Heading off from Beijing's train station we were dangerously close to missing our train due to general stupidity, but fortunately made it at the last moment. Our next stop was going to be Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, which is only about 10 hours from Beijing.
I had never been to this part of China so I was glad to be on the road to somewhere new again. Our train dropped us off at about 5am, we were a bit worried about whether or not our hostel would be there to meet us as they had rather unbelievably said they would, but true to their word we were met straight off the train. Result! The joys of internet travelling, certainly does make things a bit easier sometimes. The place we were staying in was more like a homestay, it was owned by Mongolians and it was very small, so you felt like you were staying in their house. Which I guess we kind of were!
Hohhot is, as usual, a pretty big city considering it is in the middle of the grasslands. But it is interesting, everywhere you see both Chinese and Mongolian writing and the people all look different yet again... Although the percentage of Mongolians living in Inner Mongolia is dwindling year after year as the Han Chinese move in, you still get a large Mongolian impression. I imagine it is quite different in comparison to Mongolia itself, but for a bite size taster it worked for me!
We spent that afternoon walking to the largest buddist temple, something of a tourist site and a lot of time we spent lost. Which was good in some ways as we got to see some back streets of Hohhot and a different side to it. I wouldn't call it a beautiful place, it is pretty rough and ready, but it was interesting none the less. We had heard big things about mongolian cheese so we spent quite a bit of time trying to track some down, going into shops and looking at street stalls.. but to no avail sadly. We had had high hopes of getting some and thought we were in luck but just as we were about to buy it the shoplady told us it was tofu...
The next day we went on a trip organised by the hostel to the real grasslands themselves. On the trip was a young Danish guy named Dan Bang who had been living in China for some time and was fluent. We also had a Mongolian guide named Andy who was fluent and about 23, and an older guy who acted as driver and did not speak English, but seemed very friendly. The journey out there took about 2 hours and once there the atmosphere was pretty incredible. I am not sure why I liked it as much as I did, but I really loved the feeling of being able to see across the horizon. I feel like I understand what people mean when they say “Big Sky Country” now, the skies really do seem endless out there. We were staying in a yurt on the edge of a small plot of land owned by a family who gave us tea and biscuits as soon as we arrived, mongolian style! The yurt itself was very comfy and the whole trip proved to be really relaxing which was somewhat unexpected! We went for a walk to the local “Obo”, a mound of stones which is set up as a religious temple on the highest part of the ground nearby, as the Mongolians believe these are the best places to commune with God. After this we went for a “rest”! I.e. everyone had a nap. I am not really a natural napper but something about all the fresh air and the grassy plains made napping seem a very good option.
Faye and I had signed up to do a spot of horse riding. When will I learn I wonder? Perhaps now! Two horses were delivered from the local horse riding camp, and they were no doubt the ones they wanted to get rid of!! One was clearly having a bad day and skitting about, and Faye said she didn't want to ride him. So I said I would, but he was clearly a little beast! Now I realise they are not going to give you a wild or dangerous horse, but I think my horse was clearly a bit sick of the whole game. He didn't really like to move, or be told where to go, and was clearly not up for having me get on him and ride about. We managed to get on, although it was clear to me that our guide Andy was not quite the proficient horse man as he had to let the older guy control beastie... not that comforting! We had the added problem of the weather, it is rainy season here too and big storms were coming and there were enormous thunder and lighting showers throughout the day which was making beastie even more skittish... So, we got on the horses and set off but as it was just us two on the horses and andy on a motor bike we said we weren't very happy with the whole situation. Between the motorbike and the thunder beastie wasn't happy so we called it short and decided to go the next day instead...
That night we had dinner and then chilled out in the yurt playing games. Andy had lots of different card games up his sleeve which were pretty funny. After a few beers they also did a chicken bbq which was delish (2 meals in one night- good stuff!!). As is always the way in these situations Andy was trying to get us to sing songs... after a lot of asking faye and I managed to come up with one song we knew all the words to... Away in a Manger!! How utterly crap! Have resolved to memorise the words to Hey Jude or something like that for future use... Dan sang a song but I am skeptical as to whether or not it existed as he was the only person who could speak Danish! Sometimes I am jealous of people with their own language that no one else can speak...
The next morning Faye and I attempted another horse ride but my horse was yet again being a complete sht for want of a better word and since I had no option of a different horse we called it a day after about half an hour. Should I just give up on the whole horse riding thing?! I think so...
After more walks around the grasslands we headed back to Hohhot and went for dinner that evening with Dan and another girl Jane, who actually lives in Ulaan Baatur. It was a really fun evening eating mongolian bbq outside, a good laugh all in all.
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