It was so refreshing to be somewhere with fresh air and stars in the
sky. I don’t think I have ever seen that many stars. It was also great to not
be surrounded by buildings wherever you look.
When we arrived it
was about midnight. As we stepped off the bus, they greeted us with singing and
dancing, and “shots” of baijiu. And by shots I mean small bowls filled with about
3 shots worth of baijiu. For those of you who have never had baijiu before, wikipedia
says, “non-Chinese reviewers, comment unfavorably on the taste of baijiu,
comparing it with paint thinner, rubbing alcohol, and diesel fuel.” Rumor had
it, that it was rude if you didn’t drink and finish the baijiu they gave you. They
had us all take one when we got off
the bus, ate dinner, and if we bought something. Too much.
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| There were so many yurts, we decided to dub it a "yurt-tel" |
Our first night in Inner Mongolia we slept in yurts. They consisted of 2
beds, a TV, toilet, shower, and sink. It was late and we had just had a full
day of traveling, so I was pretty excited to finally get some sleep. I was
about to jump into our bed when I spotted an intruder. There was a big beetle
like bug about the size of a quarter crawling on my pillow! That quickly
deterred any feelings of wanting to go to sleep. My roommate and I kinda
freaked out and had some of the guys take care of it and inspect the rest of
our bed, where we found 3 more unwanted guests. It took a while before we got
to bed.
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| Stop 1 |
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| Stop 2 |
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| Stop 3 |
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| Stop 5 |
The next morning we got up and ate breakfast. Today we were going to
ride some horses to 5 “exciting” spots. Some people didn’t want to pay for a
horse and asked if they could walk, but the tour guide insisted that the spots
would take over an hour to walk from one to the other, so most people caved and
rented a horse for the day. Stop 1 was literally about a 10 min horseback ride
away and was a field of grass. We looked at each other as if it was a joke.
Stop 2 was some grass with sheep. Stop 3 you got to walk up a hill and look at
some rocks. Stop 4 was some more grass and Stop 5 was some cows. At this point
we felt like we got scammed. We paid a decent amount of money to ride horses to
5 “exciting” places, and as exciting as the grass and rocks were, it just
wasn’t what we expected. All in all it was fun, but nothing compared to how the
next day was.
Once we got back, we got to watch them race some of their horses and
then wrestle each other. Once they were done wrestling, they asked if any of us
wanted to try, so we nominated 4 of our guys to wrestle the Inner Mongolian
way. I think the locals got more entertainment out of watching some wai guo ren
(foreigners) try to fight than we did. Next we played some volleyball with more
of the locals with our makeshift net, which was pretty much just a string, ate
lunch, then finally headed to the desert!
The desert was by far my favorite part of the trip. Going to the Gobi
Desert made the whole trip worth going to Inner Mongolia. It was basically an
amusement park in the middle of a desert. We rode camels, went 4-wheeling, zip
lining, dune jumping, had a water fight, saw some crazy sand castles, and got
lots and lots of sand in our shoes. I think I had to empty my shoes about 10
times cause of all the sand. The entire day was amazing. One thing I find
really interesting about the terrain here is that it changes so quickly and
drastically. One minute you will be in the city, the next minute you will be in
the middle of the mountains, and the next you will be in the desert.
After a fun filled day we headed to our next hotel.
My standards for “good” hotel have drastically gone down. If you are
traveling in China, and don’t want to spend a fortune, then don’t hold things
like hygiene, cleanliness, safety, and comfort up to Western standards of
living. For example, most of my beds were rock solid infested with bugs,
showers ice cold, and windows “fixed” with cardboard, or had missing screens
completely (even on the 6th floor). Every place also provided us
with pre-used shower shoes! China seems to really put in extra effort to go
green!
Our final hotel room was size of a small shed. Our beds were literally
wooden boxes with sheets over it. And of course, what’s a hotel in china
without some bugs in your bed? Our bathroom could barely fit one person in it,
and at first glance looked like it didn’t have a shower. But if you looked
closely, you could spot a little spout right above the toilet. Think of the
convenience of it! You could use the toilet, take a shower, reach the sink to
brush your teeth, and if you moved the TV over slightly you could watch TV all
at the same time! You could be ready for the whole day in less than 10 minutes!
It is definitely a Western thing to want cold beverages. The Chinese
think cold things will make you sick or throw off your body’s fungshwey. One
time I tried asking someone on the street where I could get some ice and they
were very confused. I tried describing it to them, but they weren’t getting it.
I think it’s ironic that the only cold water you can get in China is the water
from the shower that will either give you hypothermia when you shower, or get
you sick when you drink it.
Our final day was spent looking at caves with huge temples and statues
carved in the rocks and the Hanging temple.
