Hi!
I believe I last left you on our Inner Mongolia (have to clarify on the Inner part as we haven't crossed over the Chinese border) journey on Saturday night.
Oh, I can't begin to tell you how nice it was to gaze up and see all those stars and the Milky Way!!! The sad thing is that the cold finally got to us and we went in to our respective yurts and "went to sleep". Actually, it was more like a night filled with tossing and turning. At least the kids seemed to sleep well! I wish I was a kid again who doesn't mind sleeping on a board. My back just can't handle that.
I hope you can stay warm enough tonight! It is CHILLY!!!
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September 9, 2012-
GOOD MORNING!!!!!!!
So…how well did you sleep??????
I can't say that I actually slept at all. I know that Ava did. She slept rather peacefully in the bed next to mine. Perhaps if we'd shared beds like our friends did (all four of them decided to sleep in one yurt as opposed to two yurts).
I don't know about you but I'm ready to get out of bed and get something to eat for breakfast! I can seeing people queuing up for the breakfast buffet. I wonder what kinds of food we'll get…..
We'd better get in line if we want to get any breakfast:
So….what's for breakfast???? Man tou (plain, steam bread), slices of deep fried, crisp man tou (perhaps from yesterday's man tou?), hot milk (doesn't taste like cow's milk though) or soup, random mushed veggies and a hard boiled egg (we had to pay extra for the eggs!). I heard a comment (from someone in our group) likening our meal to those served perhaps on Alcatraz. LOL! It was mostly edible. ;-)
**I'm pausing to interrupt to tell you that I'm beyond frustrated with how absurdly slow our internet is at the moment. It might take days not hours to get this post finished at the rate they're uploading! And they said we were upgraded to the faster speed a few days ago. HA!**
Grace says it's time to pack up and head out….but not before one last stop at the gift shop. Annika *really* wants to get something from the shop but last night they wouldn't give her the time of day! The folks in the shop didn't even acknowledge us. Ay! ay! ay! We told Annika that if she wanted something she would have to ask how much it is IN CHINESE. Thank goodness the people were much more interested in potential customers this morning….
And of course we had to get something for Ava…. (because you know that traveling is all about getting souvenirs. oh Wait! Noooooo….traveling isn't about getting souvenirs! Can somebody please tell the girls this????)
Let's pack up our bags and move out!
One last quick look around the yurt before we leave:
Back on the mini bus:
First stop: Zhaojun Tomb just outside Hohhot.
Wang Zhaojun is called one of the four most beautiful women in ancient China. She helped to unify China via her marriage. Although this site is called her tomb Grace mentioned that it really isn't a tomb (no one knows where she really is buried). This site just commemorates Zhaojun.
Well, I guess we'd better make good on a promise we made to the kids before going up the hill….we said that if they went up the hill (with minimal complaining) we'd get them ice cream/popsicles afterwards. :-) It's time for a quick ice cream break!
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Time to get back on the bus. It's time for lunch! Grace says she's taking us to a hotpot restaurant. Yaaaaay!!!! We LOVE hotpot!!!!
Our giant round table….we each got our own pot!
We had one sad incident while in the restaurant. Juandre accidentally put his fingers in the pot of boiling stock and boy- does it burn and hurt! Thankfully, next door (sort of attached to the restaurant in a weird sort of way) there was a supermarket and Croydon was able to get ice for him. :-(
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Time to get back in the mini bus! Now we're headed to the General Government Office in Hohhot.
This building was apparently the place where many generals and, later, many other government officials called this home and their offices.
The kids each got a turn to put on their war faces (or pretend that they were generals):
Furs for sale outside the museum:
Back on the mini bus!!! Time to head to our last destination on our schedule…. The Inner Mongolia Museum
This museum is famous for the fossils and dinosaur remains dug up in Inner and Outer Mongolia. We certainly can't resist looking at those!!!
Want to learn more about this dinosaur???
This is one HUUUUUUGE dinosaur skeleton:
In another exhibit we found what appears to be the console of Dr. Who's Tardis….
Ah, apparently God's Favored Ones refers to Genghis Khan!
Time to go! Poor Croydon already left the museum earlier due to some bad tummy trouble.
More furs for sale:
It's time to head to the airport….
Bye Grace! Thank you so much for being our tour guide!!!
We're all checked in and through airport security….that was a breeze!
Let's go find some food to eat~ who knows when we'll get home (we should be home in time for dinner but you know as well as I do that flights in China NEVER fly on schedule!).
Home at last!!! Only several hours late….but at least we're all home safe and sound. And some kids are in better shape than others. ;-)
I think we all agree- WE HAD A FANTASTIC TRIP!!!! HUGE THANKS to Croydon, Debbie, Marko and Juandre for doing this trip with us. It was a TON more FUN with you!!!!!!