Tsorjiin Khureenii Khiid The Gobi

An unusual sight is the half-hidden stone ruins of the 200-year-old monastery, Tsorjiin Khureenii Khiid. Concealed among the rocks, and shaded by a grove of aspen trees, some of the rooms at the back of the now roofless complex still have traces of blue paint on their crumbling walls. The granite path to and from the ruins is lined with aromatic sage and stinging nettle; the isolated location is stunning and would make a terrific campsite. Sadly, it wasn't isolated enough to avoid the Stalinist purges that reduced the monastery to ruins in 1937.