Inner Mongolia Part 4

         On Sunday we had Skype church. Apparently everyone who lives in China and is a foreign passport holder and doesn’t live somewhere where there is a branch just calls in to this group and they have sacrament meeting.  It was pretty crazy.

         You have to mute your computer and then you just listen to whoever is talking. So since it was fast and testimony meeting. People would just unmute their computers and go “This is Brother/Sister So-and-so can you hear me?” and the branch president would go “yes we can go ahead” and they’d start talking. It’s funny when two people get on at the same time then it’s just awkward. And it’s weird talking or praying because you have no feedback from anyone else, only the people you are with. So singing is weird because it’s just you and the people around you. All and all it was a weird experience, and needless to say I’m glad we have a branch to go to.

         After that we went out to eat and then headed to the Museum of Ordos. Funkiest building I have ever been to. The architecture was so cool, but the content was super lame. Very boring place. But there were these two security guard women who Garett and I started talking to and they were adorable! They were so much fun and kept on hugging me and blowing us kisses and taking our pictures. They were so much fun! They added us on WeChat and are such a delight to talk to. They made the trip worth it during just those 15 minutes.

         Outside of the museum there are some basketball courts where the local youths were playing. John wanted to play with them so he went off and the rest of us just kind of hung out. After a couple minutes I decided to play too. Seeing as though I shoot with two hands it was pretty rough. I didn’t realize that everyone had stopped playing and was watching me fail until I finally made a shot and heard everyone cheering. Funny, but mostly pathetic.

         We hung out until nighttime and then headed down to the end of the plaza by the river. Basically this is where the people of Ordos hang out. There were all of these little car toys that little kids were driving around. It was hilarious and adorable.

         The water show finally started and it was so cool! But there’s only so much variety in an hour long show of fountains, so we only stayed for a little bit. But it was really fun and a good ending to our trip.

This might be my favorite picture we've taken in China. 

The struggles of a frostbite victim.

Inner Mongolia Part 3

         The next day we got up to explore the city of Ordos. There was a guy named Ben who is from BYUI and works with the Cunningham’s and he decided to come hang out with us for the day. Turns out working with the same 5 English speakers everyday is not conducive to a fulfilled social life. Who would have thunk it?

         So Ordos is full of parks and plazas and statues and everything gorgeous, so we started with the main plaza. It’s about a mile long and starts at these massive government buildings and ends at the river. Apparently it was very packed that day…meaning there were maybe 200 people.But we walked around. Saw some Genghis Kahn statues and funky gardens and then ended up down by the river.

         We walked around the river and all along the sides there were these huge hand carved sculpture thingamajigs(ßspell check does not put a red line under that-what a time to be alive). They were intricate and interesting, but in the end just rocks. Talking to the people and wandering through the sunshine next to the river was more fun in my book.

         We grabbed a taxi back and then headed to this huge food court place. It’s a big building that’s has some chain restaurants, but mostly just a bunch of people’s random restaurants. All the restaurants that we would have on the streets in Nanjing are just in one huge building there. The food was delicious and the people loved us. What more could you ask for. 

         For dinner we went to this restaurant and it tasted horrible. Upon finishing, we looked at the wall and realized that it had received the lowest score possible during their last health inspection without having to be shutdown. Welcome to China.

Inner Mongolia Part 2

 We woke up early the next day and figured out how to get to the Singing Sand Ravine in the Kubuqi Desert. The Kubuqi Desert is the seventh biggest in China and a few hours from Ordos. I had also never been to a desert before and it has been on my bucket list to go to one ever since I can remember so I was pretty stoked.

         We decided to take the bus there because a taxi was going to be about 200 RMB and at the time we thought that would be very expensive. We found out we needed to get to the Dongsheng station and then get a bus ticket from there. After walking to the bus stop by the Cunningham’s apartment we met some people who were also heading to Dongsheng and said they’d show us the way. So nice of them. We needed to transfer bus lines before we got to Dongsheng and the guy who was helping us paid for our fare and it was so nice of him. Whadda guy.

