First day - SH to BJ
The whole office had to pack all our stuff into boxes because we were moving to the other building so after packing I was released early to catch the 6pm train to BJ. Bought bread, picked up my stuff from home, ate subway and I was on the 5 hr ride. I was bored for the 5 hours so I was thinking how to survive the next train ride. Somebody came to pick me up at the station, met some crazy Holland guys and was at home to celebrate Jiani’s bday. Packed a little bit for tmr’s journey before hitting the bed.
30 hours train ride to Inner Mongolia, Hailaer. On hard seats. How to survive that? It was the peak season and we couldn’t get any beds for the train, but at least we got seats. It wasn’t as bad as I have expected, but it was cramped, the toilet was bad, there was no drinking water except boiling water. It was the travelling party of 7 which made the whole ride more bearable, eating snacks, bread, playing bridge, origami, mindless games etc and the night was quickly over with very little sleep. By the morning, buildings were gone and we were passing fields of green and gold, mountains and clouds. There were few left on board so we managed to catch some sleep on rows of seats. Yeah, it wasn’t that bad but I don’t think I wanna take the seats again.
Welcome to Hailaer!
Day 2
Another guide picked us up in the morning and it was colder than I’ve expected. The car was big enough for all of us and the dry weather generated a lot of static electricity on the car.
Horse Riding, Religious structures, Mongolian camps
A jungle of white trees
Day 3
The morning was very cold too, we set off along the Russian borders.
We had some Russian bread and went horse riding again, this time cheaper and we were able to ride on our own up and down the hills
Watched the sunset
We warmed ourselves with some 50% alcohol and got ready for the stars at night. It was too cold, I think it was 0 degrees at night when we went up to the wooden hut on the hill. I was shivering all the way and I think I caught a cold.
The place we stayed had little hot water and in the morning some of the water was frozen so the girls didn’t had water in their room. The room was quite comfortable with heater.
Day 4
Driving past golden flat fields, we took pictures at a field with rolled up hay which were very prickly but very beautiful. We also saw the start of a mini tornado which I thought was water sprinkler.
We then arrived at a very Russian Manzhouli, which doesn’t look like China at all! The traffic, roads, people, the deco are much much nicer.
Very heavy Russian influence because it’s the city just beside Russia. Bought some Russian chocolates.
Went to hulun lake and finally had fish for lunch
Our last stop at the supermarket to get provisions for the 30 hour ride back and this time we had beds and I had a private cabin bed. Luckily there was only another student in my cabin so I got very good sleep on the train. It was much better than the hard seats, the rest got 6 beds on their own so we owned that section of the train but it was polluted with smoke coming from the lounge. And again, playing bridge all the way till BJ.
Overall, it was a very good retreat for me (a working class) and to hang out with some very adventurous and crazy party. Nature was good to us and it would have perfect if there were waterfalls.
Nature, culture, experience.
Day 5
We arrived very late in BJ, took cab back home and had dim sum for supper. After washing some clothes, finally slept at around 4am to prepare to tour BJ the next day.
Tian’an Men
Gu Gong Palace Museum
People’s Square
Café Bros
The largest Pizza in BJ