内 蒙古 - Inner Mongolia- day 3

Day 3

The third day in Inner Mongolia included another early wake up call and another long morning drive. From somewhere near the desert, we drove another 5 or so hours to the grasslands.

We were greeted at the grasslands with a ceremonial sip of 白酒 (chinese rice liquor) and a mongolian lunch. At some point during lunch, the manager of the tour company that took us around came to talk to us about our afternoon activities. First there would be horseback riding, in which you could choose 1-6 locations in which to visit. He listed the locations for us: 1.grasslands 2.lake 3.Mongolian family 4.fields of tall grass 5.mountain path 6.prayer temple. The more sites you chose, the more you paid. After the horse back riding, they would offer a display of horse racing and Mongolian wrestling. Dinner was at 7:30pm, and afterwards, there would be a bonfire and Mongolian dancing.

After finishing lunch, we headed to a large field with numerous horses, and chose our tour. Of course we chose the 6 route tour, because we wanted to see all that there was to see, and it only cost 300元 which is about $40-$50. After paying, we were pushed onto horses and herded out to the grasslands. As we were riding, we passed an area where the grass was a wee bit taller than what we had been riding in. Someone joked that this must be the fields of tall grass: it was. But it got much better. The "lake" was a small, dried up river bend, the Mongolian family was a small store, the prayer temple was a small pile of rocks, and there was no mountain in sight. They basically made the descriptions up to get us to pay more money. It was somewhat disappointing; nonetheless it was fun to ride the horses, no matter how much our butts hurt afterward.

Because we took the longest tour, we got back just in time for the horse races and wrestling to start. It was beginning to get a little chilly (maybe around 40˚F), so we bundled up and went out to the field. We stood out there in the cold for about a half hour, watching the sun sink lower and lower, and just as the sky turned a brilliant orange, 4 or 5 horses charged at us, their riders racing the 100 yards toward us. Although it was short, and not much of a race, it was a beautiful sight to see. The Mongolian wrestling was of the same nature. It started off with 4 men, 2 on 2, and the point was to get the opponents back on the ground. They finished in about 30 seconds, and the two winners paired up. That match lasted no longer than a minute and our entertainment for the night was over.

Dinner that night was mostly the same as any other meal, except that during the course of the meal, they paraded a roasted goat back and forth in the dinning room. Then, they placed a blue sash over its eyes and paraded it around some more. We are still unsure as to the significance of that, but it was interesting all the same. They had live singers throughout the meal, and we happened to have a birthday in the group (Emma turned 21), so we got them to sing her "Happy Birthday" in both English and Chinese.

After dinner, we headed outside to the "bonfire", which happened to be a small pit. Music played, and we jumped around the fire, trying to keep warm. I didn see any traditional Mongolian dancing, but it was fun to dance around, and it was good to keep warm.

Eventually we retired to our yurt. It was a little warmer in there, but not by much. By the time we went to bed it was probably more like freezing temperatures. We had 8 people in our yurt, so it was tight, but the body warmth helped a little, and we settled into a cold, uncomfortable, but much needed sleep.

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