Trip to Inner Mongolia (July 26-28, 2002)

Piet Bos from YPHH organized a weekend trip to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. He managed to get a group of 28 people together for this trip, which lasted from Friday night to Sunday night. Friday we left around 23:30 from the North Gate of Gongti (Workers Stadium) in Beijing by bus. The bus (a middle-sized King Long bus) was quite OK, with aircon and even a TV/VCD installation. However, the seats could not be adjusted and the legroom was also not all that great, so sleeping was not the most comfortable thing. Sleeping was anyway not something most people were planning to do, because we brought a lot of beer along and the music turned the bus into a small disco. Around 3 AM we made quick stop in Chengde, and after that most people went to sleep, only to be woken up by the sun around 5 AM. Around that time the road turned so bad that sleeping was anyway hardly possible.

Around 6 AM we entered a national park (Saihanba) where the road turned into an unpaved road winding into the mountains. The scenery was beautiful: mountains covered with forests, with in between grasslands and lakes. At a certain point the government was upgrading the road, so the bus had to use a small side road. Everyone had to get out of the bus to make it a bit lighter, but even that was not enough. Some of the road workers had to assist by putting rocks on the side road so that the bus was able to get through. Finally after about 30 minutes we could continue the trip. Around 8:30 we arrived at our hotel.

The hotel was located on the grasslands, and was very basic, and not all that clean. But it was only going to be for one night, so it did not really matter. After breakfast (basic Chinese food, but with Nescafe coffee) everyone went into the bus again to drive to a nearby lake for a swim. The water was still quite cold, but it was nice and refreshing. Some of us rented rowing boats, but the majority just lay in the grass and talked (or slept) a bit. We stayed there until lunchtime, and then went back to the hotel for lunch. After lunch most took a quick nap, but I walked to the backside of the hotel where the staff were slaughtering sheep for our barbecue dinner. It was not a very nice sight, but quite interesting to observe it. Everything went very quick, and I don’t think the sheep felt much pain.

Around 2:30 we took the bus again to go the grasslands north of the hotel. Here we were planning to go horseback riding. On the way we saw an accident: a small truck had rolled over because it was either incorrectly loaded or because it had gotten off the road with one or two wheels. On the way back we saw a similar accident where an MPV encountered the same problem. The vehicle was total loss, and I hope the passengers survived. The horseback riding was a bit boring, because the horses seemed to be tired and only walked very slowly. However, the stunning scenery compensated this completely. The view was extremely clear, and you could probably see 10 to 20 kilometers. The grass was very green, and full of flowers. Nowhere were any houses or other forms of human activity visible, something out of the ordinary for China. In total we rode for about 3 hours, and I was glad we were back because I could hardly sit anymore…. I never realized a saddle would be that hard after riding for so long. In total we paid RMB 100 per person for the horses, not very cheap, but there was no way to negotiate it down any further.

Back in the hotel we all had about an hour rest before dinner. In the meantime staff prepared a bonfire (over which the sheep were roasted). We had a couple of drinks around the bonfire, and then went inside for dinner. After dinner the party continued outside until the early morning. Chinese staying in hotels in the same area were constantly lighting fireworks, which filled the sky with color. The explosions were very loud, even though most of them must have been lit kilometers away.

The next morning breakfast was at 7:30, so we had to get up early. Because there was no warm water the ice cold shower made sure you would be awake. The bus left at 8:00 for a big lake surrounded by woods and grassland. Quite nice, but the weather was not as good anymore as the day before. It was still quite warm (25 degrees or so), but it was cloudy with occasional raindrops. The planned picnic lunch on the grassland was therefore eaten inside the bus.

After the (early) lunch we started our trip back to Beijing. Along the way we saw a lot of accidents, due to combination of rain and the inability of most Chinese drivers to adapt to it. One accident was especially bad, when a car had hit another car and had then fallen into a ravine (about 40 meters deep). I don’t think anybody survived. Other accidents included among others a bus that had run into a tree, a truck that hit a bus from behind, and some cars that had just not managed to make a curve and went straight on. I counted 7 serious accidents, but I slept half of the time. Others told me that during the darkness there had been a lot more accidents. It’s time China starts educating its drivers. It’s probably the only country in the world where it’s a profession to teach people to drive after these people have gotten their drivers license. But that’s a different subject.

Around 4:30 we made stop at Chengde to visit the small Potala palace, a copy of the original in Lhasa (Tibet). It was my first time in Chengde, and I was quite impressed. It’s a huge temple complex (220.000 m2), with at the far end on top of a mountain the small Potala palace. We only had about 1.5 hours to explore the complex, which was just enough to quickly walk around. I will certainly go back in the future to take a better look, and also to visit the other 7 temples plus the ancient summer palace.

Around 9:30 we were back in Beijing. We were supposed to stop at the same place as where we had started our trip, but 200 meters before we arrived the bus hit a large boulder laying on the road. We stopped immediately, and found that the boulder had deformed one of the wheels so we could not continue. Luckily this did not happen somewhere in the middle of nowhere! All in all it was a nice trip, but extremely tiring. I was very glad to be home again, and went to bed almost straight away.

Marc van der Chijs