oh also, i'll tell you guys about my weekend of travelling w/ Liz. first we flew to hohhot, inner mongolia. we had been excited to find that the day of our arrival was the last day of naadam, a mongolian holiday that Lonely Planet said was some kind of an amazing experience. unfortunately, on our arrival, we asked hotel workers, waiters, etc, where we could go for the festivities, and found that none of them seemed to know what we were talking about. still confident that the numerous internet sites we had checked were correct, we headed off for the racetrack, which LP said was the spot where mongolian tribes from all over gathered to engage in horse racing, archery, etc competitions for the holiday. but when we got there, it was totally empty save two horses and a few men who tried to get us to pay 15 kuai to ride the horses. we declines, and dejectedly walked around the city for the rest of the day. we did find a huge, rickety ferris wheel on which we had a particularly nerve-wracking ride, though.
the next day we headed to the grasslands, where many travel agencies have tours that let you ride horses, eat a mongolian meal, and sleep in a yurt, though we didn't do the last part because we didn't have time to stay the night. the horse riding was pretty damn scary for us novice riders, and trotting for two hours left me with a bunch of bruises on my legs and soreness in pretty much my entire body.
that night we took a train to datong, on which we spent the entire time avoiding the blood dripping from the nose of the girl across from us (she leaned over so it could drip onto the floor. nice) and being peed on by the baby whose schlong was pointed straight at us (chinese babies clothes have a slit in the crotchal area during their toilet training period, and they don't wear diapers.
in datong we check out the buddhist caves with an incredible number of buddhas carved into its walls. as we left, an immense downpour began, which had luckily cleared by the time we got off the bus. from datong we took a bus to wutaishan, passing the hanging temple on the way. unfortunately, the clever chinese tourism industry put a big wall on the road across from the temple, so we weren't able to get much of a view.
wutaishan, the only place i hadn't been before, was amazingly beautiful. picture huge grass-covered mountains with forests of evergreen trees. i kept thinking i was going to see maria from the sound of music. i didn't though, just a bunch of cows. in taihuai, the village nestled in a valley of the mountains, we checked out a bunch of the endless temples in the area. these were cool, though really i could go without seeing temples for a long, long time.
we spent the entire last day of our journey getting back to beijing. it was my first experience on a hard-seater, hopefully something i will never never have to do again. we spent the ten hour journey playing cards and looking out the window, which we were lucky enough to procure after 2 hours. at the end of the trip, we were completely covered in soot. and incredibly sweaty and tired. it was great to get back to the apt and go to sleep in a bed i was familiar with.
the next day we headed to the grasslands, where many travel agencies have tours that let you ride horses, eat a mongolian meal, and sleep in a yurt, though we didn't do the last part because we didn't have time to stay the night. the horse riding was pretty damn scary for us novice riders, and trotting for two hours left me with a bunch of bruises on my legs and soreness in pretty much my entire body.
that night we took a train to datong, on which we spent the entire time avoiding the blood dripping from the nose of the girl across from us (she leaned over so it could drip onto the floor. nice) and being peed on by the baby whose schlong was pointed straight at us (chinese babies clothes have a slit in the crotchal area during their toilet training period, and they don't wear diapers.
in datong we check out the buddhist caves with an incredible number of buddhas carved into its walls. as we left, an immense downpour began, which had luckily cleared by the time we got off the bus. from datong we took a bus to wutaishan, passing the hanging temple on the way. unfortunately, the clever chinese tourism industry put a big wall on the road across from the temple, so we weren't able to get much of a view.
wutaishan, the only place i hadn't been before, was amazingly beautiful. picture huge grass-covered mountains with forests of evergreen trees. i kept thinking i was going to see maria from the sound of music. i didn't though, just a bunch of cows. in taihuai, the village nestled in a valley of the mountains, we checked out a bunch of the endless temples in the area. these were cool, though really i could go without seeing temples for a long, long time.
we spent the entire last day of our journey getting back to beijing. it was my first experience on a hard-seater, hopefully something i will never never have to do again. we spent the ten hour journey playing cards and looking out the window, which we were lucky enough to procure after 2 hours. at the end of the trip, we were completely covered in soot. and incredibly sweaty and tired. it was great to get back to the apt and go to sleep in a bed i was familiar with.
posted by Amanda at 10:37 PM
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