Don Croner's World Wide Wanders: Mongolia | Khentii

Onon Hot Springs

N48º57.240 / E109º00.668. Khentii Aimag. Accessible by horse from the sum center of Möngönmort, fifty-four miles south-southwest as the crow flies. Reportedly the springs can also be reached by all-terrain vehicle in wintertime when the ground is frozen, assuming there is not too much snow, from the sum center of Batshireet in Khentii Aimag.

Yet other hot springs complex frequented by Zanabazar was the Khaluun Usny Rashaan (Hot Water Mineral Springs) on the upper Onon River, twenty-four miles south of the Russian border. Here are at least fourteen different mineral springs, some of them with boiling-hot water, and several bathhouses. Two of the larger springs, both enclosed by bathhouses, are called Ikh Tsenkher and Baga Tsenkher (“Big Blue” and “Little Blue”), names reportedly given to them by Zanabazar himself, The springs here are famous for treating diseases and afflictions of the lower body: knees (mud packs taken from near the springs are especially good for knee joints), lower back pain, kidney and liver problems, and also rheumatism and sore muscles in general. Nearby there is a small log temple with thangkas of White Tara and Janraisig (Avalokitesvara) and portraits of Zanabazar torn from old books. According to local herdsmen Zanabazar often traveled from the upper Kherlen over Ikh Davaa and Baga Davaa (ikh = big; baga = small; davaa = pass) to the headwaters of the Onon and whence to these hot springs by horse-drawn cart. The rough track he reported established is still used today by people traveling by horse to the hot springs and is even now known among local herdsmen as “Zanabazar’s Road.”