I arrived in Hailar 海拉尔 from Baotou 包头 by plane. As the taxi drove me towards the city, the driver casually remarked that Hailar is a small place. “If I just keep driving straight,” he said, “we’ll soon reach the end of the road.” His words gave me my first impression of Hailar is a small, quiet city surrounded by the vastness of Inner Mongolia.

I stayed in a large 4-star hotel with a nice window view. Although the hotel was somewhat old, it was comfortable enough. My booking did not include breakfast but I was given free breakfast for the 2 nights stay.

The hotel is located outside the city centre, but getting to Genghis Khan Square 成吉思汗广场 was easy. A taxi ride took less than ten minutes and cost 8 yuan (S$1.44).

From Genghis Khan Square, I continued on foot and eventually reached Hulunbuir Ancient City 呼伦贝尔古城. The walk gave me a chance to see the city at a slower pace, rather than simply passing through it in the taxi. Later that afternoon, instead of taking the taxi, I decided to walk all the way back to the hotel from Genghis Khan Square. It was a long and pleasure walk, roughly the distance of 10 bus stops.

Not far from the hotel, there is a small square where local people gathered in the evening to sing and dance. As I walked past, the music caught my attention. Groups of people were dancing together, seemingly without much concern for the cold evening air. Their energy and enthusiasm were infectious. I stopped to watch, intending to stay only for a few minutes, but ended up spending more than an hour.

It was one of those unexpected travel moments that cannot be found in the travel guidebook. There was nothing particularly spectacular about the square, just music, dancing, and ordinary people enjoying their evening. Yet somehow, it became one of those memories I carried away from Hailar.

I took the public bus for one yuan (S$0.18) to the train station to check on the train schedule. I took another bus to visit the museum.

Hailar does not have many attractions, and after 2 days, I felt that I had seen enough of the city. Following the advice of the hotel staff, I decided to take a coach rather than the train for my next journey to Manzhouli 满洲里.