This is the nearest grassland to Hohhot and the earliest grassland to have been developed for tourists in Inner Mongolia. It is 1,000 square kilometers (400 square miles) and at an altitude of 1,700 meters (5,600 feet).
This plateau grassland has a chain of hills around it. In the Mongolian language, Xilamuren means “yellow water”. Unfortunately, tourism and changing weather patterns is changing the grasslands. There are other grasslands but they are farther away.
This was a memorable part of our trip. We enjoyed a traditional welcome ceremony where we were handed a blue scarf and given a cup of baiju.
We stayed in another yurt, though we know it is not traditional.
This is a traditional yurt.
We drank kumiss which is a fermented drink made from animal milk. This one was from camel milk. It was very delicious and smooth.
In Mongolia, there are the Three Games of Men: “Horse Racing”, “Wrestling” and “Archery”. We saw a show that gave the history of Mongolian people and demonstrated these three games. Mongolians are known for their horse riding capabilities and ability to shift sides and other tricks. They told the story of tribes and eventually being unified into one Mongol group.
The horses even played dead on command. This rider went off one side and went under the horse to go back up the other side. These are actual Mongolian ethnic people.
Aobao (敖包)
The aobao is the Mongolian stone piles or heaps for worship. Local people always sacrifice food goods and alcohol to the gods at the Aobao to pray for good weather, harvest and fortune.
At night we celebrated at a feast. We wore Mongolian dress and were served some really great food while being entertained.
The main dish was roast lamb. They had three lambs brought out and carved to be served. The winner of the wrestling competition.
We went horse riding to a herdsmen’s home through the grassland.
After a plan for Tibet fell through due to covid, I went to one of my other options of inner Mongolia.
The cat immediately sat on the area of inner Mongolia to distract me from going.
In Inner Mongolia, the names of several cities end with the word hot. In ancient times, hot referred to settlements of the nomadic peoples. With the process of urbanization, hot has come to mean city now. Hoh in Mongolian means blue.
We flew into Hohhot and rented a car after staying the night at the shangri-la. The hotel was beautiful. I went for a run in the nearby park.
Women exercising in the park. Mongolian milk tea which was pretty delicious.
We drove to the Ulanhada volcano cluster and stayed at a nearby yurt. We are in the grasslandswhich aredotted with herds of sheep and horses, and looked forward to living like a nomad with an overnight stay in a Mongolian yurt.
Container huts on the grasslands behind the yurts. Inside the yurt. That macrame hanging reminds me of the 70’s.
Volcano crater #3 is the one with stairs to go up. You can go into the crater. We walked the 0.6 km along the top of the rim and down one side you can see where companies came in to take the volcanic rock for building projects. Along that side people dressed in space man costumes to pretend they are from Mars.
#5 volcano crater had much loose rock and steep sides. It was a climb and a scramble getting down. There is a beautiful view all around.
We could see the #4 crater from the top. It has been dug up for building material and in not as good a condition.
Back at the yurt we dressed in Mongolian dress.
Dinner was amazing. Fresh greens from their garden, Mongolian pancake, yak cheese and tofu.
As the summer was approaching we started making plans for travel. Beijing and Tibet were both places I wanted to go. Beijing was free to travel to but had cases from time to time until now. Tibet was just now opening for travel. And then….
There was a covid case in the Liwan district where there are many elderly who like to get together for activities and dim sum on a daily basis. Add to that relaxing of mask wearing and people who would not get vaccinated, and the one case became dozens. It really bothered me that Chinese people would not get the vaccine in the numbers that foreigners were. They felt safe as there were no cases and those that came in from abroad were Chinese nationals coming home who were quarantined. For a culture that embraced masks and was scared of the virus, I couldn’t fathom the lack of wont for the vaccine.
This started rounds of mass testing in two districts where there were cases. That expanded eventually to every district where multiple tests were required within a week.
As cases increased our finals were canceled which made it difficult to keep student attention as no more grades were to be collected. We thought it possible school would just cancel then but it didn’t.
You could see tents set up every half block and each apartment complex were assigned to a specific site. I was tested twice in a week despite being vaccinated. Yes, I know I could still carry the virus despite being vaccinated but really energy should be put into mass vaccinations.
The health code app we used to travel was now being used to enter everywhere including transportation. Now opening the app brought dread hoping the green code did not turn yellow overnight. That happens when you were in an area where an infected person was found. It required two more tests with 72 hours. Unfortunately that happened to colleagues who weren’t sure exactly where or with who they came in contact.
