Inner Mongolia: To tour or not to tour

Tourists ride camels in the Kubuqi Desert.[Photo by Meghan Horihan/chinadaily.com.cn]

However, many travelers in the group were left with the feeling that the price was too high for what we received. We had to pay extra for certain things like the horseback riding, and collecting cow pies for our own bonfire was an actual item on the activity itinerary. Not to mention experiencing quite little of the culture.

There were definite perks of convenience and having relatively little to plan, but the constraints of the tour overall just made me more curious for what else Inner Mongolia has to offer. It may have taken more time and effort to plan, and maybe experienced a few extra challenges along the way, but if we rented our own car or hired a driver and did a little more research, I think it could have been a richer, more personal experience.