From Inside Inner Mongolia


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Asia » China » Inner Mongolia » Hohhot
March 11th 2014
Published: April 11th 2014
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China is truly amazing. The more we travel, the bigger the country becomes. One would think it would be the opposite as places to go get checked off the list and put in the book; however, the places that get checked off the list teach about more places that should be on the list while tempting you not to even check that place off the list so you can return again. Inner Mongolia is one of those places that we cannot wait to return and explore some more.

Right when we got off the moderately long train ride, we were blessed by the hug of a great blue sky! Our lungs gasped for clean air in the hopes of clearing out all the Xi'an pollution. It was a glorious feeling! That in itself is enough to get us back there pronto. If you didn't read the earlier blog I wrote about Chinese New Year, well, go read it. Also know that we went to Hohhot to visit Wang Zhen, a friend of Jarek's. They met in France when Jarek was on his mission and Wang Zhen was studying. Jarek was honored to baptize him before they went their separate ways,
We did it!We did it!We did it!

Look at all the jiaozi we made! We got personal lessons so now we are basically Chinese.
but now we were lucky enough to meet up at Wang Zhen's home!

Wang Zhen was so kind during our whole trip and took us all around the city. We started off by going to the Muslim area of the city. It was a big area of the city filled with beautiful buildings that made us feel as if we weren't in China anymore. That led to a bridge over a long, icy river. Children were ice skating all around the river while their grandparents skated on chairs or bikes. The people are wonderful! Hohhot is full of so many beautiful things. Just for a little more information, the province is called Inner Mongolia because it wasn't always part of China. Today, it still maintains its Mongolian culture through food, language, and the people. Mongolian is the first language they use when speaking on public transportation and it is also on every sign. Most times, they use the traditional Mongolian writing which many people cannot read anymore. We have loved being able to observe the mix of cultures throughout this country - it is a huge place with an extremely long history which makes for an adventure full of
Just Dance 4Just Dance 4Just Dance 4

We played for about three hours. We all loved it!
learning no matter where we go!

One unique experience that we had, one which we will probably never experience again unless we return, was going to a North Korean restaurant. As you know, North Koreans aren't usually allowed to leave their country, but a few of the privileged are granted the opportunity to travel to China as students. Those students work at this special North Korean restaurant. I am sad we didn't get any pictures of the place from the inside, but the girls didn't want their pictures taken and we don't want to cause any problems for any of them. When you walk into the restaurant, you can see many North Korean flags hanging above the counter where you order. On the walls hang North Korean propaganda, i.e. pictures of happy families having a nice picnic sitting around flowers and trees and other beautiful scenery. The photoshop work is apparent, but those are the pictures the government uses all around their country to show how happy the people are. Also on the wall hangs a television showing propaganda music videos. They are all Korean songs with more of the same kind of propaganda shown in the pictures. The girls are dressed in the traditional Korean dresses, with their own cute shoes, of course. They were very shy but were willing to talk a little. The whole experience made me think a lot about how all of us are connected by our past, no matter how different the present may be. While North and South Korea are completely different now, they still have the same traditional clothing, eat the same food, and speak the same language. Just something to think about.

One of the days, Wang Zhen kidnapped us and took us to the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra! He bought us tickets and we had no idea! The theatre was stunning and the crowd actually behaved pretty well! If you don't know anything about a Chinese audience, let's just say they see shows in the same way they eat: loud. Haha, I don't mean to be offensive at all, it is just a fact. They take food into the theatre, throw the trash on the ground, take pictures, talk on the phone, talk to each other... you name it. Wang Zhen said that in this particular theatre, however, they are trying to teach more manners, so the ushers were much more strict. I was very happy. And the concert was amazing! They had a beautiful Soprano join them for a few numbers. The first half was all classical music without forgetting a few master works of Tchaikovsky, while the second half was mostly Communist songs. We got to experience true Chinese nationalism first hand! They closed with the song from the Revolution and the conductor got out his Communist hat and directed the rest. The brass section stood up halfway through and threw on their Communist hats, too! I have never experienced so much nationalism!

Wang Zhen also took us bowling and ice skating. Both of which are only different in China because of the mass amounts of people doing them at one time. They have to have population control on the ice rink so that it can actually be fun for people. You buy your ticket and get a couple hours then you have to leave and they let other people in. Since it was Spring Festival, there were loads of people waiting all day to skate. And all of them enjoyed watching the two white people on the ice skate around and around. I had really
Happy New Year!Happy New Year!Happy New Year!

One of my personal favorites.
looked forward to ice skating on this winter trip, and it's a good thing we did it in Hohhot because once my knee popped out in Harbin, all other opportunities to skate were lost! Thank you, Wang Zhen! Oh, and by the way, I also learned that I am terrible at bowling. So many gutter balls. It's not something I'm ashamed of because, well, it's bowling, but it is a little embarrassing when everyone is staring at you to see how the foreigners bowl. The Chinese say you lose face, but I say you build character!

They recently built a new museum in Hohhot that is massive. It covers animal life, plant life, the solar system, the history of Inner Mongolia, and more. We were there for hours and hours and still didn't see the entire thing! Extremely tiring, but very interesting. The most amusing part about the whole place were the animals... the Chinese just can't seem to figure out how to get taxidermy right. The animals were hilarious! Their faces were so deformed and all could be nicknamed "Crazy Eye" due to their bulging, uneven eyeballs. We were dying with laughter! The pictures tell all.

Winter isn't the best time to visit Hohhot, but we were there to celebrate Spring Festival and it was a real success! We got fat on lucky dumplings and snacks! We also got to eat Mongolian food which was incredible. Because of the holiday, we were the only ones in the restaurant so we got to get to know the people who worked there well. They gave us a game of Janga to play while we waited for our food then helped us to win. If the tower fell on your turn, you had to take a drink. We stuck with our water, of course. We also ate at a pizza buffet. It wasn't too shabby. Nothing compares to your Old Chicago pizza, which I have been craving for months, but it was a nice pizza to tide me over. The Chinese also put really weird things on pizza sometimes, which I'm sure you can imagine, and they often use Ketchup as tomato sauce so it isn't the same! But this pizza wasn't bad at all!

Most of the places we went to don't need a lot of explanation outside of the pictures, so take a minute and look through
Now it's our turn!Now it's our turn!Now it's our turn!

Notice Grandma admiring Jarek's beauty :)
the beauty of Hohhot! We had a blast and can't wait to go back and ride a Mongolian Pony!


Additional photos below
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North Korean FoodNorth Korean Food
North Korean Food

The food we ate at the North Korean Restaurant. Sushi! Yum.
SunsetSunset
Sunset

Cranes are unavoidable when viewing a Chinese sunset.
Jarek and the LadiesJarek and the Ladies
Jarek and the Ladies

Many of the women from Wang Zhen's family. This was our first New Year's dinner.
Sparklers!Sparklers!
Sparklers!

We had way too much fun.


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