Jack and I went to a couple five star hotels over the weekend to have some sense of vacation, staying at the Sofitel first. A Russian restaurant I like is just around the corner and the bathtub was marvelous.
The next day we checked into the Grand Hyatt. I’m glad we enjoyed the pool and the executive lounge before they closed it. All pools and lounges were ordered closed across the city.
We finished out that next week of school. I still reviewed with the 9th graders as next year builds on that material. The IB bio kids had plenty to do as I have them for two years. We made plans to still have another week of school but at the end of the weekend was the announcement that students were done and teachers were to report to school Monday and Tuesday. A strange and abrupt end to the school year. Students at least received yearbooks but the awards assembly was virtual and the field day canceled.
Our social breakfast with social distancing.
In most districts all dining is suspended and food can only be ordered takeaway. In my district of Tianhe, dine in is still possible but at 50% capacity.
We could still walk around parks and mountains.
Huolu mountain
I had planned on going to Shenzhen to the beach as a last minute weekend holiday. Unfortunately, that city decided not to allow people coming from Guangzhou to go to the beach. Understandable but disappointing.
Instead we went to a nearby lake as a group. The village rents the spaces to people who want to spend an afternoon. It was a fun trip and I was able to spend time with friends from other schools I have not seen in awhile.
Even a huge downpour couldn’t dampen spirits. It was such a fun and relaxing day.
Some people who test positive are kept in hospitals and those that are contact traced are held elsewhere. There are some construction workers who needed to be quarantined and they are being held near construction sites.
I’m still going to try to go to Beijing. I also have two leadership classes at the end of the month. We will see what July brings…
A farmhouse. This is actually being used as a barn. I should have snapped the picture when the goats were outside!
After a great day on Saturday of watching Godzilla vs. Kong, eating unbelievable fish, and then enjoying a massage, Jack and I planned our next day.
We ate dim sum with friends and I colored hard boiled eggs to give to them.
After dim sum, we went to check out the alpaca Cafe but first found the comic city at the entrance to the metro.
The alpaca Cafe was pretty fun. It was an open air room between buildings with a few smaller covered rooms for the cats, pigs, and bunnies. It was fun to see children excited about the animals.
This Cafe across the alley has Shiba Inu dogs. I’m surprised that there are dog cafes. This other cafe across the alley has an alpaca as well but it seems to just make some extra money.
We traveled to haizhu district to find the DragonBoat training center. We met a few members at a going away party for my friend Maiko who was headed back to Japan. We learned how to paddle correctly which is much like what you do stand up paddle boarding. If you do it wrong then your arm hurts and you Ajay get schooled. We did drills including two at a time paddling the whole boat. It was quite the workout.
The village deals in bolts of fabric and also small scale sewing of clothing.
The old villages have shorter buildings with evidence of older brick and styling. They look forward to development as they receive multiple apartments for an income.
I had tried going there the week before by myself but was not able to follow the directions to get there without being late. Instead of just going home I walked around haizhu lake instead.
This year I’m planning on taking a small spring break trip to Huangshan (Yellow mountains) but the beginning was spent with friends in Guangzhou. We can’t leave China yet.
I met Elaine and my friends from school Anne and Trixie at the sports center. I had told them about the fashion hub mall underneath the sports center so we were going to spend the afternoon enjoying it. You can go to this mall and spend all day and still not see everything. From entertainment, games, shopping, restaurants, a real arctic town, and crafts including pottery.
First up is taking pictures at a photo booth.
Massage chairs came in handy. After running the day before and rowing dragon boats, it was timely.
There were plenty of photo ops depicting days past in China. You can actually rent traditional clothes to take pictures in the mall.
Of course we should buy cotton candy to share.
I’ve always wanted to try one of these karaoke pods. It is really made for two but we made it work. Directions were not in English so took us some time to figure out how to find songs.
We were entertained with kids playing games.
We did some shopping including my favorite Japanese store that has great collectibles. From there we went to another mall connected through an underground passageway.
We passed through that mall to get to the poutine restaurant on the street behind. Coronaritas and French fries with toppings was an great late lunch.
From there we went to the pig Cafe I have been at previously. It was a lot of fun with more people.
