Interlude #3 - Inner Mongolian Museum

This museum was pretty cool. I particularly liked the Inner Mongolian natural history section. It was  on the first level, which was all palaeontology, there were heaps of dinosaurs, including the protoceratops,

I think there was a triceratops too, but memory can play tricks.

and a Nurosaurus

This is a huge dinosaur and is two stories high (12 metres) and 23 metres long. I think it's the largest Chinese plant-eating dinosaur.

as well fossils of many ancient animals such as the mammoth

Despite common belief the mammoth is actually bonier than me.

and prehistoric ancestors of the elephant and rhinoceros.

Elephant ancestor - hilarious.

The second level was dedicated to current Inner Mongolia and included exhibitions spaces for the environments of Inner Mongolia (including animals),

Rudolph with his own kind.

the extensive mining industry,

Look! Rocks! I have enough geology friends that I had to include this. To get the really riled up call them geographers. The results are explosive.

and the Chinese space program, which is based in Inner Mongolia. With the exception of the space program you could be forgiven for believing you were in an Aussie museum. The landscape is used for farming, mostly sheep and cattle, and the minerals mined seemed similar to Australia too. The third level focused on the history of Inner Mongolia, including the development of is civilisation as nomads, through to its occupation by China, Mongolia (under the great Khans), and by China again.

As the climate of the area cooled from hot and wet to cold and dry farming became untenable and the nomadic lifestyle of a herder more sustainable.

Lots of pottery, metal work, hand weapons, and horse technology.

Weapons of the Inner Mongolian clans, bow and arrows, broadsword, horsewhip, and a pistol.

There seemed to be a translation error with the weaponry as the swords were all called knives.

In the immortal words of Crocodile Dundee, "This is a knife".

They even had some Inner Mongolian gambling tools on display.

They must have known Goof was coming.

It finished with the modern history of Inner Mongolia such their involvement in the Great Wars and politics.

The war tents (Gers) used by the Mongolian generals whilst they conquered the world.

The fourth level had food areas dedicated to art. An author/poet/calligrapher, a display of plates painted to represent Germany by some famous artist, etc. We looked, but you know, there were no swords so I didn't take any photos (we've all seen plates and Chinese calligraphy before).

Here is a photo of a giant dinosaur boner instead.