Adventures in Inner Mongolia

Gobi Desert!

October 1st is Independence Day in the PRC, or the day that the monarch fell and communism began. To us international students, that means a 10-day break from school (and the only break in the fall semester). My friends and I took advantage of this opportunity and decided that we would go on a 5-day tour of Inner Mongolia.

We went with a Chinese travel agency that organizes tours for foreign students. Our tour included students from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University, and a few other colleges in Beijing. The tour included train tickets, room accommodations, and 3 meals a day. With all that we spent on the trip itself, the total came out to be about $280 for three days of fun (2 nights on the train). The tour was very disorganized, the food was pretty bad, and we spent a good half of the trip on the bus… but all in all, it was great.

Day 1: The Gobi Desert

Having slept on the (not-so-sanitary) train the night before, we arrived in Huhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, a bit disheveled. We met up with the tour group and were herded onto a bus. We actually stayed on that bus until around 2pm that afternoon when we stopped for lunch. Then, finally, at about 4pm, we parked outside the expansive Gobi Desert.

Boat-like Jeep

It was gorgeous. I had never been to a desert before and was immediately impressed. We took a chairlift from the parking lot into the desert and changed into cloth boots so as not to get sand in our shoes. There were three attractions and there was a different method of transportation from one attraction to the next. From where we landed, we took a boat-shaped jeep ride down to the second attraction site. The ride was like a grounded roller coaster–we had a lot of fun standing up when the jeep was speeding downhill, holding tightly onto our hats and sunglasses.

The second attraction site had two “rides.” One was riding on a motorcycle or driving your own jeep and the other was a mix between ziplining and hang-gliding. They hooked you up to two lines and you shot across the desert. I was scared to death.

CAMELS!

From there we rode camels to the third attraction, where we rode a train back to the cable car. Unfortunately, they were closing so we didn’t get to desert board but riding camels was a lot of fun!

Day 2: Temples , Lamb, Yurt

We spent Day 2 roaming around the outskirts of Huhot, first at the Genghis Khan Mausoleum and then at the Wudang Temple. Both were beautiful and so different from each other. Genghis Khan was more like a museum: beautiful frescos, gold-painted ceilings, and places to pray and sacrifice for Genghis Khan. The Wudang Temple was in the mountains. It also had beautiful frescos but also a library, prayer dolls, and endless prayer flags.

The Girls at Genghis Khan

What was more interesting, though, was what we did that night. We spent the night in the Mongolian grasslands. Driving another 4 hours from the temple site down a bumpy mountain road, we ended up in the grasslands at around 11pm for dinner. Starving, we huddled in a large dining yurt and had the best meal yet. With Mongolian women singing and waiters bringing us celebratory alcohol, we had a true Mongolian dinner of various dishes, including the famous lamb. Amidst the chaotic dinner, a couple of our friends took part in an Erdos wedding ceremony. They put on wedding clothes and drank cup after cup of baijiu, or Chinese alcohol. With the wedding came an entire whole roasted lamb, which my friend said was absolutely delicious.

Erdos Wedding Ceremony

After the dinner we went to our personal yurts, where we were staying for the night. It was hard to move in the dark because of the clumps of horse dung that decorated the entire field. Our yurts were of great quality. They looked like igloos and had beds and a toilet. Unfortunately the heat was solar so we could not shower that night. Going outside, though, we were able to see so many stars that they made up for the lack of heat. We stood outside, shivering, looking up searching for various constellations and shooting stars. Later that night, we pushed our beds together and snuggled together to keep warm.

A defeated Sarah walking from the yurts telling herself "it could be worse"

Day 3: Mongolian Grasslands

We spent the last day in the grasslands. It was not as scenic as hoped but we were each thrown on a horse, who took us to each of the 5 scenic spots. The horses were gorgeous! We were able to switch from time to time. They walked, trotted, and galloped. My last horse was a beautiful white horse that went crazy. He or she galloped and shook his/her mane around fervently. I was honestly pretty scared but it was fun. When the horses trotted, however, we just didn’t know how to ride them well so we bumped up and down on the saddle (and went for massages right when we got home!).

Having fun before horseback riding

After the ride, we watched Mongolian horse-racing and wrestling. Then we headed on a bus back to Huhot for a bit of shopping and the train ride home.

Silly picture at one of the "scenic spots"

Like I said, the trip was disorganized, the food was bad, and we spent a good amount of the trip on the bus. But we kept telling ourselves “it could be worse”– and it really was a great trip after all.

Thank you guys for a wonderful trip!