         <<First and foremost: these people are Mongolian not Chinese. Technically they are Chinese, but they won’t tell you that. They are so proud of their heritage and it’s awesome. Since basically no one goes to Inner Mongolia a lot of these people had never seen foreigners before. People look at us in Nanjing, but there are loads of white people walking around. Here people were awestruck when they see us. They were obsessed with us and it was hilarious. Also everyone we met was so nice and loved talking to us. The old people have crazy accents that we couldn’t understand, but everyone else’s accent was so easy to understand. A lot easier than the Nanjing people.>>

         We got to the Dongsheng bus station and as we were walking in a bunch of people came up to us offering to drive us to the Singing Sand Ravine. They said we would have to pay 160 RMB for the trip and we thought that was too expensive and walked in to get a ticket. We walked in and asked for a ticket and this lady pointed us in the direction of this door with a bunch of bus drivers. Then everything happened so fast and we ended up buying tickets to go on this guys bus because he said he’d take us there and we’d get there in three hours. We trusted that he would help us and have our best intentions in mind seeing as though everyone else in Inner Mongolia did, but no. The man we trusted the most screwed us over.

         We had already spent one hour on the bus to get to Dongsheng, and then ended up on this next bust for four more hours. It was cramped, slow, hot, and smelly. He promised us three hours, but then that time came and went without comment from him. On the positive side of things, we were driving through the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. There were cliffs, rivers, lakes, grasslands, desserts, cows, sheep, and horses. It was so pretty. So that was nice to see, but the circumstances were less than desirable.

         Anyways. Were driving through all of this and then we see a sign for the place we want to go. But this sign was very much still in the middle of nowhere. Literally, we drove through no civilization ever for four hours to get there and I was sure we were never going to be heard of again. So our bus driver who we now hate, pulls over in the middle of a wasteland and tells us to get off. While we’re stepping off he says we have to walk three kilometers down this other road and then we’d be there. He also gives us his card so that we could get a ride back with him if we needed. 

         So we’re slap happy because we’re off of that bus and the situation was just ridiculously grim, but then scared because no one had any idea where we were. But we walk and walk and end up seeing some small run down buildings at the edge of the desert. We got there and it was great. It was some small family run place that had maybe 10 other tourists there. When asked, they said that they have only ever had 20 foreigners there before. Haha we were going to die.

         I was freaking out about how we were going to get home and so before we did anything we needed to figure that out. We asked the owners and they said that they had someone who could use their car to drive us back to Ordos for 1500 RMB. They realized they could charge us anything because we had literally no other options and they knew that. Greedy little guys. There was a random taxi driver there so Garett went and asked him if he could take us. He said he had to leave, but could come back in a couple hours and take us for 600 RMB. He gave us his card and we decided to go with him and that we’d call him when we were ready to leave. The owners were not too pleased about that.

          But then the fun began. We paid to do the four different desert activities they provided. So us and the other 10 tourists got on this big monster car dune buggy convertible thing and the driver started cruising over the dunes. There were no seatbelts and it was awesome! We were flying everywhere and it was so much fun. 

         Then we went on these tray things and slid down the sand dunes. I was covered in splinters and sprayed in the face by sand, but it was super fun. And we just kind of ran around the desert for a little bit and took a bunch of pictures.

         Then we went four wheeling with one of the owners kids and he went crazy fast and that was fun, but slightly entirely terrifying.

         Last, but not least we went on a camel ride and it was great. This little girl was screaming so much. She was terrified and it was adorable. Sad, but adorable.

         The other tourists there were pretty great. All of them were from Inner Mongolia and very proud of that fact. Inner Mongolia is definitely more Mongolia than it is China. They were so much fun to talk to and overall super nice and sweet people.

         So after all of our activities we headed back to the main building to call our cab driver. Before we did that though the owners came up to us and said that our taxi driver had said all these ridiculous things and didn’t want to drive us anymore and that we’d have to take their person’s car. After calling the cab driver we found out that the owners were lying to get our money, but I mean it was a solid move by them. Our cab driver said he’d be there in an hour and a half and seeing as though it was already 5:30 we kind of wanted to leave thinking that it would take forever to get back. But then this random son of the owners walked up to us and said he’d drive us back right then for 700 RMB and we decided to head back with him. When you think about it, he probably could have killed us and no one would know. We really should have died then, but people are generally good so we didn’t.

