Day 130: Zhāo Hé, Inner Mongolia Province

This morning, I got up relatively early and headed out on a tour with the hostel to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. I met up with three girls from California who were studying abroad in Beijing, two of which were Chinese-American. 

The ride out to the grasslands was not too bad; however, the whole ride was littered with Mongolian camps where loads of tourists come to see the grasslands. I was so afraid that we were about to be thrown in some huge tourist trap! Luckily, we pulled up to this small Mongolian house with a couple Yurts (small Mongolian style huts) outside for us to sleep in. Surrounding the house was grass hills as far as the eye could see with horses, cows, and sheep grazing on the pastures. It was such an amazing sight. Once we got settled in, we went out for a walk in the pastures. It was much colder out in the grasslands and the wind is constantly strong; it makes me wonder if my clothes can withstand the weather that Mongolia is going to present.

On our walk, we visited an Aobo. Aobos date back to Genghis Khan and they were used to grant the traveler strength and guidance on their journey. We were told to remove a stone and walk around the shrine three times and then place the stone exactly where we picked it up. I hope I put it back in the right place!

Once we got done with the walk, we headed over to a horse ranch and went on a horse ride. Of course the saddles were very small and the stirrups were not let down long enough to fit my height. My legs were stuck in a squatting position, like I was going to the bathroom in a Chinese squat toilet. If you have ever ridden a horse, you know that this presents a big problem. I couldn't squeeze my legs in and ride the horse properly. When we got done with the ride, my knees were killing me and I felt like I had just spent a month in prison.

When we got back to our camp, the family brought out a bow and some arrows. We shot the arrows at this small target. Like the saddle, the bow was also very small, it was impossible for me to aim correctly.

It was hard to hit the target since I couldn't aim. Once I learned where the arrow was going, I nailed it.

We then walked around and picked up dried up cow dung for the fire that night. It's kinda weird that I am paying money to pick up cow dung?! Afterwards we walked over to a hill and watched the sunset.

That night as we gathered around the fire, we gazed up at an amazing view of the stars. These pictures are real photos, not from the Internet.