So, as I mentioned in the earlier blog post, I went to Inner Mongolia for the QingMing 清明 holiday, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Holiday from April 5 – 7. During this holiday, Chinese people return to their hometowns to remember their past loved ones and tidy up the grave areas, among other things. But of course, days off means people head out to travel!
My friends and I booked quite a cheap tour from a company called Laowai 老外 FCN. We got up at 4:30AM on Thursday to head to the bus location; on the bus, I slept for hours. Since it just snowed in Beijing, highway traffic was bad due to not just the holiday but also the bad weather. It said it would only take 6 hours to get to the capital of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot, but guess how long it took? 12 HOURS!!! I ate a lot of snacks and instant ramen. We heard that another tour group actually had to turn back to Beijing after many hours on the road since highways were closed, but thankfully by the time we arrived to the Inner Mongolia border, the highways opened up.
A little background on Inner Mongolia a.k.a. 内蒙古: it’s in the northern part of China and is mostly composed of two biomes: grasslands and deserts. Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region in China, in which Mongolian and Mandarin are official languages. The area is 79% Han Chinese (ethnic majority in China, of which I am a part) and 17% Mongol. In a city like Beijing, Han Chinese probably makes up over 95%.
When we finally arrived there at 7:30pm, we raced into the hotpot restaurant. Lamb is a big thing in Inner Mongolia, and we were each given a whole plate of lamb to cook in our hotpot. I love eating hot pot with sesame sauce, some cilantro, a dash of chili, and a bit of soy sauce. I also like having a lot of vegetables too, so I was glad they had lotus, potatoes, bokchoy, etc. :) What a satisfying meal. I came on the trip with 4 other exchange students, and we actually were eating with other Tsinghua exchange students from Taiwan, which was cool! We got the hotel, and I actually had to record a speech since I was running for UPenn Skating Club President. It took forever to send the video over with Chinese hotel Wi-Fi, but it was worth; I was elected!!
The next day, we got up early to head to the desert. It took another 3 hour drive, then an hour at lunch with typical Chinese food (eggs and tomatoes, cabbage, tofu, etc.), before we finally arrived at the tourist area for “desert activities.” There were so many people, despite the cold. Many people weren’t prepared for this bout of cold weather, but this tourist area was ready to sell cheap gloves, boot covers, face masks, etc. I didn’t buy though!
We got onto the big safari-like vehicle to drive up the sand hills. The ride was so bumpy and fast, but it was so fun! There weren’t any seats left, so I experienced the roller-coaster-esque ride even more so; I almost fell over once! When we got to the top, we went immediately to the camel-riding area. I can’t believe I was seeing so many camels!!
The camels are actually quite big and tall. They all looked like they were staring into the distance, really calm and relaxing presences. The sad thing was, they were connected together in groups of 6-10 so that they would all walk together – connected by a string that goes through their noses. Sigh… their lives are dedicated to serving us tourists. The ride was pretty smooth, with a slight up-and-down. I can’t believe I was sitting on a camel! I remembered learning that their humps are meant for water storage. We took some photos, before getting off in like 10 minutes… it was a short ride.
Then, we went to the zipline line… at this point, the winds were extremely unrelenting. I had to squeeze my eyes shut and crouch so that the wind wouldn’t affect me too much. It was so so cold! The workers kept on powering through, ushering us into the harness, shuttling the equipment back and forth since there were only enough for every 10 or so people. I had gone on a zipline before, so the experience wasn’t that crazy, but when it was finally my turn, I guess I didn’t have enough initial speed. Added with the wind blowing in the opposite direction I was heading, I ziplined only 80% of the way, and a worker had to drag me by the heel of my Vans all the way down. I got a photo of this happening, which I bought since I thought it was quite funny.
Waiting in line took a long time, so we only had time for another activity. We were considering motorcycle riding, but it was extra $$. Thus, I decided to just go sledding and head back to the restroom / bus area. The sleds were really ratchet – just a piece of wooden board with some basic metal wiring and nails. The slope was really steep, maybe 75 degrees, and my only method of control after being pushed down is to drag my hands into the sand behind me to slow down. It was an exhilarating 20 seconds!
We didn’t get much time in the desert area, and the weather wasn’t ideal, but I’m glad we finally got to do some activities after so many hours sitting on the bus.
At night, we moved to this tourist center, where we were welcomed with a blue sash and 白酒 ONE BY ONE. My friends and I were impatient so we skipped that. We were supposed to live in the traditional Mongolia Yurts – they were little huts only big enough for 4 people. My friend and I ended up not being able to live in a Yurt and received a hotel room, which would seem like a bummer, but turned out good for us. As there was snow outside, it was maybe -10 degrees at night, and the heating in the Yurts was BROKEN. So many people in our tour group complained about the inhumane conditions, but thankfully we got a slightly heated hotel room, which we invited our other exchange friends to stay the night and avoid the ridiculously frigid temperatures.
We got a general Chinese food dinner, which was slightly disappointing since it wasn’t anything typically Mongolian. We also briefly saw a Mongolian dance / music performance, where they wore the typical Mongolian clothing. When I was younger, I actually learned a Mongolian dance (it’s on YouTube somewhere, let me know if you find it hahaha). The dancing and music playing (they played something that looked like a bigger er hu) was pretty energetic, but it seemed like they were just going through the motions, since they probably did this every day.
The next day, after a small breakfast, I went horseback-riding! There were so many different horses, with thicker hair obviously because it was cold. In China of course, safety is less stringent, so all we received were a helmet and some simple instructions on not letting go of the handle on the saddle, and we were off riding on our own. We had an experienced rider/guide for every 8 or so of us. My horse was a beautiful chestnut color, and seemed to like being first because he/she kept galloping. The first instant the horse switched from walking to galloping was scary – I had never ridden a horse going at this speed! It was extremely bumpy/rocky, and I almost felt like I was going to fall off. The key was to hold onto the horse’s body with your thighs, and hold on to the handle with your hands. While galloping through the snow and slightly uphill, I got tired. Thankfully, we had a break in a Yurt later, where we ate some yummy snacks: beef jerky, milk candies, and milk tea.
On the return ride, I rode a different horse, who also seemed energetic. The way the guides direct them is through different calls of “Hey!”, but they sometimes get confused. One horse got really confused, and got whipped :( So sad. This time riding, I was comfortable with the faster galloping and really enjoyed it! We rode the horses for over an hour, but I actually wished to keep going.
Even though my trip was only two major activities, I’m glad I made the trek all the way to Inner Mongolia in the snow for so little (this budget excursion was only around $150 for 2 nights and 3 days). I’m not sure if I’ll ever come back to Inner Mongolia, but it was my first experience traveling alone and so far in China on a budget tour. Made some good memories.
I went to Shanghai this weekend and will be heading to Chengdu (Sichuan province) and Lijiang (Yunnan province) for the upcoming Labor Holiday. I realize now that I have been traveling a lot, which has led me to be quite tired and always frantically completing work. The contradiction is still there… I know somehow I’ll be able to find an OK balance with everything I want to do, but it’s hard. Sorry for the delay in posts once again. I’ll update as soon as I can!
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