Blogs from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, Asia

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 ... read more

Tuesday, October 1 - Thursday, October 3 Inner Mongolia, China It has been a wild, wild whirlwind of a couple of weeks! As we determined, Rachael and I hit 8 cities in 12 days, and spent most of those days trekking around on foot. It was a fast-paced, adventuresome vacation, and both of us had brand new experiences of note. The first of these experiences was Inner Mongolia. To summarize our time in Inner Mongolia, it's a good thing that that is how we got started, because the only way for the rest of the trip to go was up! Hohhot is described as being an, "up and coming city," which, in reality, means it is a run-down ghost town with a lot of construction going on. There is absolutely NOTHING to do in that city. ... read more

Temperatura minima -27 gradi, vediamo la massima: -12. Ottimo, proprio le condizioni ideali per il mio esperimento di sadismo climatico！Il luogo prescelto e' la non lontana provincia della Mongolia Interna, quella parte del territorio di origine del popolo di Genghis Khan che si trova attualmente sotto il controllo del grande impero cinese; la sua lugubre capitale porta l'invitante nome di Hohhot, che tradotto in inglese somiglia ad un sarcastico "cosi' caldo", fatto per cui sono stato ripetutamente preso in giro nei giorni precedenti la mia partenza. Ad appena una notte di viaggio in treno dalla tiepida Beijing (-10 gradi), la citta' si rivela, secondo le attese, tremendamente fredda e mi accoglie con una sottile coltre nevosa istantaneamente trasformatasi in una micidiale lastra di ghiaccio; trovo allora prontamente rifugio in una calda guest-house che, in questo period ... read more

Nei Mongol We had an entire week off the first week of October for National Day. China’s equivalent to July 4th. 8 of the 10 teachers including myself traveled to Inner Mongolia; a present day Chinese province but historically Mongolia. The Mongolian heritage had not been lost. Every sign was in Mongolian and pictures of Genghis Khan filled every family restaurant and convenient store. The food was a carnivores dream. Any and every kind meat seasoned over open flames. One teacher ordered leg of lamb and literally got the whole leg, picture a 5 lb. 18 inch chicken wing. We stayed at a hostel filled with all sorts of international kids; German, Polish, Dutch, French, Spanish, English, and Swiss. Most were exchange students traveling during the break from school. While I’m not hip to sharing a ... read more

Right, so Inner Mongolia I don't feel the need to say much about other than it was amazing.I went on an epic run while we were there. Long story short I wanted to climb this mountain which didn't look to be that far away, but it was. After running in and around the hills, and a brutal climb I returned three and a half hours later refreshed. The view was incredible. We slept in a tent that night which was rather cold, but we survived. We only made a short trip there but came back with some great stories and brilliant pictures. Now enjoy the many many pictures. ... read more