Hohhot –Inner Mongolia

Welcome back, or welcome…

Re-packing completed and down to only what we will need for one month of travelling, and even then I think I am carrying too much stuff.  We head off from Huaian on the overnight train in our soft-sleeper carriage departing at 10pm – overnight transport is often a great idea getting the journey done and saving a night’s accommodation.  Arrived in Beijing at 7.30am and had to make our way across Beijing to the West train station to catch the train to Hohhot.  There is a huge amount of security/Police around the train stations due in part to internal terrorism attacks at a number of train and bus stations around China.  It’s not uncommon to see Police in these areas armed with sub-machine guns.

Our hard seat train trip to Hohhot was pretty uneventful, apart from highlighting just how massive this country is. We also provide a certain “novelty factor” on the train as we are in the standard hard seat carriages with the masses. A new experience on the train – one of the train crew came through and started what I suspect was a well-rehearsed and well-used sales pitch in the middle of the carriage. This went on for some time with the product being passed around up and down the carriage and then closing the deal with money changing hands.  Talk about a captive audience with nowhere to go!  This happened several times over the day and the products? – a super absorbent cleaning cloth which had its absorbent properties displayed as part of the sales pitch; some puzzle games, a Mongolian style animal skin wrapped water bottle and a range of headphones and battery pack phone chargers.  We did manage to avoid buying anything, but there were plenty sold by the entrepreneurial train staff.

On our arrival in Hohhot there was a sandstorm sweeping through and was quite surreal to see it coming towards you through the high rise buildings in the distance.  About an hour later this was followed by a huge electrical storm and heavy rain.

From our hostel we arranged a couple of trips. First was a day trip out of Hohhot and started with a stop at the Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda, known as the White Pagoda, which is just outside of town. It was still raining and so there was no-one else there and was quite nice.  We then spent about 2 hours driving south to the Liangcheng area where the Great Wall continues its march across China. However, this time the Wall has not been repaired and is in an “as is” condition.  The construction here was mainly from clay bricks which over the years have simply eroded away and now the remnants are the watchtowers- as large mounds, and a crumbling wall between which in places has nearly washed away.  We walked along the top of the wall here for some way, in places about one foot wide due to erosion and requiring a steady step in places, and all the while there was not a single person in sight. This area is not on the tourist trail at all and there is some effort required to visit so was well worth it.  Here also lies a classic Chinese contrast between the old and new - in the fields around the Wall were a number of massive wind turbines that were part of a large wind farm. -photos

The second trip was north to the “Grasslands” area where the rolling plains appear to be endless.  We pass a lot of “tourist” style Mongolian yurt accommodation –basically round concrete water tanks with a hole for a door and painted traditional colours.  Start to wonder where we will end up. It was 15 minutes off the road along tracks across huge fields to a small, traditional, family run operation with 6 yurts in total beside a small lake.  It was absolutely fantastic and miles away from the run-of-the-mill Chinese operations.

After doing the sunset/sunrise bit out in the Grasslands we head off west passing Batou and Dalad to an area on the edge of a desert where we head into the dunes and there is another yurt for the night. This time that is all that is there. Sure there are sleeping bags and some ground mats –however it had rained and they were all on the floor in a wet heap.  We pitched in and made some racks outside to hang/dry them on and then went for a wander in the desert which included some tobogganing on a couple of sleds conveniently hidden for our use.  Gathered firewood and had a huge bonfire that evening after sunset.  In the morning our ride out of the desert arrived – two humped camels were the transport for the next hour out to the meeting point.  Glad it wasn’t any further really, bums and bits knew all about it for a few days afterwards. The lack of stirrups meaning there was no way to remove any pressure/weight from…..let’s just say where the rubber meets the road!

Heading back to Hohhot we passed over the Yellow River in its early stage as it heads east for miles on its way to the coast below Beijing.  It was a wide, braided river with a huge alluvial plain and the bridge that spanned the river and plain went for some 6kms between floodbanks on either side.

Back in Hohhot we enjoyed a great pizza dinner with the others from our tour. One of them, Travis from America, is also teaching English and he originally came to China 3 years ago – as it turned out also with the same crowd we came with and further his mate from his first year is still with Bucklands and is going to be teaching at the school in Huaian we have just left.  Isn’t it amazing how you can meet people with common connections wherever you may be – or maybe the world is not such a big place after-all!!

1, Spot Jonathan with the traditional Mongolian clothing.  2, This guy was flying the highest kite we have ever seen,  trying to spot it was near impossible.  3, Penmanship in the park. 4 & 5 The great wall of China. 6, White Pagoda.

The grasslands in Inner Mongolia.

In the desert.