Inner Mongolia!

Now...Inner Mongolia. Friday-Monday, we went to the grasslands. Suffice it to say that I was quite excited to see what Mongolia had to offer, especially because it was our first trip outside of Beijing. Sure, I've been to the outskirts of town, but this was our first trip OUT of town. Our group was accompanied by a group of German students from the Normal Capital University, and we left at approximately 12:30 p.m. We got to Huhhot at almost 9. 9 hours on a bus?!? Are you for real. Nonetheless, we were greeted by people in traditional Mongolian costume and offered baijiu, which (for those of you who don't know) is the Chinese version of vodka. It's super strong depending on the alcohol content, although the lowest is around 90-100 proof, and I for one am not a fan of it.

Anywho, once we arrived, we were offered dinner and a show. Dinner wasn't exactly great, and the lamb we got served was quite chewy and not my favorite. I did like some of the food offered, though.

Nancy with her piece of lamb. She and I had a tough time eating it due to its texture, but her face was funny.

After the show, we got to sleep in something called a yurt, which is a large circular tent that fit four guys in it. Stephen, Joe, Ryan, and I all slept there for the night. Suffice it to say that it was a tight fit, as all of us were at least 5'10. The next morning, we got to see more of the grasslands by horseback. It was awesome. We tried some traditional Mongolian dairy products and I actually got to walk a little in the grasslands. It was AWESOME; serene and peaceful. I imagine the Midwest to be somewhat like this, except with tornadoes and the like.

I must give you all a bit of background info on Inner Mongolia and the grasslands to explain something, because I had asked my professor why they were trying to get us to purchase a lot of stuff. The Chinese government is currently undergoing a reclaiming process in Inner Mongolia to try and restore the grasslands to its former state. Since cows and horses eat the roots of the grasses, they make it virtually impossible for the grass to grow. However, lamb and sheep are allowed. The Chinese government is reclaiming the land section by section and subsidizing the people that live there, so they pretty much get paid to do nothing. It's not a large subsidy, though, so the only way they are able to make a liveable wage is through tourism, hence why everything had a price of some form or another. I kind of respect that they're making an effort to still live, despite what is happening to their home.

After the horseback journey, a quick lunch and off to our next destination. On the way, we stopped at a forlorn gas station, and it looked like one of those from the "Resident Evil" movies: deserted, rusted, etc. The bathroom was disgusting too, but let's not get into that. ;p.

Our next destnation was called Singing Sand Valley, or XiangShaWan. It was about a 6 hour ride from Huhhot, but the accomodations were nicer than the yurt. Hotel room with a shower and two beds. I roomed with one of my CSUIP friends, and it was great to have a chance to talk to him.

At this point, I realized that at this place and at the yurts, lunch and dinner were identical. They served mostly the same things; I'm assuming because it's traditional Mongolian cuisine. Nonetheless, the sunset on the desert was beautiful, and there was a show for a traditional wedding complete with a fireworks display. Then ,there was dance music, so we started dancing. I had such a good time!!! I really need to go out and dance more; I miss it.

These were some of the dancers from the show that happened. I had a great time watching it...I may eventually post the video I took of it soon; just need to see if any of it looked good.

Our Assistant Vivian, Vera, Shirley, and I. I've hung out with Vera on several occasions, but I've never really interacted with Shirley as much for differing reasons. I was happy to see they had a good time too, and that I had an opportunity to see them in a different light.

From Left: Jen, me, Nancy, and Daren. A small note: when I first met Jen and Nancy, I was equally scared of them. I'm not kidding, I thought either one of them would (and probably can) beat me up if I ever cross them. However, as time has passed, I've come to realize that both of them are awesome and I know I can talk to them about most anything. Jen is the certified "Mom" of this trip, since she looks out for everyone and makes sure that we're OK. Nancy is really cool because she and I interact a lot and we talk about stuff too; I've even gone to her place for dinner....it was good. Daren, as most of you all should know, is my roommate.

Finally, this is the German group that came with us. I'm really glad I got to talk to a couple of them and take at least a picture, since they were memorable people.

The next morning, we managed to get up and have breakfast, although Troy (my roommate) and I were late....haha. We then went to the sand dunes to do several activities, including riding camels, rolling down the dunes like a bunch of 5 year olds, and finally, sand sliding. I enjoyed it very, very much. I loved it!! Again, a quick lunch and we were off to a small mining town near Huhhot to sleep in for the night. A couple of us went with the German group to grab a couple of beers, and we ended up in a Red Light District. I didn't take pictures (so DON'T ASK!), but our R.D. told us that the town was a "youthful" town in that sense. After we found a decent restaurant, we went to sing Kareoke. Awesome!

The final morning of this trip, we went to some grottos near DaTong, which is about 4 hours from Beijing. They were nice, and I took some pictures. However, we made it to lunch super late and our final destination: Hengshan Mountain. It was a blur, since we only had about 20 minutes to really look at the place, but it was beautiful. This Buddhist temple was built into the mountain, and the valley it's in protects it from most all of the elements; at least that's what the guide said. Look at the pictures and see for yourself.

We returned to Beijing at around 10 p.m., which is fine by me, because I live on campus and was happy to just be able to come back and sleep in my own room. It made me realize that Beijing has become my "home away from home," and that there's still so much to see within this city. I can't wait to keep finding things of interest, although the next two aren't far at all: YuanMingYuan and the Summer Palace.

Sorry for the delay in posting..I'll try to catch up tomorrow with my Qingdao adventure. My Photobucket account is active. There's a lot more pictures than the ones here, but go ahead and look for yourself at photobucket.com/sduranchina