Around China in 100 Days

[Roadrunner]

Huade to Sunid Youqi – Day 38

We drove along roads lined with wind generators. As a source of energy, we could understand how much they generate as we spent plenty of energy trying to fight the wind that makes these propellers spin.



In search of a little more entertaining terrain, we ventured off onto a dirt track for a break, soon to be accosted by a herd of sheep.



Again, obeying the directions from tourist road signs, we drove off down a gravel road looking for a temple, but instead we came across a newly constructed complex. It didn’t look like a temple and after parking our bikes, we saw a scooter following our tracks with bags of vegetables off the side. The two guys who greeted us and invited us inside turned out to be the security guard and the supervisor of construction of the site. They offered us a really good lunch and gave us a tour. This place was the site of a rather important man in Inner Mongolia, which could be seen by the seven horses on the eaves of the most important building (the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City has nine horses on its eaves).





At its height in the 1930s, the estate had three cars and its own airplane. Not long after that, the Japanese invaded, and the duke (I assume the right translation is duke, or baron) cooperated with the Japanese army so that his dreams of an independent Inner Mongolia could be realised. After the 1949 reunification, he was put in prison and his estate fell into ruins. Over 50 years later, it is being rebuilt and should be open to the public late 2011.



It was pretty interesting for me, and quite fascinating for Lulu (who could understand everything the temporary guides said, and translated some for me).
As we got into Sunid Youqi, we contemplated going to Erenhot, on the border with Mongolia, and even entertained thoughts of going into Mongolia.



But we decided to be boring and stay in Sunid Youqi and watch the sun set on the desert.

[felix]

Thanks for the detailed and engaging account of your trip. I like that you write honestly about your thoughts, worries and differences. I'm also glad that you seemed to be getting over them at this point in the trip.

Looking forward to the rest, getting out of the ugly urban china and into the vast emptiness that is western china!

[Pat]

This is great stuff - well worth the wait! I'm glad you've found the time to write all this up - I'm looking forward to the Xinjiang stories! (And still bummed we didn't get another chance to meet up when you were in Yunnan this past summer).

[Roadrunner]

Sunid Youqi to Hohhot – Day 39

We were told that there weren’t many petrol stations on the road between Sonid Youqi and Hohhot so we filled up our tanks as much as possible before starting off.

We couldn’t find any restaurants on the deserted plains, so stopped outside a building next to some concrete gers. It was yet another tourist place closed until the new season, and the only occupants seemed to be security guards. Lulu asked them if they had anything to eat and soon we were eating some quickly prepared pork with mantou, which I thought was quite generous. I got Lulu to ask if they would like any money, and they said “As you please”. They looked disappointingly at the 10 kuai note I handed over, probably expecting more from the foreigner who over lunch told them how much an English teacher in a second-tier Chinese city.



We headed towards Gegentala and Huixengtile, well known for it’s grasslands and exhibitions of Mongolian culture, but all we saw as we drove past were deserted tourist complexes rows and rows of concrete gers, angry dust devils out in the distance and the persistent high winds gave us the reason why no-one goes there at that time of year. Throughout the ride, I harbored a strange desire to ride through a dust devil as it crossed the road. I knew it was an incredibly dumb idea, and fortunately, I never came across an obliging vortex that would help me out; we saw so many, but they always crossed the road in front of me.



We found a Buddhist temple down another rough road and took some time to check it out. Tibetan Buddhism became an important part of Mongolian culture as far back as the Mongol empire, when Altan Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and head of the empire and his officials converted to the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.



Inner Mongolia is divided in two by a mountain range that separates the plains from the lowlands, where Hohhot and Baotou are situated. We met two elderly gentlemen on the twisting roads on their way back to Hohhot after a light day of mountain-biking.




Lulu had been busy on couchsurfing again and contacted a couple of people in Hohhot, and a very nice Jennie offered to take us. We had some issues navigating the streets of Hohhot but we found a great restaurant and had Mongolian style cook-your-own-mutton and fried bread while we waited for her to finish work at one of the local English language schools.

Her apartment was very nice and spacious, which felt unusual after the shoeboxes we had been staying in. Luxuriously enough, there was even a bathtub.

[Roadrunner]

We got a much needed sleep-in while Jennie left early to take a Saturday English classes. We were told to grab what we liked from the fridge and I sorted myself out with a tasty bacon and egg sandwich, but not before dropping some on the ground.



We were both very slow getting up, watching TV and listening to some music, completely forgetting about the schedule and taking the opportunity to truly relax.

We had another talk about what we wanted from the tour. Lulu suggested that we should separate at some point in the near future, as we had stopped fundraising for the charity since Shanghai, and also as our traveling styles seemed to be quite different in a few important ways. She liked cities, and taking it slow so she could absorb the new cultures she came across. I wanted to experience the different landscapes of China, and I also enjoy a good challenge where I can push my limits. I also wanted to experience the cultures too, but I was afforded much less time than her which limited my flexibility. Essentially, all our troubles came down to a lack of that most infinitely valuable resource: time.

