内蒙 in Autumn

(This post has been prepared since I was back from Inner Mongolia,

but was having problems with uploading the big photos)

I am back after an extremely long break.

What a week. In Inner Mongolia. And here's a super long

(and well-remembered) recount of my trip.

Well, I didn't get to enjoy myself fully, partly because I woke up with

stomach upset (which then 'upgraded' to a case of stomach flu) on the third day.

So, let's go through my trip day-by-day.

Arrived at Hohhot on Sunday night. The budget flight was pretty alright,

but really. We cannot expect much from a small plane, with steep ascend and landing.

Just had to bear 3.5 hours in my lonely window seat. Upon arrival, the nice people

of Anda Guesthouse picked us up and drove us to the hostel in an awesome

Discovery Channel jeep. (Don't ask me where they got the jeep from, maybe the

Discovery Channel decal is fake).

Funny, the hostel told us they couldn't accommodate us due to full house situation,

so... they put us up in a nearby hotel. (which, I tell you, is definitely much better

because of private toilet) We managed to settle the Mongol tour package with them,

and we picked the 3 days 2 nights Desert & Grassland tour. At Anda Guesthouse,

their tour packages are very attractive, and at really good value. That tour we picked

costs us 750RMB each. That's less then SGD100. Most meals are included, and inclusive

of horse ride. But soon enough... yea, I'll get on to that part.

Woke up early and joined the other Anda guests for the tour. Bumped into the 浦西 gand

(aka 交通 gang). Actually, can't say that we bumped... we did know that they were going

Inner Mongolia too. So! A total of 15 GIP students in the tour group, plus 2 Hollanders,

and 1 German.

Our bus took a real long journey to the desert. On the way, we had this lunch...

which looked like 满汉全席. Really, there's a mini fountain in the middle of the lazy susan.

The lazy susan rotates automatically. And most importantly, the entire lazy susan was

packed with dishes. Braised lamb shank even. It was that sumptuous.

(Haha, only this lunch was good. Only.)

Carried on our super long journey. We were told that our group was running 2 hours late.

Well, can't be helped. There was a massive traffic jam on a 2-lane road (One way)

But eventually, we reached the 'entrance' to the desert. The bus couldn't drive further,

we had to board this monster truck to get across sand dunes.

I really liked the monster truck ride. Haha, zipping fast on the bumps and high humps.

Thrilling.

The further the truck took us, I felt like we were transported to Egypt (minus the mirage).

The sand is very fine, not coarse at all. And turning back, looking all around, you can

only see heaps and heaps of sand dunes. Plus the sun. And the good cool wind. Nice!

At the desert, there were many activities we can choose to do. Of course, at our own expense.

Not too expensive. Went for sand sliding (lol, good for kids). Then camel riding.

Then some went off to play sand volleyball. We spent ages trying to get the perfect jump shot,

and also other silhouette poses. I tried to take a shot of the sunset, but it wasn't good.

All in all, it's just quite relaxing. I like the idea that we can choose what activities to do.

Running short of time, we zipped back off on the monster truck. Ok, though it's just

'going back'... but apparently, the journey back was even more fun. The sudden humps

took me by surprise... worse part, I sat right at the back. So it was like Viking with no

seat belt. That's how I got bruises on my left hip, and almost hurt my tail bone. Ouch!

(Flew out of my seat and landed on the truck floor). Haha, I couldn't stop laughing

after that.

We were to spend our night at this Lamasery, which was super far, and plus the traffic

jam, we got there super late, and super hungry. And that's when we know we're going

to freeze at night. Temperatures dipped quickly when the sun set. Late dinner was instant

rice with funny curry paste. No need to shower, unless you want to catch a cold. Toilet was

just a hole. Ok, sleeping was difficult because it was just so cold. Plus the hard bed, and the

beany pillow... but, I'm not complaining here, have to adapt wherever I go!

So, next day, without much sleep, I woke up. Stomach wasn't feeling too good. And nausea

feeling came up. This carried on for a long long time till even the entire trip ended. So,

I deemed myself as a stomach flu patient. Anyway, breakfast was scary. For me. I could

have any moment throw up the Chinese ham+Capsicum+Tomato sandwich. Oh, people

there drink their hot milk tea with salt.

But thank goodness for friends yea. Ate pochai pills, ate charcoal pill, ate nausea pill.

(I think I took too many kinds of medication LOL). Went on to tour the temple

(aka Lamasery). Udaan Lama temple I think. In Chinese, 五当召. Pretty interesting,

in terms of architecture and paintings. I like structures that are very intricate, it's as if

people in the past painstakingly took 100 years to carve every corner of the building.

The bus ride to the 草原 was bumpy, and again, the jam was just horrifying. I puked.

