Temples of Cold
We did a bit of shopping at the monastery store. I bought beads, some small bells and a couple of gifts.
We then headed to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, a
monastery built in the early 1900s. There were
about 6 or 7 temple buildings. We went into
two of them and saw many intense statues of
gods and demons and some interesting artworks
- including two representations of hell - one
with fire and the other with ice. I chose not
to pay for taking pictures which was twice the
price of the admission but I really regret
that decision. There really was some amazing
things. The temperature outside was less that
10 degrees and it was even colder in the
temples so we did not visit all the buildings.
I hope this temple complex remains intact.
High rising housing construction was circling
it like wagons in the old west.
The Natural History
museum was interesting for its amazing fossilized
dinosaur bones and eggs. My favorite items were a
fully intact pelvis the size of a flattened VM
bug and a claw as big as me. Unfortunately photos
were not allowed.
A final shot at Happiness Land next to the Korean
restaurant and a history lesson at the
Ulaanbaatar airport
The highlight of the trip home was 12 hours in
Beijing but otherwise it was long and
uncomfortable. We arrived in Beijing (the airport
is beautiful), checked into a crappy hotel very
near the airport and then arranged for two taxis
to pick us up at 12:30am and drive us around for
a couple of hours. We then slept for 3 hours and
headed back to the airport at 7:00am. Needless to
say there were no tourists at Tiananmen Square so
it was us, the many surveillance cameras and the
military guards. We walked around the square and
outside the wall of the Forbidden City, which was
closed. We encountered two guards in an
underpass, one seemed thrilled to talk to anyone
and practice his English, the other did not say a
word but did not seem to mind Connie posing with
him for a picture.
Beijing airport
Tianeman Square and the underpass where we talked
to the guard. Note the cameras.
Near the Forbidden City
We flew through Tokyo but felt no real sense of
trauma from the earthquake disaster in the short
layover. It was just another busy airport. Miyako
had been worried the whole time we were in
Mongolia and was able to talk to her family a
couple times there and at the airport before we
headed to the US