Trip to Inner Mongolia - Day 5

After yet another day of rising before the sun (or so it seemed), we headed out for our last day of adventures in Inner Mongolia. Our first point of interest was the palace… which one exactly we are not too sure. But a palace none the less! We toured around inside, checking out each room, and what it was used for. Possibly this tour would have been better suited for someone with a greater knowledge of Chinese history. We enjoyed our visit and the wonderful architecture of ancient Chinese buildings.

We ate lunch at a restaurant nearby. Following our meal we were serenaded by a lovely young girl and her accompanist on a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. Following lunch and our private concert, we returned to the front gates of the palace for many photo opportunities.

The second attraction that day was an ancient temple. Immediately upon entrance we were advised of the “hush” requirement for inside the gates. We later found out that the reason for silence was not because it was a spiritual resting place, but because they were shooting a movie. There were young men everywhere dressed up in old combat gear. We took this opportunity to pose… surprise, surprise!

On our way back into Chifeng, we stopped for many attractions on the side of the highway. Our first reason for stopping was the busy farmers in their corn fields on the shoulder of the road. They had a cart full of fresh corn pulled by two of the most beautiful cows. On the other side of the highway was a field of tobacco plants. We ran down and frolicked through the rows.

Entirely exhausted from our busy day, we went back to the hotel, and sadly crashed in bed before 8 o’clock!

Trip to Inner Mongolia - Day 4

Inner Mongolia is a very agricultural area, and, consequently, there are often herds of cattle, goats and sheep near to the highway we traveled along. However, on the morning of our fourth day, the herd of sheep was actually crossing the road. We just had to stop for this photo opportunity, so John and I ran out of the van just in time to snap a few pictures of the herd that was now crossing at a quick sprint. There was one fat, lazy sheep that was a straggler. He crossed after the rush at a leisurely saunter. They were very cute! Later that morning, we were frustrated by all the back and forth of closed highways when a can of beer that had been purchased the night before and was packed in the van, happened to roll up the aisle of the van right to Karli and I. We decided that this was a sign, figured it was noon somewhere in the world and split the beer, drinking it on the van (this is not a problem in China).

It turns out that our frustration was about to grow. While driving, we came upon a huge pile of dirt blocking the entire span of the road we were attempting to drive on. Our driver spoke with some men that were evidently working on the road and it looked like they were going to move the dirt with a front end loader. While we were waiting for this to happen, we noticed that there was a truck that had gotten stuck trying to cross a shallow stream to avoid the dirt pile in the road. We were all highly entertained by watching the different methods they tried to use to get the truck unstuck. They tried pulling the truck, pushing it, putting branches along the bank for traction, but nothing worked. Every once in a while some man would come and suggest a new idea or suggest they try something again. But still no success. After about an hour and a half, we realized that the men were not, in fact, going to move the dirt pile. So we got back on the van and headed in a different direction. We ran into another stuck truck that was blocking that road. Fortunately this one eventually moved enough that other vehicles could pass. The good thing that came out of the experience is that while waiting, some drivers got in a spat about another of the same type of truck wanted to pass ahead of the other vehicles. The others told him to wait. One little man got very angry and kept saying a word that we figured must be a swear. It turns out we were right. So we learned our first Chinese swear word.

We finally arrived to our destination, a mountain that we got up by chairlift. Before going up the mountain, we met a delightful little billy goat, who acted just like a bad puppy. He was the pet of the people who ran the store there. He nuzzled the woman, climbed up to the table and climbed up on a chair outside to reach a bowl on the window sill. We were so enchanted by this little fellow that later that night we all drank a toast “to the billy goat!” The mountain itself was so beautiful with the leaves changing colour. We had to climb to the very top, but the reward for our hard work was the view – a valley on top of the mountain. It was breathtaking… We explored around there for a while and then went back down. We drove back to Chi Feng for supper and a big discussion/fight that ensued over supper between the foreign teachers.

