On the road again...

Day 1 - Getting to Hohhot
We left on Saturday morning for Inner Mongolia, and flew out of a Beijing airport I've never been to before...and there's a reason for that. According to our cab driver, Nan Yuan airport was only opened about 2 years ago to commercial (domestic) flights. (It still serves as a military academy and field.)

When we arrived to Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia (which is a province within China), I was totally amazed! I was expecting a run-down airport, not quite as extreme as a dirt strip in the middle of a field where the livestock disperse when you land - but something crappy. Instead, the airport is BRAND new...and looks as nice as Denver International Airport from a distance...

Also unexpected was the total lack of touts, which I was looking forward to - so that I could gather some information from them (and then walk away). So we headed to the next best place to find travel agencies and/or touts...the train station.

Again, NOTHING...except for lots of Chinese people boarding trains and buses on their way for their own travels for National Week. Long story short, we found a hotel...asked for a travel agency, and they sent someone over to talk with us. As the only Mandarin speaking person among us, I worked out the trip logistics (private van, overnight in the grasslands, and second day to the desert, then back to Hohhot...and including all accommodations for our stay in Inner Mongolia). Then I let Peter handle the negotiations on price/person b/c I was now mentally drained, and physically beat (b/c we were all out until 3am in Beijing, just a few hours before we had to go to the airport).

After everything was all settled (around 5pm) we went out for dinner. Fortunately our hotel was located in a very local part of the city (the fish market was in the basement!). Just a few blocks away was a restaurant that only served Mongolian hotpot...so naturally that's where we dined. When we got there, the place was 1/3 full, but by the time we were wrapping up, there wasn't an empty table.

As you can tell from the pic, the hotpot is in the middle of the table with some broth - and you just cook up beef, lamb, tofu, noodles, spinach, etc in the middle. As everything gets cooked & the broth evaporates, you're left with a thick sauce at the end.

After dinner we wanted to walk-off our full bellies and explore the city a bit. Again, it was totally NOT what I was expecting. Buildings with bright neon lights?...no, I was actually anticipating a large industrial (meaning ugly) city without much to stick around.

At least the part we walked around was modern, clean, and had a public square that actually served its purpose...bringing people together to socialize and to get out of the house (unlike Tiananmen Square, where the people who gather are mostly cattle of tourists following colored flags on poles from one site to another). There was a person drawing calligraphy on the sidewalk with a Sprite bottle converted into a water brush, small rides for children to scoot around the square, a group of people singing songs, young rollerbladers doing stunts between cones, etc. We left after a while because we had an early start the next day, and most of us were only on a few hours of sleep after a late night out.

Day 2 - Grasslands
After setting out at 7:30am from the hotel, we arrived to the grasslands after a 90 minute drive. It wasn't as far north as I (and Peter) wanted to go, but based on the stories we were told, the road to further grasslands were in repair & the "villages" up there were closed for the season b/c it was getting too cold.

If the tagline for the 2008 Olympics is "One World, One Dream", then the slogan for traveling this vast country should be "One China, Two Prices". We knew in advance that we'd have to pay out-of-pocket to go horseback riding,motorbikes, and other activities...but what we weren't told was exploring some of the "sights" would require a mode of transportation. (And we couldn't ride horses for just 1 hour, b/c "! there was a 2 hr minimum.) There were "pretty pictures" of pre-determined sights - but each one was a minimum of (x) hours by horse.

Since we were among the first people to arrive at the yurts, we decided to pass on the on the horses/motorbikes/ATVs and set out on foot without a particular destination. Eventually, other people on horses passed us, and we followed their general direction for 30 minutes or so. Then we decided to forget about the other groups b/c they were headed to the hokey sites we saw photos of earlier...and that there probably wasn't much to see there anyway.

Off in the distance we spotted a shepherd with little white flecks on the hillside (sheep & goats) - so we set our sights in his direction.

Without any constraint on time, it was GREAT to be in the open air devoid of cars, people, and computers...although we all had 5 bars on our cell phones in the middle of nowhere...thanks to China Mobile. ("can you hear me now?...GOOD!") Actually the cell towers were good, not b/c we had reception, but because without them, we would have had trouble getting back to our yurts. They served as our sole landmarks for orientation! By the end, we succeeded in making a big loop and we were tired by the time we returned to the yurts. After 10+ km of wandering we were starving and ready for lunch.

Since there is literally NOTHING to do at the yurts, after lunch we bargained the locals down to 100 rmb/hour/person to rent ATVs and the 6 of us headed back out to the hills. (Now, before you give me flack for how non-environment friendly ATVs are...picture yourself in Inner Mongolia. Would you pass that up? Nah...didn't think so!) Peter, a quasi-mechanic, found the gas line - and after that, we were all cruising a lot faster and driving our unofficial chaperone (a young local on a motorbike) CRAZY.

