Hohhot:: A Journey with Friends into Inner Mongolia

You just never know where we'll pop up next!!!

And last weekend was no exception!

Have you ever heard of a yurt???  No??? It's kind of like a giant tent- a portable house before the days of RVs, mobile homes and camper vans.  

Ever since we moved to China I've seen photos of yurts in Inner Mongolia (which is in China) and I thought it would be fun to spend ONE night in one.  And guess what?  I got my wish!!! 

And even better- we traveled with our friends to Inner Mongolia.  Traveling around China is DEFINITELY more fun with friends!!!!  

Off we go to HOHHOT in Inner Mongolia!!  

(What kind of name is Hohhot anyway???  It has a funny ring to it….and it's almost a palindrome. P.S: In Mandarin Hohhot is Hūhéhàotè BUT in Mongol it is Hohhot.  Just goes to show the Chinese have to change EVERY name to suit themselves!!!).

Joining us on this little weekend excursion are Debbie, Croydon, Marko and Juandre.

 🙂

 

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Annika and Juandre got to sit next to each other. Marko and Ava were also seat buddies.

 

 

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A stuffed wolf….at least this one isn't likely to bite!

 

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Our floor…..strange how the carpets are covered with these white sheets.

 

 

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We're in China….the number 4 is an unlucky number and usually there aren't 4th or 14th floor in Chinese hotels….but look, this elevator isn't missing any numbers!

 

 

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Can somebody please explain to me what this sign says in plain, simple English????? (saw this in the hotel elevator)

 

Saturday – September 8, 2012: 


 

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Sunrise over Hohhot

 

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Our room at the hotel: 

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Time for breakfast!  

 

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Hopefully the kids will eat enough to keep their tummies full for a few hours.

 

 

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a cup of what they call Milk Tea. Doesn't taste like any milk tea I've ever tried!

 

 We've checked out and it's time to head out to the van….

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Off we go!  We've got lots to see and do today!!!!

Our little tour bus:

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First destination for today- The Qing Princess House (which has been completely rebuilt so it's not the original structure):

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jumping for joy!!!

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WOW! That is a giant pot (perhaps made out of brass???). We heard that this giant pots are full of water- they're there to keep water on hand if a fire should break out in the wooden buildings.

 

 

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Lovely paintwork! If I understood Grace correctly the bright colors come from different minerals.

 

Exploring the museum… 

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The throne???

 

 

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Interesting incense burner

 

 

Let's get back in the van and head to the Grasslands!!!!

 

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We have to wind up through some mountains before reaching the plateau of the grasslands.

 

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What a wreck!!!! :

 

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Ouch! I bet that hurt!

 

 

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The kids looking at the wreck as we pass by. Somber reminder to pay attention and alert while driving these roads.

 

 

Debbie played a song ("Back in Time") on her iPad….it's from one of her favorite music artists (Pitbull).  The kids LOVED singing along to it!!!! 

 

We heard lots of "Oh, baby! Oh baby!"  So funny!   

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Need any sheep??? Do you think one of these is Shaun the Sheep????

And now we're finally on the plateau they call the grasslands (we're at a higher elevation now):

 

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Well, we're here! (I mean we're at the "yurt complex" where we'll be spending the night):

 

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Do you see the horses over there? There are lots and lots and LOTS of horses all over the area!!! I hope we get to ride on one.

 

Let's just take a quick look around while we wait for our guide to get our room arrangements taken care of.

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Well, it looks as if we're in two of the concrete "yurts".  I can't really bring myself to call them yurts as they're really round brick buildings, right???  I mean, no one in their right mind would try to move one of these suckers!  (and portability is the goal of yurts, right?????)

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We've got four so-called yurts booked between us.  These are apparently the Luxury Yurts.  We asked if we could stay the night in one of the fabric/tent-like ones they have on the premises but apparently they're all booked up.  Darn.  

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let's take a look inside one of these yurts:

 

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Two rock-hard beds. Ooof. I can already hear my back crying out in pain! LOL!

 

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 Annika and Mark are in one yurt and Ava and I are in the other yurt.

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Interesting….so many ammenities (electricity, plumbing, TV) but yet no heater.

