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The seventh of the so-called Nine-Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather, began on February 14 and ended on February 22. This was Doviin Tolgoi Borlono , the “time when the tops of the hills become brown,” a description which clearly indicates warming weather. Indeed, on Monday, February 21, temperatures reached 32º F / 0º C for the first time this year, and there was a distinctive smell of spring in the air.  The eighth of the Nine-Nines, Нал шал болно—the “time when puddles appear on the ground”— began yesterday, February 23. But it has cooled off since Monday. Yesterday it got up to only 16º F / –9º C in the afternoon and this morning at 8:30 am it was back down to 26 below 0º F / –33º C. So I don’t think there will be any puddles on the ground today. But get ready for the Equinox on March 21, which marks the beginning of Spring.  Spring Begins in 24 Days!

I consider myself a cognoscente of hot springs and make a point of visiting them wherever I am. Just recently I visited the ultra-exclusive  Onon Hot Springs Resort and Spa  in Khentii Aimag and before that  Yestiin Hot Springs in Töv Aimag , among many others in Mongolia.   Onon Hot Springs Yestiin Hot Springs Now I just stumbled upon Hot Soaks Of The Himalaya which has a very interesting post on  Soaking On The Steppe: The Mongols and Their Baths which includes some of my material and much else. Plan your hot spring visits now.

The Winter Palace  The Bogd Khan Palace Winter Palace and Summer Prayer Temples complex was built by the 8th Bogd Gegeen (1870–1924), the last of the Bogd Gegeens to live in Mongolia. After the final expulsion of the Chinese from Mongolia in 1921 he assumed the title Bogd Khan and ruled as the nominal head of a theocracy much like the one that existed in Tibet under the Dalai Lamas until his death in 1924.  The Eighth Bogd Gegeen The two-story wood-framed Winter Palace was constructed in 1905 according to the designs of a Russian architect working under direct orders of the Russian Czar Nicholas II, who was apparently trying to curry favor with the Bogd Gegeen at this time. The Qing Emperor, nominal ruler of Mongolia, took exception to the palace being built on European lines, since Europeans were Christians, not Buddhists, and to placate him lotus patterns were painted on the walls and Buddhist ornaments added to the roof (these latter are now no longer present.) The Bogd Gegeen and

The sixth of the so-called Nine Nines —nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—begins today, February 5th. This is Zuraasan Zam Garnai , the Time When the Trail of the Road Appears. This description would seem to indicate a slight warming from the previous Nine-Nines, a time when well-traveled trails become free from ice and snow. Indeed, yesterday, second day of the Year of the Iron Rabbit , the temperature got up to an amazing 21º F / -6º C in the afternoon. This morning at 9:00 am it was 10º F / -12º C, with an inch of fresh snow in Zaisan Tolgoi, and we are quite possibly heading into the warmest day of 2011 (Gregorian Calendar) so far. Although we can of course expect some more cold snaps I would say the back of winter has been broken. The afternoon sun is already so intense that my hovel gets uncomfortably hot, although my plants seem to be loving it. One of my houseplants bending its breath-takingly lovely blooms toward the aftern