Inner Mongolia Day Three: Tourist Traps

We were taken to an outdoor court of the Hun Emperor, a Buddhist Temple, The Museum of Inner Mongolia, and a Textile factory (aka labyrinth of venders selling everything from milk products to gem stones to combs and swords). It’s amazing I was able to escape with just four bags of milk product.

I really enjoyed the Museum, which began with “Ancient Times”, which in this case meant dinosaurs. The English translations were a breath of fresh air, even if a bit wanting for grammatical accuracy. I loved how the museum focused on the specific dinosaurs found in the area, and the signs warned us all that the dinosaurs were on Earth much longer than humans, and we should be cautious of our pollution “before man also become extinct.”

The Buddhist Temple was also one tourist trap that I was happy to have been blindly dragged to. The first rooms of the buildings were old and worn from use, with damp thick air. Then, in the back, through a small hall there would be an incredibly ornate room, decorated and glittering with gold statues of Buddhas as high as the ceiling. I was able to sit in on an interesting session of bell-ringing and bowing that had amazing energy, until cranky, complaining lady’s husband, Workaholic, allowed his incessant cellphone ringing and work calls to disrupt the moment.
We were released into the Mongolian Wild (aka. downtown near the train station) by 6 p.m. for our 10:30 train. I had wanted to take this time to explore on our own, without the constraints of a group and predetermined plan. After dinner (if you can call what I ate from China’s KFC food), however, I was out voted and, compromised by my sudden food-induced-lethargy, I was persuaded to return to the train station.

By the end of the trip, I had grown quite fond for my Chinese traveling companions, many of whom did their best to communicate for us and watch out for us over the trip. Without them, I would have been surely still in my Yurt, unaware that lunch had been served, the bus was leaving, or a feisty horse was waiting for me to ride.

Because fate is too proud of her own sense of humor, of course, the three of us finished the trip by sharing a six person sleeper car with Cranky Lady, Workaholic, and their teenage daughter, Texty-Sullen Face.