Ongiin Khiid

The ruins of a once-vast monastery complex straddling the Ong River on the northern edge of the Gobi, Ongiin Khiid comprised two temple groups that together housed over a thousand monks before their destruction in the 1930s. Crumbling brick walls, stupas and foundations spread across the hillsides, and a small reconstructed temple and museum now stand among them. The riverside setting, unusual in this arid region, draws nomads, birds and travellers breaking the journey south.