These differences in travel interests could be a challenge, especially when we were cranky at the end of a hard day. I had noticed that our personalities could be rather similar at times, which often led to a clash of wills. I was alarmed at the thought that she would be driving off by herself, but knew that the decision was hers to make. I knew it would be a disappointment to let the team fall apart just as we were about to get into western China, which I felt would be the more interesting and enjoyable part of the trip (or so everyone on MCM had been telling me)

We agreed that the best option was to stick together, but there needed to be some compromise so we could take it easier with not so many days on the road. In order to slow things down I figured that we shouldn't go to Yunnan, and instead return to Chongqing through Kangding and Chengdu, which would give us an extra 5 days or so. We would need to take the route planning week by week and see how we managed.

We finally decided to go and see some of Hohhot in the afternoon. We visited the CITS branch (China International Travel Service) to see if we needed a permit to drive through western Inner Mongolia. We were told that we might be able to drive through on the road to Alashan Youqi, but the road to Ejina Qi was closed for the military, which meant we would miss Khara Khoto, a Mongolian fortress in the Gobi desert abandoned near the end of the Mongol empire's rule in China, when the Ming army diverted the nearby river, the only source of water, away from the fortress.

Lulu had arranged to do another presentation about her travels at a the Ashes of Time cafe, but this time not so many people turned up, possibly because of the short notice with which she placed the notice on Douban. It was still pretty cool and we had English speakers this time; Jennie and a friend of hers, Tara from Mongolia, came along so I could do some side commentary.



Jennie invited us for drinks at the local bar, which I couldn’t turn down, but Lulu headed back to the apartment for an early night. We had a few beers, played some pool and talked about what has happened lately in Hohhot. It was good to have a lengthy conversation in English to some new people, and it was more than interesting to hear the stories that Jennie served up. We ended up going to a club, a spitting image of the clubs in Chongqing, and ended up leaving not long after.

[Roadrunner]

Thanks for the detailed and engaging account of your trip. I like that you write honestly about your thoughts, worries and differences. I'm also glad that you seemed to be getting over them at this point in the trip.

Looking forward to the rest, getting out of the ugly urban china and into the vast emptiness that is western china!

Cheers Felix. Western China was the highlight of the trip, by a long, long way!!

[Roadrunner]

This is great stuff - well worth the wait! I'm glad you've found the time to write all this up - I'm looking forward to the Xinjiang stories! (And still bummed we didn't get another chance to meet up when you were in Yunnan this past summer).

Xinjiang was great, but the real gold happened in Qinghai, just before we met you

I might be heading over to Yunnan again sooner than I thought. I'll let you know.

[flightway]

I like this forum very much. Really very informative.

[lightend]

just another quick note to say i am reading and finding it great, keep up the good work :-D

[Roadrunner]

Hohhot – Day 41

I had another sleep in again while I slowly recovered from the night before. Lulu and I decided to go to the local market and the museum in the early afternoon. The museum idea was quickly squashed when Lulu realised that the museum was closed. Then followed some intense discussion about whether or not we should stay in Hohhot another day. I really didn’t want to give up one of the precious few rest-days we had left, and she really, really, really wanted to see the museum (the captions and information of which turned out to be only in Chinese). I relented on the agreement that she wouldn’t protest if we drove on harder for the next couple of days. Apparently, she appreciates cities more than I do, where I enjoy country riding much more.

We weren’t sure whether motorcycles were allowed inside Hohhot, but we had been told it was fine. As I drove up to a set of traffic lights with Lulu on the back, a policeman in sunglasses sauntered up to us in the middle of the road and told me to get off, took my keys, and told me to walk my bike through the intersection to park on the other side. Looking for my license, I realised that I had left it at the apartment. My bike is too big for Lulu to drive, so I had to walk back and get the papers, which took an hour or so out of our day. It was a right pain in the ass, and I made a mental note to always have my license with me. At least he didn’t give us a fine. At first I thought he pulled me over because I was the only motorcycle on the road, but he appeared to be one of the several policemen manning a traffic control station, pulling over taxis and trucks as well.

The markets were underwhelming. We were looking for handicrafts and a few quality gifts, but most of the things we came across were outrageously expensive, or made in factories in Tianjin, the kind of stuff you can find on Taobao. A trifle disappointed, we drove back to Jennie’s house where she had planned a pot luck dinner with the local English teachers (I forgot to bring food), drinks (I brought beer though) and poker (which I failed miserably at). Lulu went to sleep early again, and she was out cold when I checked her room.

I met a New Zealander at the party, Katie, who had been to India recently and we swapped some stories (after I gave up on poker) and absorbed each other’s accent.
After everyone decided to call it quits on the poker, we all headed out to KTV which was a little strange to see only expats at what is traditionally a Chinese pasttime. Another good night out in Hohhot.