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.
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