 

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A television set????? Electricity????? Really????????

 

 

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The door that leads to the bathroom.

 

 

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I bet the original yurts had indoor plumbing. NOT!!!! (actually, I am thankful for that toilet and sink!). There's even a shower but I don't think we'll making use of it (brrrrr).

 

Check out this negative image lady bug:

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Check out this lovely row of yurts.  Apparently the three fabric covered ones are where special dinners take place (we'll get to peak inside one of them later):

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And these are some of the fabric covered yurts we'd hoped to spend the night in.

 

Grace just said it's time to head to lunch.  This is the restaurant for the "yurt complex" we're staying at:

 

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I think it's a pretty cheerful yellow, don't you think?

Oh my!  Check out the inside of this restaurant:

 

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I'm not sure what's going on but they just placed white silk scarves around our necks and now some lovely ladies gave the grown-ups these cups of bai jiu to sip (only one sip or gulp) and then take away the cup.  No idea what it's supposed to mean BUT I can tell you that bai jiu is the nastiest alcohol on this planet!!!

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lunch….

 

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Juandre gets creative with his white scarf!

 

 

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The performers/servers in beautiful costumes.

 

Let's go for a walk…. I want to see the grasslands first-hand:

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The kids had an awesome time running on the grass.  So open. So free. So blue!!! And the air- while there was a certain amount of horse pee smell it also smelled far cleaner than the air in Tianjin.  What a nice change!

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That's our "yurt complex" in the distance.

 

The kids picked bouquets of lovely, petite flowers growing wild….

 

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Annika's bouquet (she managed to pick a thistle!!!!)

 

 

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Ava's sweet bouquet. One of the flowers almost looks like a type of gentian (it's that deep purple one…which blends in with her t-shirt)

 

 Time to head back to our complex.  And it looks like it's time for a show of sorts. Grace says they're going to do a Mongolian horse race and Mongolian wrestling (I have absolutely NO idea what makes it Mongolian):

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Bunch of people standing around waiting for something to happen.

 

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Not exactly sure what the point of this was….I thought we were watching a horse race but it was difficult to tell if they were, in fact, racing at all!

 The horses here are all significantly smaller than their counterparts I've seen in the USA.  (not that I know much about horses) 

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There they go….the race was over in less than five minutes. Are you sure that's all?????

 

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How about some Mongolian wrestling? First four guys did a "show" for us then they asked for volunteers from the crowd. The guy on the left is one such volunteer. This "show" lasted less than ten minutes.

 

Grace said it's time to head to see something else….perhaps we're going to see the Mongolian family (at least that's what is on our schedule).  So off we go on a super bumpy ride on the country roads in our van (can you hear the sounds of the happy, shrieking kids in the background??):

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^ above is not a real yurt. ^

 Join us for a cup of milk tea, won't you???

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apparently all yurts are supposed to have a picture of Genghis Khan:

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Okay, so we were wrong.  We're not going to meet a "real" Mongolian family.  Instead we're going to get a serving of milk tea and try to learn a little about it.  It's not at all sweet.  The round floating balls are toasted millet seeds (they add some nice crunch).  The other additives are different milk products (one looks like thinly sliced bread which is in fact dried milk skin- you know- the skin of milk that forms on top of a cup of hot milk???  They dry it and it to their milk tea! There are also two kinds of other milk products that look more like white tablets or candies.)

Honestly, I like this kind of tea.  It's definitely different and unusual but in a good sort of way! 

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Here's some milk tea. Look familiar???? I had some for breakfast this morning.

Checking out the area around the milk tea yurt: 

 

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Yes, those are sheep in the distance

 

 

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Looks like the next tour bus full of people are heading in to drink some milk tea.

 

 

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Can you read what it says?? WC….otherwise known as "the toilet". (WC stands for wash closet…I think?)

 

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Croydon and Mark have decided to Marko and Annika for a spin on four-wheelers.

 

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Marko and Croydon are off!

 

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Just making sure that the four-wheeler actually works!

 

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Do you see the specks of dust flying???? That's them heading off….

 Mark took the following photos of the edited group:

 

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The edited group zipped on over what appears to be an inner Mongolia place of worship (the stone structure).  The guys had to buy a box of incense sticks, light them

 

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Here's that place of worship. I think they are called ovoos.