At the nearby upscale mall we went to the book store. There are items from around the world including the British Museum. I liked this lucky cat which is a riff on the Chinese lucky cat. This one had its middle finger up.
There are always interesting things to see at this mall. These bicycles are mostly art.
This is an actual art installation called Flow. It was fun to watch how people use it flowing in and out as well as the flow of lights.
The weekend before I completed a 21 km walk around Guangzhou with a friend and met some new ones. I would rather run that distance than walk it!
As luck would have it, my Google Pixel stopped functioning correctly during Chinese New Year. I was able to buy a Xiaomi phone that is actually quite wonderful but apps take their time to figure things out when you are in a foreign country. Even though I could upload to WordPress initially, the last week gave me problems. Needless to say this post should have been published well over a week ago.
I have been to some of the places I went to on this tour before but was not aware of the history. Cycle Canton had this tour during Chinese New Year that explored more than I have seen before.
We visited the Huangpu Ancient Port, which was the entry point to Imperial China for all foreign traders. Just five families controlled the movement of goods in and out. The Emperor was never involved directly and the families were much like a cartel. The wharf and village is 1000 years old. They exported tea, porcelain, and silk. Ships had to dock in Macao first then be granted privilege to come to this port. The trade was called the Canton system. While they were docked here they fixed boats and would go from here on the Pearl River further in to Guangzhou on bamboo boats to go to 13factories. The cartel of 5 families held merchandise in a series of buildings on Shamian Island much like a warehouse. They would bring the goods then from there in Xiguan to Huangpu port to load onto the ships.
The three pillars of Guangzhou are the pagodas that are scattered in the area. I have visited two of them and actually ran my marathon around the third. These acted as lighthouses and markers to travelers. Before the big buildings, they were the landmarks you could see.
We then crossed on the ferry to Changzhou island, and visited a few historic sights.
One site was a hidden fortress Bei hu gang. This fortress has positions to shoot cannons. This fortress was used during the Opium Wars. They had canons and places for infantry and storage.
Officer courtyard.
We toured the Huangpu Military Academy, which has great architecture. In 1911, Sun Yat Sen with others overthrew the Qing Dynasty. The newly named PRC though was only formed in the south. In 1921 they built a military school to help overthrow warlords in the North and learn military techniques. Chiang Kai Shek was leader of the school. In 1926 there was no more coordination between the nationalists and communists in China which led to the cultural revolution later when the communists took control.
One of two guard houses on each side of the gate facing the river. This is one of China’s navy ships in the river. Officer desks. Courtyard for muster. Military propaganda for sale outside the military museum. We were surprised that material referencing Taiwan was being sold. Other items were the Kuomintang found by Sun Yat Sen.
We tested our biking skills weaving through urban villages. The buildings are called handshake buildings as you can be at your front door and shake hands with the person across from you. They were built for migrant workers. The farmers were much richer and lived in larger houses.
We also biked along a canal some call the ‘Venice of Guangzhou’. I have never been to Venice but am sure it is more than this.
We stopped for a lunch at a local restaurant that was next to the farms and fields of the very rural part of the island. Unfortunately metro lines are being added here so hard to decide what will be the future. There will be green spaces to bring visitors but this will most certainly change.
This is a photo of someone’s home taken from the second floor of the restaurant.
Ling family ancestral hall
We continued cycling through fields, greenways and more urban villages to visit the first foreign graveyard of China.
Here is the final resting place of many foreign diplomats, traders and sailors, including the first US Minister to China, who has been buried here since the late 1700’s. Many took multiple voyages back and forth, and it was noted that some died on the passages.
We also climbed a very large number of steps up a big hill to get a good view of the river.
This historically pivotal location was instrumental in trade and during war. We ended the tour on the banks of the Pearl River, overlooking a view of central Guangzhou, and drinking a beer at the local village. An epic tour, exploring the rural fringes of the city that is still greatly rural, at least for now.
Cycle Canton also had another tour last weekend. Fei Gallery was created when a land developer had to put in a parking space but resented it. So he used half of the space for an art gallery and also a permanent installation. Outside the building a three sided surround was built with windows taken from old Hutong houses torn down from up north. He also collected artifacts to put in the windows. The locals pointed out that in the South they use different household items so he asked them to donate representative items.
I made a quick video walking around. I thought you could see through to the other side but there is indeed a mirror inside the windows.
Looking down from the second floor you can see PVC tubes that allowed you to see to the other side of the window wall where a wet market used to be.
