Choijin Lama Temple

I didn’t sleep much on the bus back to Ulan Bator. In fact the journey just reminded me how much I hate night buses! It was uncomfortable and cold. I went back to the guest house I stayed in before and didn’t do much for the morning.

In the afternoon I visited the monastery that was closed when I tried to visit before. It was only a working monastery for 30 years – from 1908 to 1938. In 1938 Soviet influence led to religion being banned, the closure of all temples and monasteries in Mongolia and the execution of around 17,000 religious leaders. Many temples across the country were demolished. This one survived because it was turned into a museum demonstrating the ‘feudal’ past. Freedom of religion was introduced again with the end of communism in 1990 but this monastery has remained a museum.

This is one of the small temples in the grounds.