 

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Can you see Ava and I over by those "yurts"???

 

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The gang had to place the lit incense in this block.

 

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And they were "given" the blue scarves….which they were then told to place on the stone structure.

I have to admit I'm a little bummed I didn't get to see this stone structure in person.  

And now they're back again!  (about ten to fifteen minutes later) 

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Time to go back home.  Since Annika got to ride with Daddy on the four-wheeler we've promised Ava she can ride on a house.

Back at the "ranch":

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But guess what???? Apparently Ava is too short to ride on a horse and they won't let her ride with an adult!  GRRRRRRrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!  

<<<insert the sound of sobbing and very upset children>>>  

 

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We saw this little kitten locked up in a car. The girls nearly got in a tizzy trying to look at it. They REALLY wanted that kitten! I felt so sad for it….who knows how long it was locked up in that car. (the windows were cracked) All I can say is I hope it peed and pooped and scratch up the interior of the car!!!!

 

 

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Remember how I told you we are keeping photographers at bay by asking 5 RMB per person??? Well, somebody actually took us up on our offer!  Ava got her first 5 RMB!!!!

 

 We saw this ice cream cooler in the tiny store associated with our yurt complex:

 

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"Abercrombif and Titch"???????? Hmmmmmmmmm……. (ice cream advertisement on the side of a freezer)

 

Let's go for a walk….I think that might help perk up some of these sad kids:

 

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Watching some horses trot by.

 

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A slightly somber group of kids going for a walk.

 

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Check out that very dry river bed. This area is very, very dry. I think it gets rain in the spring months.

 

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The kids have discovered a new hobby: hurling rocks or clumps of hard soil at the dried river bank to make chunks of it fall off.  

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And now the dads got into the swing of things.

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Ava trying her best!

 

 

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Just to see if he could….Croydon carries a giant rock over…

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and throws it down near the edge to see if he can make a part of the "cliff" collapse.  

 

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Yes, I should say he can make it collapse!

 

Well, that was good "clean" fun (now that everyone is dirty)!  Let's continue on our walk. 

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 A scene on the grasslands:

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I wonder what the story is behind this scene: an empty bottle of bai jiu (possibly the worst alcohol on Earth) and shards of white and blue ceramic dishes. Perhaps it's better that we don't know!

 Mark and the girls go say hello to some of the horses (or try to):

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We saw several of these: 

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Inner Mongolia = Paper Lantern Heaven.  So now we know where paper lanterns end up!!!

I think it's time to head to dinner….. shall we go???

Looks like we've got to wait a few minutes before we can be seated.  Let's look around the "yurt complex".

 

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I wish we could have our dinner inside one of these "real" looking yurts….

 

 

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Check out the inside of this yurt. Can you spot the Genghis Khan picture?  Looks like a lovely spot for dinner, doesn't it?

 

 

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Check out that GIANT bowl. What do you suppose it's for?

 

 

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Here's the tiny little shop associated with this complex (we bought our ice cream and a bar of soap for our bathroom sink in here):

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The girls goofing around:

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Finally!!!  They can seat us inside the restaurant.  Let's go!

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Thank Heavens! No bai jiu for us this evening!!!!

 

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A variety of dishes, including a leg of lamb (cooked with a crust of cumin)

 

Ah…..now what???

The sun has set while we were eating dinner.  Oh my.  It really gets cold in these parts after the sun goes down!!! Brrrr!!!!!!  I think we're going to pile on warmer clothes which we thankfully brought with us.  

Grace says there will be a show this evening outside.  I think we'll go find some beer and drinks for the kids while we wait for the show to start.

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IMG_5750We're getting cold and tired.  I think it's time to head back to our yurts and turn in.

 

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Fireworks!!! What a surprise????!!!

We did have to go out for a short walk outside to view the beautiful, clear night sky:

 

 

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The lovely night sky in Inner Mongolia….stars and stars and even more stars!!!!

 

I hope you're bundled up and have warm clothes with you.  I think it's going to be a chilly night!  

***Good Night!***

Tune in tomorrow for Sunday's installment of our Inner Mongolia journey.


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