Inside the building is art displays and a cafe.
A diorama made inside of an old TV.
We then cycled through the streets of Dongshankou. This is a very old part of the city with many beautiful buildings of mostly colonial style as foreigners chose to live here and build missionaries and schools.
The Triple Rooster is an art gallery and a cafe. I chose to drink coconut coffee which had large blocks and shavings of fresh coconut in the coffee.
Mao Tse-tung lived up here in the second floor of this building.
The Baptist church is also found here and which is unchanged from when it was built. It also has a balcony inside facing the pulpit for members or a choir. It is still currently in use today.
More images of riding around Dongshankou.
We ended at Kui Yuan gallery that is next door to wherethe Communist party headquarters was founded. There was some great art by Guangzhou artists. The floors are original and show the tile work of the day.
I took a tour with Cycle Canton on Saturday. This area used to be called Canton before it was named Guangzhou. The old part of the city was enclosed in an ancient wall and the area to the west was called Xigua. Xi means west in Mandarin. The city wall is in blue around the Canton area in yellow. The red area to the left is Xigua.
It was noted that affluent families in the enclosed city would want their young men to marry a woman from Xigua for the best match possible. Xigua was where the merchants lived and where trading would happen. It was one of the first ports that allowed international trading in Guangzhou.
Opera house.
Xigua is also where Bruce Lee’s family ancestral home is located. Though he was born elsewhere and lived elsewhere, his father is from here and therefore where the family is officially registered.
A main street in Xiguan area.
There is also a Lion Dance museum. The Lion dance is traditional during the Chinese New Year. I have posted it before and will most likely post another next week as well!
The Lion costume is worn by two people: one at the front and one in the back. They do some really incredible acrobatics sometimes running around like a lion or standing tall with one person on another’s shoulders in the costume.
We toured some back streets of Xiguan that is where merchants use to be. Now there are sections for every market you can find here: Dried goods market, fruit and vegetable market…..pretty much a market for anything that you need…..
This is an example of hair threading. They use criss crossed pieces of thread to take the fine hair and literally yank them out of the follicle.
From here we continued along the back streets to Shamian Island. After the British won the second opium war (fought over trade issues), they laid claim to this part as a port for trade. The British controlled 80% of the island while France controlled 20%. You can see the difference on the architecture here. This was the first International port.
Many of these buildings show colonial architecture.
This church is on the French side of the island.
From here we left to go to the riverside to take the ferry across to the other side in Haizhu. The side of the rivers is called the bund.
This is the British custom house and the first clock tower in the area.
In Haizhu we visited the Haizhuang Buddhist temple that i did not know existed. As with all temples it was very serene and beautiful. At the entrance of the temple, there is what looks like a swastika. It’s arms are pointed a different direction. The symbol in Buddhism denotes plurality, abundance, prosperity, and long life. The Nazi’s took the symbol and turned the arms clockwise as their national symbol.
In the old part of Haizhu we wandered the streets, weaving through the alleys. This building was a place built for a young man who was to marry someone chosen by his family, but he was in love with another. he took some of the family money with him and built a beautiful house with a courtyard where they married and lived.
The woodwork is amazing.
The top of the mansion from a distance. The building in front is the entrance to the courtyard.
In many of the old buildings, there are three layers of doors. The inner one is shown closed in this picture. The second door looks like a gate with bars. It is pulled across to let air flow in but keep people out (cats of course would love to sleep on the bars). Unfortunately, everyone could see in and what was going on in the house. The last set of doors was like saloon doors where people could not see what was going on inside but the second doors could still be used for ventilation.
Biking back along the south side of the river.
Cycling through the Nanhuaxi village where there are many former opium dens, outdoor markets, and ancient villas and ancestral halls..
Friends who joined on the tour stayed at my place at night to celebrate one of their birthday’s. We ate Indian and cupcakes in my apartment before going out to Hooley’s to watch some members of school who are in the band Gigantic.
Mike and Amber!Morgana, myself, Jack, and Amber in the background.
Jack and I at the celebration.
It was a glow party, so plenty of glow in the dark items.
I rarely go out like that and usually only one big night a year. It was fun to be with friends on a night out.
Not too far from my school in Science City is this beautiful park full of plum trees. They are blooming now with white or pink flowers. Because of the beautiful trees, so many people were there and Jack and I decided only to go if we could find a parking space. We both hate crowds.
