Taikhar Chuluu

Taikhar Chuluu is a granite mass rising about twenty metres from flat ground beside the Tamir river, and legend explains it as a rock thrown down by a hero to crush a giant serpent emerging from the earth. What makes it more than a curiosity is the writing: the surface carries inscriptions in Tibetan, Uighur, Mongol script, Chinese, Arabic and old Turkic runes, left over centuries by travellers, monks and officials, along with a great deal of modern graffiti that has damaged the older marks. Ovoo cairns stand at the base and it is treated as a sacred site. The setting is open Arkhangai steppe with the river nearby and hills behind, and there is a small ger camp and a monument to a local writer. It is a short stop on the road west from Tsetserleg.

What you actually see

• The standing rock - a twenty-metre granite mass on open ground.
• Old inscriptions - writing in Tibetan, Uighur, Mongol, Chinese and runic scripts.
• Ovoo cairns - the sacred markers at the base.
• The Tamir valley - river and steppe around the rock.

When to go

May to September for the roads; the site is open at any time. Morning or evening light picks out the carved inscriptions better than midday. It takes well under an hour.

Honest expectations

Modern graffiti has damaged much of the historic inscription and it is hard to distinguish old from new without a guide. Climbing on the rock is common but discouraged given its sacred status and the damage. Facilities are minimal. It is a stop, not a destination.

Nearby

Tsetserleg is east; Terkhiin Tsagaan lake lies further west.