Haha, all the pochai pills came out. Luckily my Amelia had a plastic bag ready. Sigh,

just felt nausea all the time. Didn't eat well too. Survived on bananas. My favorite fruit,

but heavy on detoxification. The bus almost broke down nearing our destination, which

means, only grass around us. Luckily it was only a fault in the gearbox, so we remained

in Gear 2 (at most 3) throughout. Pretty nice actually, like a tram ride.

Got to the grasslands in one piece. Honestly, the bus ride was so dangerous! The way

we overtook those humongous trucks... Wow. I am sure amazed by the driver's skills.

Ah, refreshing air at the grasslands! 一片黄黄的草... and zero clouds, brightest moon,

brightest stars.

Our dinner and sleep was spent in the 蒙古包. Dinner was lamb feast. HAHA.

Really nice porridge that's induced with lamb taste. Then there's their famous

手抓羊肉. Sigh, but I had no appetite. Heading out into the grasslands can be either a

joy or pure pain. Joy because the air is just so fresh, and the view's superb all around.

Classic Mongolian style. Pain because it's so cold. The wind comes by and I can just

shiver shiver. Even in 羽绒服.

Oh, I haven't mentioned that there's no toilet. They stuck a note in our yurt (AKA 蒙古包),

saying, 'There's no toilet in the grasslands. Please go to the tall grasses. Refrain from

doing near the yurt.' Something like that. And yea, so we bunch of girls, right after we got

off the long (close to 7 hours) bus ride, ran into the patches of tall grass, pick our spots,

and just... let go. They called it, Peeing Expedition. It was hilarious, truth be told. There's

really no toilet there, no kidding. And we must make sure out vision ranges out to the FARM

and 蒙古包 area, so that we are not exposing our butts to everyone in the areas of human

activity.

Night came quickly and by the time the moon and stars were super bright in the sky,

we were standing outside, below 0 degrees. The hosts prepared a mini bonfire, and there

were a lot of people surrounding the nice warmth. Some drank beer. Some ventured out into

the grasslands. Some went to the tall grassy areas. We tried taking more jump shots. Lol.

Anyway, I still wasn't feeling well enough, in fact, I thought I was going come down with a

fever because my head was heavy.

Sleeping time wasn't fun. Skin warm, body inside shivering like crazy. Couldn't sleep properly

and scared the hell out of my Amelia. The guys had to sacrifice their only blanket for me

(no blanket in that kind of climate... I can't imagine how they even slept through the night,

and still wake up at 430am to catch sunrise). Somehow I managed to become really warm

and woke up in the middle of the night. (Thanks to heat packs). Haha.

Ah, my Amelia and I didn't catch the sunrise. Bet it was beautiful. Oh well. I felt much better

in the morning. Love the sun! And somehow I liked the breakfast. This time, it's hot milk tea,

with your choice of SUGAR or SALT (SUGAR FTW). We get to add this 炒米 (can't remember

how to write it) into our milk tea, and it becomes like cereal with milk. Nice.

Our group split up, one went for the earlier horse-riding activity, while the other wander

around the field (or do archery), then vice versa. Horse-riding was pretty cool! Mongolian

horses are smaller breeds. Horses are my friends. But, your butt will hurt a bit, because

when the horse gallops... and you're glued to the saddle, you're going to bounce all the time.

That's why, incline your body, stand up a little, so that horse-riding is much more comfortable.

I don't remember doing horse-riding before, maybe just pony-riding? But anyhow, this is the

first time I galloped on horse. Big achievement. It was also awesome I didn't feel sick at that

time. (Apparently, I only feel nausea when I'm surrounded by food.)

So, right after the horse-riding activity, our tour has ended, and took the same bus (this time

speedy enough) back to Anda. Everyone was really tired. And can't wait to bathe. Haha,

imagine the different kinds of poo we step on everyday (camel, cow, horse, chicken, dog,

etc.). Anyway, on a side note, Anda Guesthouse shortchanged our trip, we didn't have our

promised 7 meals, unless, they counted bananas+apples+white bread as lunch on board

the bus. And there were some screw-ups in the journey because of the super duper long bus

rides. Ah but never mind, at least we GOT THERE. The 浦西 gang had to catch a night flight

back to Shanghai, so we bid farewell... we still have 3 more days to go.

After washing up and all, we made our way for dinner... BUFFET dinner at this revolving

restaurant. Pretty cheap too. 2-digit figure, means... less than 20SGD. LOL. Ok, given my

condition at that time... surrounded by food, and revolving at the same time... No good.

I had only 1 plate of stuff and enjoyed the night scenery. (It's really interesting that I couldn't

stand the sight of food). After that, we just walked around the shopping area, the guys went

off to their Vienna pub with the Hollanders, and then Amelia and I hitched a cab to get back.