But once there the photobombing opportunity made it worth it!
Photo bombing a live performance was not the original goal. You could hear singing everywhere and Jack explained that many of them were live streaming. They have some followers who will send them money but if they do something special they can sometimes get more. So I decided to photobomb them for those watching. I then took a picture of what I saw. Meanwhile Jack took pictures of me.
Taking a picture of their camera.And another…Then the one singer realized what I was doing! So funny!!!! They didn’t ask me to sing though which is a good thing…This was my picture from behind the singers.
Beautiful flowers were everywhere. The plum trees were in full bloom and the bees were buzzing. It was so fragrant just walking through the park.
Jack.Lots of people everywhere, talking and enjoying the day. Many brought lunch, some played games….It is a nice free place to enjoy nature and be outside.I had wondered if there were bee hives here and there were at one end of the park. The darker honey is made from the summer pollen and the lighter from the winter pollen. I purchased some of the lighter honey as I had already purchased the darker from a farmers market a few months ago.Bees busy making honey from the winter pollen (lighter in color and thicker honey)This honey is the honey made from the summer pollen.
Across from the trees are a large space for food stalls. I was thirsty so we went in search of something to drink. In Chinese:
Wǒ kěle. Wǒ xiǎng hē guǒzhī. I am thirsty. I want to drink juice.
Sugar cane juice which was sweet but not as sweet as I thought it would be. It was delicious.This bread was yummy. It is baked in a very hot oven that makes a well.This dessert is frozen with liquid nitrogen making it very cold and you can blow clouds with your breath.The food and fresh produce is amazing as it is everywhere here in China.
Running with visually impaired individuals
On Sunday four of us from school learned how to run as a running guide with visually impaired individuals. It was a great day and the gentleman Bin that I led spoke some English and I spoke some Chinese as well.
We held this rigid elastic band and used it to guide. Pulling up means to step up. Pulling down means to step down. Pulling left is to go left while pushing my right elbow against him means to go right. Pulling back means to stop or slow down. Communication is key to be at the right pace and it was a lot of fun.
Bin and I holding the band that we run with.
Late that day I went to Jack’s apartment in Favorview where we drank coffee at the clubhouse. There was a book club meeting there. People are the same all over. I loved how they brought snacks and drinks (they drank tea though in my book club it is often wine). They even had gifts for each other. But mostly they talked about the book while mostly just talking and learning about each other. We do the same as well. They were lovely to watch and notice the care of one another. I can’t wait for my book club meeting next week!
After arriving back from Shanghai I spent more time with Jack. He had been so sweet and lovely. He gave me a great silk floral arrangement and organic perfume oil for my birthday.
I went to lunches with my friend Elaine. She always finds great food to try. This was a black tea with whipped cream and pecans. It was delicious.
Jack surprised me with plans to go to a village north of the city called Xitou. We had already made plans to go to my friends Tricia and Dan’s for new years eve get together in Huadu so went on a road trip a night early.
Ww ate at a place in Xitou village. They had rice wine that has bees soaking in it. It is to help with certain medical conditions. I didn’t try it but very curious….
The food was amazing. The soup (tang) was made with many different kinds of mushrooms. It was very tasty soup. The sweet potatoes had the best sauce ever.
The mountains in Xitou were beautiful.
The village was also beautiful. Some old buildings are original. Many new places have been erected for others to come from the city to stay and is growing as a tourist destination.
We also had congee and rice roll with egg the next morning in the village.
Then we took a hike to the next village.
We took a wrong road and saw this bird. It is a wild bird that stays there and is hand fed. He was fascinating. The owner of the property brought it a cooked potato to feed the bird.
There is actually a place to charge your phone and make a call in the middle of the bamboo forest. This is solar powered.
In the other village they grow Camellia flowers for tea. It is also being developed for tourism.
Meat drying outside.
After the hike we walked in the village to look at what they are selling.
Tofu dessert and sesame seed dessert. Warm and delicious.
Lunch was amazing at another village. The sour cabbage dish was delightful.
View from the restaurant.
We arrived at my friend’s. There we played games, ate pizza and dips, and watched movies and shows until the new year. With the pandemic, there are no formal ball drop celebrations and in China there are some parties. Getting together as a small group was still better.
I’m the morning, Jack and I ran 5k, had breakfast with everyone and took a stroll around their area. It was a great end of one year and start of the next.