When we got back, we chilled in the yurt (all 6 of us fit into one) and played cards until dinner...Dinner was Mongolian BBQ --> if you agreed to shell out 280/360/420 rmb for it - depending on serving size. What did I tell you?...One China, two prices. So we passed on the BBQ. (280 rmb can buy you a FEAST back in Hohhot, or even in Beijing.) Another table ordered it, so we were able to see the presentation and cutting of the lamb.

During and after dinner there were songs sung and traditional dances performed. It was difficult to enjoy much of it b/c the amplifier was blown-out and the sound was so distorted (and loud). Still, it was interesting...and sure provided variety as compared to the typical evening in Beijing. Bundled up in our yurt (w/o heat of course), we went to bed early b/c of another early start to the desert in the morning...on a drive that is usually 4 hours.

Day 3 - Desert
The drive to the desert was definitely an adventure. We buzzed through hillside towns where farmers were working in the corn and potato fields...often with just one tractor for an entire community. The winding roads provided beautiful scenery, and overtaking trucks and cars definitely led to some good laughs (even by the driver).

In addition to eventful road obstacles (including crossing livestock, donkey-pulled carts, etc), our vehicle had certainly seen better days! We all got some light rest until about 2 hours into the ride, when the gearbox started to act-up...we either had no clutch or lost 1st gear (it was hard to figure out which one). So now going up hills was even more entertaining!...how long could we go before the driver had to downshift...could we reach the next descent without stalling out. Then, of course, we got a flat tire. :)

We needed to stretch anyway...so it was good to get out, because the drive was DEFINITELY going to take more than 4 hrs.

We stopped for lunch in the largest city in Inner Mongolia, Bao Tou. The population is 50% greater than the provincial capital...and it was EXACTLY the way I envisioned Hohhot was going to be (but wasn't). An industrial city, not focused on modernity or cleanliness - but rather on energy with little to offer for travelers/tourists, and no reason to stick around than absolutely necessary. Still, it provided an interesting contrast to Hohhot (and Beijing). Plus, we pulled into a mechanic's shop and he fixed the clutch/gearbox. Fifteen minutes and 20 rmb (about $2.50 USD) later, we were back on track to get to the desert.

Two hours later we were in the Kubuqi desert. It wasn't the Gobi, which was to the North, but it was still one giant block of sand! :)

We took to open-air Jeeps up to the dunes, and the driver really started testing the authenticity of the Jeep the more we whooped and hollered!!

Naturally, there was an "activity area"...where people could ride camels, rent ATVs, and even a zip-line back back to the Jeeps...Most of us opted for a camel ride.

After that, I just wandered off into the sands in search of a dune w/ a good view and some peace and quiet.

The trip back to Hohhot was (thankfully) less uneventful than the earlier drive from the grasslands. We got back to Hohhot, went out to dinner, and then shot some pool at a local hall down the street from our hotel...a great way to unwind.

Day 4 - Hohhot
Okay...because I'm tired of typing (and you're probably not going to read down this far anyway), I'm going to give you the short-short version of Day 4! (Insert applause here...)

Morning/lunch - Feasted on a buffet at the nicest hotel in Hohhot. (Think pasta station, sushi, stir frys, etc)

Afternoon - Walking around different sections of the city: strolling through a public park, side street markets, Da Zhao lamasery, and we walked around in an area with Huimin people, a muslim minority (also commonly referred to as weegers) .

Dinner - Since it was Marie Louise's birthday, we went back to that nice hotel to the Japanese restaurant...dinner teppanyaki style! Afterward, we found an alley...pulled up some empty boxes and crates and played cards, Chinese-style! (In the middle of the street, slamming down cards, with some of the finest local brew.) Who knew ever knew that "asshole" is an international card game!

We were on the street until 2am...even though we had to make a 7:25am flight back to Beijing. So yeah, we were all hung over on the quick hop back home....Nothing like ending a trip the way it got started.

Ahhh...fun's over. This coming week is back to work. 3 group presentations, 1 quiz, and LOTS of reading to do.

Oh wait, this is an MBA blog, not a travel blog. :0) So here are some key skills/takeaways from Inner Mongolia:

• Cross-cultural communications (how do you get around NOT speaking English when you're with 3 people from Denmark, 1 from Holland, and a Canadian-American?...speak German!...and fill-in the Canadian-American later.)
  
• Negotiations (aka bargaining)
• Teamwork (in a group of 6, of course)
• Building consensus
  

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