Trip to Inner Mongolia - Day 3

Day three started off with some more driving. We arrived in a city in mid-morning, where we found the cutest little kitten outside of one of the shops. We played with it for a while, until it tried to climb Karli’s back and then went on to the next shop, which sells this amazing Inner Mongolian beef jerky-type meat. Some of the others had a tour to see how it is made, and the same little kitten was found wandering among the meat looking for a treat! We bought some beef – it is the best beef jerky we have ever tasted! So addictive. We then drove on and had some lunch. After lunch, a group of us went for a ride on Mongolian horses: they are like regular horses, except a little smaller with shorter legs. The guide thought I was afraid of horses for some reason and so led mine along the entire way at a s-l-o-w walk. So not that exciting. We drove on to the Stone Forest, a large group of natural rock formations, created by the melting of glaciers. We enjoyed climbing on them (that is, until Karli cracked her head while laying on one for a pose!). The view up there was absolutely amazing. That night we all stayed in a large villa. Karli and I believe our room was haunted as we both saw a blue flash cross the room that we think was a ghost.

Trip to Inner Mongolia - Day 2

We started our second day of the trip driving in the van to a Yurt village. Yurts are traditional homes of the nomadic Inner Mongolians. They are usually like tents, but these were made of concrete. We then drove to the desert, where we rode camels up a sand dune. What an amazing experience – definitely the highlight of our trip! We returned to the Yurt village for lunch and then kept on driving. Our driver spotted a man selling watermelons out of a truck at the side of the highway. He bought some for everyone and we just stood eating and slurping fresh watermelon on the side of the road. We had great fun cracking them against a tree to open them and just letting the juice run all over. Our hotel that night was located in a spa town with healing waters. There were two bathtubs in each bathroom, separated by a curtain, so Karli and I both indulged in a nice hot (healing) bath, and chatted.

Halloween in China!

Halloween, of course, is not really celebrated in China, but in an effort to make foreigners feel welcome in their country, and, well just a reason to have a party, the Sea Star Restaurant at the Golden Qilin Hotel across the street from the school decided to hold a Halloween celebration. The foreign teachers from SIE (our school) and the Normal University were invited to attend. When we came in the door, the restaurant was all decorated in Halloween style, complete with tiny jack o’ lanterns and things hanging from the roof. We were allowed to choose a mask from a table full of all different sorts including ghosts, lions, Frankenstein and very pretty feathered eye masks for the ladies. Karli and I both chose these ones.

We got the best seat in the house to see all of the entertainment of the evening. The entertainment included many of the students singing, some dancing, and some comic standup (of course in Chinese, so we are not sure if it was funny or not). Karli and I also competed in a game they called “Biting Apples”. We know it as “Bobbing for Apples”. Karli, as it turns out, is an expert at this game, but was robbed in the final round and lost to a Chinese student/cheater. In the end though, it all resolved itself, because he graciously relinquished his title to its rightful owner, Karli. Ha, ha! The prize? A horrific jack-in-the-box twist, that gave Karli nightmares and cackled all night.

Throughout the evening, the foreigners were being videotaped for some purpose and then at the end of the evening they made us pose in various spots in and in front of the hotel and videotaped us some more. Who knows what they are planning to use it for, but we are often asked to pose for photos that will likely be used for promotional purposes, so this is likely the purpose. Apparently nothing sells like a group of foreign faces…

Visit to Benxi Caves and Villagers' Home

All of the foreign teachers, the Chinese staff and three Canadians from Red River College in Winnipeg (the school our school is associated with) went to visit Benxi Caves. The caves are about an hour’s drive outside of Shenyang and it is the longest underground river that you can travel by boat in the world. There were many interesting stalagmites and stalactites that formed shapes. Many of them had names like “Seal Playing with a Pearl” or “Jade Palace”. The most interesting one, that really looked like its name was one in the shape of an elephant. We took two boats down the river. Our mischievous friend Pete said that he was on a dragon hunt and kept making scary “dragon noises” which really just sounded like “ooooooooh, oooooooooh”. Then he suggested that we scare the boat of Chinese tourists that was about to pass beside our boat, so at the same time we all yelled “Rarrrrhhhhhhh!” and scared the daylights out of them. Of course we all enjoyed a big laugh.

