they can even be made from soil, sand, or tree branches. According to traditional Mongolian shamanism, each ovoo is meant to be symbolic of a deity. Ovoos may be dedicated to heavenly gods, mountain gods, gods of nature, or ancestral spirits.

Notes on Photo
~ 10 – While Tom Petty was running down a dream, we race a gazelle in our land cruiser

Footnotes
~ Adapated from https://www.asiaculturaltravel.co.uk/the-mongolian-ovoo/