To read the start of the trip, read the first, second, third, or fourth post. Otherwise, I’ll continue the story the next day where I see a mausoleum and go home.
After listening to and watching some more fireworks go off in the street at 7am, I decided it was time to get up. I had had enough time to sleep in and being lazy.
But, once I had made it to the floor I was told breakfast was on, I couldn’t find it. I wasn’t alone, either. Everyone was lost and looking for breakfast. It was a very big floor with a lot of rooms that mentioned food or eating in the names. But, eventually, by process of elimination, as in I went everywhere else first, I made it to breakfast.
The food was good and plentiful. However, the drink selection left something to be desired. There was coffee, Mongolian milk tea (which I think is gross), and orange juice. I opted for the OJ. It was hot and tasted like tang. I’m not sure I made the right choice.
Another Car Ride
Once again, on the car ride to the thing, I got some fully thought-out facts and some half-completed thoughts about Genghis Khan and his importance to Chinese history. I think my favorite one was about how he made it all the way to England after taking over half of Europe. I’ll save you the Google search – it never happened. Genghis Khan never really made it out of Asia.
My second favorite, and the only other one I remember, is a myth about a horse. It is said that it is very lucky to see Genghis Khan’s white horse, which is still in the area. Long after they’ve both died.
Now, on to the thing I’m seeing – the mausoleum. Khan’s body is not actually in the mausoleum because the body was lost. I don’t know if his generals lost it in a swap shortly after he died (as my guide said) or it was just lost to history. But it is considered a very spiritual place for many Mongolians. There were a lot of people there to pray.
Genghis Khan’s Mausoleum
Once we had arrived, I was left to take pictures of the entrance (another pretty Chinese gate) while my guide went and got the tickets. Normally, that’s a great idea. Unfortunately, this time, there were lots of lines and waiting in the very cold (for me) weather. And really how many photos can you take from a little corner in front of a gate?
But, getting tickets can’t take forever, even if it was starting to feel like it could. And my guide had a surprise with her when she came back. An English-speaking audio tour! I guess she was getting sick of not actually telling me anything all that useful about where we were.
I’ve used the little hang around your neck audio guides before but this one was a little special. It had number buttons like all the others that you could use to hear about something, but mostly this one just changed based on your location. I lost count of how many times it randomly decided to change when I was walking around. And I couldn’t get it to play the one I wanted it to without a huge fight.
But I didn’t have to talk with my guide too much or continue listening to her half-facts. So, overall, I’ll call it a win.
However, before we got to the mausoleum, we had to walk up nearly a hundred tiny stairs and go past a monstrous statue of Genghis on his horse. It was very majestic and impressive.
Very large man on a horse 
The mausoleum
The mausoleum was a few different rooms, mostly with 3 white yurts with things (mostly replicas) from Genghis Khan’s life, like a bow and arrows and some tools. The main room had a giant white statue of Genghis and a map of the world at the time.
Prayer yurts 
Giant Genghis Khan 
Mural between the some yurt rooms 
Genghis’ (ghost) horse statue
After visiting the not all that big mausoleum, there really wasn’t all that much to see. There was another Mongolian rock/prayer yurt and another place to give offerings. That’s it.
My guide made a bit of a fuss when I decided that I could just grab some lunch at the airport and be there 2-3 hours early, instead of having lunch with her and my driver again. Not that I had anything against eating with them again, but I wanted to get home and get away from the annoying lady that decided that we were going to be best friends (my guide).
The Ordos airport is one of the smallest and emptiest of all the airports I’ve ever seen. In a country known for their massive shopping malls, er, I mean airports, that’s saying something. Up until about half an hour before my flight was supposed to board, I think I saw maybe 10 people in the airport, including those working there.
Trip Wrap Up
I did greatly enjoy my trip. There were definitely a lot of things I would change. I would never want to be in Inner Mongolia for that long again, without seeing at least another city. The activities seemed to go from most interesting to least.
I enjoyed my time in Hohhot. The Dazhao Temple was one of the best things I saw. But the General’s Office and the grassland were definitely fun. I just had a bit of downtime at the grasslands. So, if you go, bring a book or enough clothes to be happy sitting outside watching the sun go across the sky or the horses eat grass.
The whole Genghis Khan Mausoleum took about an hour and a half, mostly because I was walking slow. It was definitely worth a visit, but I wouldn’t make a trip to Ordos just to see this. If you ever happen to find yourself in the area with a few hours to kill, go visit, otherwise, I’m sure you can find somewhere more interesting to go see.
For that matter, Ordos was mostly worth a pass. The desert was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, especially with all the toys, but if we could have kept on driving or put me on a train, that would have been better and I wouldn’t have missed anything worth the trip.
Today’s trip spending : 1400 (tips)
Trip total : 16,499 (about US$2,500)
My TEFL Adventure 