10 cents a show

It’s the Bloomington Tibetan/Mongolian Cultural Center, where you can send your Tibetan/Mongolian children to summer camp so they can, er, “learn their culture” as one volunteer put it. Culture has to be taught at summer camp? When your Specialness is being Violated it does!

Anyway, the place was billions, with a temple (where I failed spectacularly to meditate…like, really spectacularly), two stupas, and seven or eight gers (Mongolian yurts). The grounds are beautiful, expansive, well-landscaped and well-maintained, and when I was poking around Aidi, a Mongolian guy who works there invited me to lunch eat the lunch he had lovingly prepared. It was, mercifully, not too spicy. According to Aidi, Tibetans like spicy food but he does not, because it upsets his stomach. I got along famously with Aidi.

Unfortunately, there were no Tibetans around, since all eleven or so monks who live there were out of town on various errands. Major bummer, since I really wanted to practice my Tibetan. I even tried speaking Tibetan to Aidi but he didn’t understand. Because he’s Mongolian, not Tibetan.

Also, in the middle of my five-ish mile ride home I ran over a nail and had to walk my bike for three-plus miles. While the humor of the situation was not lost on me, I was tired and dehydrated when I finally got home. If you are looking for the most bike/pedestrian-friendly route from downtown Bloomington to the center, this is not it.

(Link to photo, and others, on a map, no less!)