YURT DAY!

We all woke up at 6am and got picked up by our driver, Mr. Yeh again. Kevin, Peter, Clark and I drove straight north of Beijing, where we picked up his wife and 5 year old son about 2 hours away. For them it was a family vacation that we apparently financed!

We stopped for breakfast at a roadside country restaurant and ate outside. They were making the breakfast dumplings by hand right next to the tables. We also had porridge, soy milk, and fried bread, another typical Chinese breakfast. All the tables laughed when Peter ordered 30 dumplings, so he scaled it back to 20, but then at the end ordered 10 more! Another instance of old vs. new, there was a hummer sitting right outside this simple country restaurant.

We moved on and drove on for about 6 hours headed for Inner Mongolia. The driving was crazy and included scary mountain switchbacks, and passing on the tight curves. We stopped and saw a camel laying in the road below a Buddhist temple, with a big Buddha half way up the mountain.

Just past the mountains the scenery changed from steep and rocky to big grassy hills. Mr. Yeh negotiated our stay for us while we stayed in the van. Apparently it is more useful to be authentically Chinese to get the good prices. It was obviously a touristy region for the Chinese though, they had lots of flags and signs and different ranches that all looked very similar with similar activities.

We got settled in our Yurts (like a teepee). There were two little beds and a nightstand in each. The doors were about 4 feet tall, and we could just stand in the very middle of the yurt. We noticed a difference in the people in Inner Mongolia, they seemed to be a big stockier, and had very rosy cheeks.

We went for lunch in the restaurant that was owned by the same owners as the Yurts. It appeared to be our only choice for food, so we sat down for lunch. They gave us a private room even though there was no one else there. It took Peter 20 minutes to bargain and order lunch, and at least 45 minutes for them to bring us the food. We had mutton with cilantro, vegetable stew with potatos, carrots and eggplant, and a flat egg omelet. Another mix between old and new: They had a karaoke machine but no running water, and the bathrooms were holes in the ground within a brick structure.

After lunch they brought horses right up to the doors of our yurts. It began thundering and we worried that it would rain, but they assured us that the weather would be fine. We were skeptical, but the Mongolians knew what they were talking about, and the thunder added a nice touch to our mountain ride. The saddles were pretty simple, but all of the stirrups were too short for ALL of us. My horse was slow and liked to stick right to the guide’s horse.

We had a great, authentic guide lead us up and around several mountains, until we reached a summit. It was beautiful, though still foggy. We took pictures, played frisbee and played around on the mountain top. Clark had a big rash on his neck and it seemed like he had an allergic reaction to something, though he says he has no allergies. As time went on it got worse and later that night his eyes started to get puffy. He took 2 Benadryl and appeared to get better.

Upon return we sat on the porch of the restaurant and had several beers. Dinner took 30 minutes to bargain and order. They kept trying to sell us a whole lamb. We finally settled on mutton with potatoes, green beans, and cucumber and mushrooms and pork. We finished around 9 and were all exhausted so we went to bed in our Yurts. There was a loud lightning storm in the middle of the night, and it poured. I had to go to the bathroom and braved the storm and the dark to go outside. I kept waiting for a silhouetted Mongolian to show up and scare me!