Blogs from Inner Mongolia, China, Asia

Our stop in Tongliao lasted a bit longer than we planned or wished. On our first rest day a nasty cold started to sweep over our team. We tried to quarantine ourselves from one another but our efforts likely only prolonged the amount of time it took all of us to get properly snotty. We likely contracted the illness out on the road but the filthy air in the city was not helping, nor was the hotel's air conditioner. Given the heat and humidity, the aircon was the only option for maintaining comfort in our room, but something just never feels right about those machines, especially in old hotels where the filters have likely gone years without service. Looking around, it seemed that quite a few people were similarly ill. Our friend and college housemate ... read more

Zhangjiakou- La Segundo Muralla China-26 Junio- Dia 6 Sunrise woke us up at 5am. I decided to walk through a small section of the great wall and to my surprise I started to notice that some of the bricks had holes and ledges, making them surprisingly amazing to grab. Immediately I ran back the the campsite to grab my pair of climbing shoes. And we'll let's just say I spend some time climbing after that. Since the smoke was still around, affecting the views, we decided to move to a new location. We where going to look for the beautiful blue sky's which we missed dearly. A couple of buses took us all the way to Zhangjiakou. We arrived at dark and went to look for something good to eat for dinner. After a couple of ... read more

Geo: 40.82, 111.64BACKDATED. Posted 29th Jan 2017.Why Hohhot?On our pre trip we flew threw Guangzhou and a plane full of people where traveling to Hohhot. We looked at each other and said, “We have to go there. Hohhot.” We had no idea where in China it was, but why not.Four and a half years later we had to opportunity to finally go. April wasn't the best time of the year to travel there but on the other hand there would not be many tourists.Flight was delayed and we arrived at 9pm. We were collected by our guide and ate Hohhot Hotpot with lots of lamb. It was a Friday night and it was very quiet at 10:30pm. I asked why?He replied, “Its cold and the Mongol people wake up early so everyone is home early and ... read more

If you ever find yourself in the Beijing area and you are looking for a place to get away from it all, head to Inner-Mongolia to enjoy stunning scenery, huge open space, tranquility and good food. In October last year the English training school I work for organized a relaxing 3-day get-away for the staff (teachers and course consultants) in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. I must admit I wasn’t too thrilled about the long drive to get to Wulan Butong (8 hours) but it quickly became obvious we’d be driving through beautiful scenery. We first passed picturesque mountains (with the Great Wall on top!) and then we drove by little hamlets surrounded by sunflowers everywhere. Mountains then turned into rolling hills with herds of cows and sheep lazily grazing, and eventually we reached the grassland ... read more

Geo: 49.5846, 117.434Erguns Hulun Lake - Manzhouli.Sino Russian Mongolia culture, Fairytale castle town, Doll Square.The day wasn't off to a great start when the scooter with a trailer in front of us would start at the tole booth. So the boys got out of the bus and gave him a push start. The driver was happy and then when he turned around to see western men pushing him he started laughing and then kept turning around and waving and laughing. It was really very funny. We thought he was going to end u... read more