Aug 8, 2002: (Day 6)

We reached the city of Hohhot early in the morning around 7 am. Sr. Cui Caixia (Rubia) warmly received us at the train station. We headed straight to the transit hotel for a shower and breakfast. Those of us who flew from Beijing last night stayed at this hotel. We regrouped in the morning and had a brunch together. 

As we were starting our journey to the Grasslands, we lightly repacked ourselves for the overnight adventure & left the baggage at Phoenix Hotel to catch up later. Phoenix is the only hotel in all of China with high speed internet connections in each room. We thanked our tour managers in China for putting us in the finest hotels all along our tour in China.

The city of HuHeHote, also written as Hohhot is the capital of Inner Mongolia and home to 1.2 Million people with 15 Universities. July to September is the best season for touring. Inner Mongolia snows heavily in winter. Muslims and Mongols can have two children because of their minority status.

This is the home of legendary Timur Lane, a.k.a. Chengiz Khan. There are 30,000 Muslims living in this city with 10 mosques. Most of the people living in this city are Mongols. Although the Mongols are only 25% of the population but their representation in the local government is dominant. Most of them are farmers. Mongols living outside the city of Hohhot continue their age old tradition of nomadic life style. They do not live in homes per se but camp out as they travel.

After a sumptuous brunch, we shopped for some snack supplies on the Muslim street, met local Muslims of the area before heading to the Grasslands. We planned to take advantage of daylight to enjoy the mountainous scenic drive to the Grasslands and also to reach there before the sunset.

The grasslands are about 140 km away from the city of Hohhot. The drive is mountainous and very scenic. This is the ancient home of Mongols. Unlike anywhere in China, particularly the large cities, the people here can have as many children. There is literally no civilization here except the tourist area with some Yurts and a stadium for local sport of wrestling and horse riding.

Mongolian Wrestling : Two men trying to knock each other down simply with sheer strength. Boxing, Kicking is not allowed in this Mongolian style of wrestling. Both contestants hold on to each other and try to get the other down. The champion continues to challenge the village and remains the sole Champion until defeated. 

Mongolian Horse Racing : Men of all ages compete in the traditional Mongolian horse racing. The horses are untamed and wildly beautiful. The riders do not wear any special gear for riding but simply hop on the horses and race for fun. The horses do not wear any saddles either but are colorfully decorated. There is no betting involved in these races.

Mongolian Kids : Everywhere we went we had fun meeting and talking to people. Very few people speak English but yet we always enjoyed talking to folks. 

Mongolian Family : We traveled quite remote to visit a traditional Mongolian family who lives miles and lives away from the sparsely populated village of Grasslands. This particularly family lives on a 200 acre large lot and owns a sizeable live stock which is their primary source of living. This family opened their heart and home for us. They prepared tea and snacks and laid everything out before we reached there. In spite of having servants in their home, the lady of the house served us herself. The tea was treated with home grown cow milk. They also make home made cheese from cow milk, flour sticks, etc.

The weather up in the mountain grasslands goes down all the way to (-) 40F during winters. They have developed a uniquely indigenously science to warm their homes and it works. They burn wood in an underground large size tub outside their house and capture the heat. This captured heat then travels through a duct to the bedrooms. The heat gathered in the room then is let out via a small window on the ceiling.

Mongolian Folk Songs : Mongolian communities occasionally enjoy themselves with their cultural & traditional folk songs. These ceremonies are generally held in the evenings in the open-air under a star lit sky in a beautiful serene environment. 

Yurt Stay : There are two different types of Yurts people use to live in the Mongolian region. Most common are the traditional yurts and for tourists, they have built some modern ones. The primary difference between traditional and modern yurts is the material used in building them and a bathroom or lack there of. The residents of traditional yurts have an option to use common public bathrooms or take a walk in the grasslands and the modern yurt residents use the built-in bathrooms within the yurt. Regrettably, the modern yurts do not have any proper drainage system and hence the bathrooms rather stink. The traditional yurts are very comfortable and without smell but without bathrooms and the modern ones are equally comfortable and with an attached bathroom but with smell. 

Our entire group preferred to stay in the modern Yurt except Mukarram & Shakeel, who opted for a traditional Yurt with no bathrooms! The following morning everyone who stayed in the modern Yurts had their own interesting story and experiences. It was rather hilarious to see all of us, the Yankees thoroughly used to the American Standard bathroom fixtures with proper drainage and ventilation systems experiencing the bottled up so-called pot holes with a toilet seat out there in almost no-man's land in Grasslands in China! But again, that's the fun of experiencing life from others' perspective.