We made a nice decision to 自然醒 the next morning. Haha, actually that's one of the best night

sleeping in so many days there. Ah, went to have KFC breakfast... Went to 五塔寺 (I think) after

that. Can't remember much from this temple, but it's peaceful there.

Then off to 大召寺. A big vicinity that holds different temples. There was a Chinese opera going

on when we were there. And there's a cool shopping street that sells 特产. There's a 玉佛殿

inside the temple, and the 释迦摩尼 is really made up of 白玉, with red rubies and diamond

studs. I forgot how many jewels are there on the shrine, but apparently the number means

something. It's just magnificent, and I think that's the coldest 殿 because of the jade. And

there's the 千手千眼观音 shrine, which is just as big and majestic. What I really enjoy is seeing

how detailed the paintings are. Some tell a story, and some just implies something. The night

view around 大召寺 is awesome, warm yellow light floods the entire temple.

Haha, evening... we walked real far, thinking where can we put our firework and crackers. In

the end, we settled for the street near our hotel. (Yes, we happily moved out of Anda and into

the hotel, for almost the same price per night!) The nice 灌饼 shop owners told us to fire away

outside their tiny stall. Should watch the video I took, it was epic. How we retreated to safety

was hilarious. The 炮竹 was deafening. I rather the guys buy more 烟火 than 炮竹. Oh well. But

it was nice. The guys went for dinner after the celebration frenzy, I happily went back to hotel

to rest. (Still no appetite, though the 灌饼 was tempting).

I pulled out of the [Great Wall of China] 1-day tour the next day. (260RMB FYI). Sent my

Amelia to go with them. Good thing I was alone. I had diarrhea the whole morning. YES,

back like in 黄山 I regretted not climbing 莲花峰, I regretted not hiking the Great Wall now.

UGH. And they said it was really awesome. But they did mention the bus ride was too bumpy,

and the hiking was kind of tough (they had to trek very narrow passages carefully, if not, a

tiny slip will send you down to the bottom of the Wall). Some places were too steep to go

down, so they had to slide down instead. But it all sounds fun to me.

Yes, that's their 1-day tour. A different view of Great Wall when you're at Inner Mongolia

and not Beijing. As for me, I spent my awesome day (not counting the toilet-visiting morning)

finishing my book, 'Norwegian Wood'. Then napped for 2 hours. (I needed to make sure that

my stomach was dormant for at least 2 hours, so that means I'm safe to go out). Guess where

I went? Back to 大召寺! Haha, I even paid for entrance inside again, because we did miss some

殿 previously. It's kind of dangerous for me to hitch a 黑车 ride there, but there weren't any

cabs that would stop for me!

It's different walking alone. I could take my own sweet time looking at each shrine. I could sit

down anywhere, eat an apple and banana, and walk to someplace else. Nice. Went down to

九久街, the shopping street, got this guy to sign my name in many styles. Interesting. Then,

I took a TUKTUK back to the hotel, which cost me more than a cab. Weird.

Almost through with the trip, our last day was spent... back at 大召寺 area. LOL, well, that's

because we can find all the 特产 there... The 奶酪糖, 风干牛肉, 奶酒. We were supposed to go

白塔寺, but given the amount of barang barang we had, there's no way we can climb the pagoda

at ease. So we wanted to visit 小召, and some other temple near 大召, but apparently, they all

look the same. Worse, 小召 was demolished, left with only the gate. I bought 2.5 斤 of 奶酪糖,

didn't even try, LOL, pretty scared how my stomach will lurch. Then going back to hotel, left

our goodies with the luggage, went out for lunch, as well as some window shopping.

And then! The flight back was uncomfortable. There was this kid that couldn't stop crying.

I perfectly understood the pain. (Thinking back on my flight to-and-fro Australia when I was

still a little kid). Haha, but this kid annoyed Justin and the other passengers quite badly. Thank

goodness it was a 3.5 hours flight. I exchanged my seat with Zeyan for an aisle (or else, I'll

be at an unventilated window seat again). Things turned bad for me on the way back, nausea

and head ached a little. There's not much 空调 in the plane. You should see how relieved I

was when the plane door opened and I stepped out onto the aerobridge.

Ah, all in all, the trip was a SUCCESS and SMOOTHLY PLANNED. Only downside was my

weak stomach. But nevertheless, I think the grasslands and desert were the biggest eye-opener.

And not to mention, the people of Inner Mongolia are generally friendlier. The lady who

hosted us at the grasslands was very nice! One thing that I haven't mentioned, the air in the

city is ultimately the worst. Even more worse than Shanghai. The dusts, sand, whatever that is.

But that is in Hohhot city.

Grateful to friends who took care of me, lol, I must have been a difficult patient. 'Do you have

a plastic bag?' is a scary question to ask my Amelia.

Summary: Go Inner Mongolia! Visit the desert and grasslands!