After the cave, we went to this museum type building that had replicas of the Terracotta Warriors, then it led to another part of the museum that contained all sorts of horrific imagery, including many scenes of people bleeding and mutilated and many including Christian references. It was all very strange and kind of beyond explanation. Suffice it to say that we all left there scratching our heads and saying “What the heck was that all about??”.

We went for an interesting lunch and then were invited to go and visit the home of some villagers. The man was out front, cutting and boiling huge piles of cabbage that they keep throughout the winter to feed the pigs they keep in the yard. Inside the home, there was a small kitchen, a room that appeared to serve the purpose of a place to dry corn kernels (corn is a staple of Northern Chinese diets, you see many, many fields of it everywhere and ears of corn are often seen drying on people’s roofs). There was one room that was the living/bedroom for all the inhabitants of the house. No bed, just a kind of stage for them to sleep on. It is clear that these people live a simple life, but they seemed quite happy and satisfied, and welcomed us kindly into their home. It was very interesting to see life outside of the huge city.

Our most adventurous meal yet!

Unfortunately, for some reason I can no longer see the blog. I guess it has been censored. So that means I cannot read any comments you might post. Hopefully this will change – I will let you know if I get access again. At least I can still post! Anyways, this is at Steven’s birthday. I told you we ate some interesting things and we sure did! Karli was feeling particularly adventurous and started this all off by eating esophagus! What a brave gal! Then she tried to eat some stomach, but could not manage to bite through it. This led to both of us trying la piece de resistance – silk worms! They were actually not bad. They kind of tasted toasted and were quite crispy. We actually went back for seconds later. We also had quail eggs – they taste like chicken eggs, but are just smaller. We sure have eaten some interesting things here – I am proud of our culinary sense of adventure.

We are not dead...

So, first I must say that I am sorry for the lack of blogging as of
late. A number of factors have caused this situation, the biggest of which is the fact that John will not give up his Inner Mongolia pictures that we wanted to use on the blog. I promise to keep harassing him. So you are probably wondering what we have been up to for the last little while. I will attempt to fill in that blank space in the next few days and following posts. The first entry is the two birthdays we have celebrated in the last month. Steven (from Arizona) turned the big 6-0! We all went to a hotel where we had a private room with KTV and everything. We had a good meal with some interesting choices (that is the next post), after eating the cake first – apparently this is how the Chinese do it. Afterwards, Steve and I started off the KTV with “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” which got everyone dancing and turned into an impromptu conga line – anything can happen with this bunch, I tell you! We had a great time singing and dancing. Steve had the best time I think, though… We ended the night by going out to dance at a club. When we got home we had a great time trying to remove Karli’s boot – the zipper had gotten stuck. Finally, with the help of John, we removed it.

Crystal celebrated her 28th birthday as well. It was a more quite affair, but still nice. We went across the street to the hotel restaurant called Sea Star. It has a really cool atmosphere and they serve some Western food. Karli and I had BLTs and fries! The bread was sweet (it usually is) but it still tasted somewhat like home. The restaurant treated crystal to a noodle soup with one long noodle for long life. It sounds like a cool tradition. She also got little steam buns in the shape of peaches that had bean paste inside – yum!

As you can see, the birthday cakes are pretty great. I went with Steve to pick up Crystal’s and got to watch them make it. The decoration is all made of whipped cream that they colour and airbrush. It was just amazing to see how quickly they can create flowers and such – what a work of art! I am excited to pick out a great cake for Karli’s birthday next week – I think we are going for chocolate this time!