         On the car ride home I was talking to the guy a little bit and he asked me which I thought was better: China or America. Because I thought he could kill me at any second I responded China. He was thrilled. He then asked which I thought was more developed: China or America. To further the Chinese Government’s Propaganda movement I said that they’re about equal seeing as though both have big cities, suburbs, farms, and unpopulated areas. He seemed very pleased by this answer. And I felt as though I served my Communist country well. You’re welcome Mao.

         Plot twist: it took only 2.5 hours to get home. It was great. I will never ride a bus again. Once we got home we realized that we hadn’t eaten since the night before. But since Ordos is basically a ghost town, everything closes super early and we only found one restaurant which was open. It was this Mongolian barbecue place called You Like. And let me tell you, it was aptly named. It was some of the best food in China. So good. That might be a biased review seeing as though we were borderline starved, but it was pretty great nonetheless. 

                                                          Our 3km walk.

                                 

Inner Mongolia

        So Garett knows people from his home ward in Idaho who live in Inner Mongolia, so obviously we needed to visit them. Everyone in China gets a week off of everything during the firstish week of October for National Week, which is basically their 4^th of July. So Garett, Eben, and I packed up our backpacks and headed up to Inner Mongolia.

         At the airport, our gate was in the basement. When it was time for boarding, us and 40 other people get on a bus to head out to our plane. This was maybe the smallest plane I have ever seen. I was too tall for the plane and it had two seats in rows on the right and one seat on the right. Good thing I’m not claustrophobic or I might have died. People were all looking at us weird because they couldn’t figure out why Americans would want to go to Inner Mongolia. And frankly we didn’t know what we were doing there either. Most people there looked like they really didn’t want to go. Like they were going to visit their crazy extended family for a week or something.

         <<Minorities are constantly being discriminated against in China. It’s a real problem. So most people were confused as to why we’d want to go to a place that is basically Mongolian and full of minorities. During National Week every tourist area is packed full of waves and waves of people, Mongolia on the other hand is not, because absolutely no one would ever want to go there it was another reason why we went.>>

         After a scary two-hour flight full of constant questions as to whether or not we were going to survive the trip we landed in Ordos. (Also, the airline was still under the impression that all electronics had to be turned off. Airplane mode was not a concept they grasped. We really should have died on that plane). Probably the coolest airport I’ve ever been to and also the smallest. The architecture was awesome and there were only14 gates, but there were Western toilets so I had nothing to complain about.

         <<Facts about Ordos. The Chinese government has dumped millions of dollars into making Ordos one of the faces of the new modern China. The city as it is seen today was only built in the last ten years. Ten years ago it was just a puny little village. It is one of the richest cities in all of China, as well as being one of the safest and cleanest. (Seeing as though we were thinking we were headed to some weird grassland crazy place—this was refreshing to hear). In the past three years the population has doubled and is up to about 100,000 people. It has a weird post-apocalypse vibe though because it’s a huge city built for millions, but since a lot of people don’t live there yet it is crazy empty. There are huge skyscrapers and malls that are completely empty and kind of creepy. But in a few years it will be busy and packed so that’ll be cool to see happen. It'll be great to be able to pull the "Original Hipster" card when it comes to traveling to Inner Mongolia. But there are basically no cars or traffic at all. Traffic lights are about 15 seconds long on average because there at most are 2 cars waiting to go. You could look down what seems to be a major road and only see one car and it’s four blocks down the road.>>

        

Nanjing City Wall

The last stop on our city tour was the Nanjing city wall. In the end, it's just a wall. But the historical significance is apparently important. It was cool, but a 30-minute visit was sufficient.

Ming Tombs

         Basically the Ming Tombs are in this huge park/garden. Someone important is buried there, but I forget and I don’t feel the pressing need to google who it was so yeah. There is this big path that you walk down which depicts your spiritual journey and is lined with all of these cool statues of real and mythical animals, warriors, and scholars. It was a pretty place to be and there were less people so that was nice, but I likedSun Yat Sen’s tomb better.