I am usually not one for organized tour trips. I find they can be a huge let down. You don't always get to see everything because you spent so much time waiting on other people. Not to mention I like to do what I want to do when I want to do it. If I'm hungry I want to eat and it better be food that I want and being paraded around like cattle in a foreign country just isn't my definition of fun. During Golden week, IES Global ( the company that I work with in China) organized a trip to Inner Mongolia. I wasn't too keen on being toured around on a bus, but since it was a way to see a lot of people I met and became so close with in Beijing I was easily convinced to join in on the trip, with the impression that the tour wouldn't be so touristy and that we would have a lot of fun. Well, let's just say I learnt a lesson and I, Amber Dukart swear to never take a guided tour on a bus ever again! If it wasn't for being with some of the most awesome people on the face of the planet I probably would have came home in a body bag. Problem One: Our tour guide was a complete retard. He was under the impression that we were all idiots and were visiting China with a lot of cash in our pockets to burn Problem Two: I had eaten something our first night which gave me food poisoning so I spent the entire trip with extremely bad travellers sickness (aka very bad diarrhea) Problem Three: it was FREEZING cold in Inner Mongolia and I hadn't brought enough warm clothes because I was told a sweater would do Problem Four: a tour bus on roads in China seems to always take longer than you could possibly imagine (the typically 3 hour bus ride from Batou to Hohhot took us 8 hours!)
Let's put these facts all together. I am on a bus for 8 hours listening to an extremely annoying tour guide freezing my ass off and desperately needing to use the toilet...yeah Inner Mongolia, fantastic place!
Ok, so it really wasn't that bad..the trip had a lot of positive points which ultimately made it worth it but I learnt my lesson and don't see myself on a guided tour involving a bus for a very long time, not until I'm old and wear depends.
It was such a riot being reunited with everyone and we made were able to have so much fun just laughing at how ridiculous the whole ordeal was. The first stop of the tour was the grasslands. We went horseback riding through the grasslands which was pretty cool but keep in mind I was on the back of a horse in the middle of nowhere for 3 hours with diarrhea. I hope you are laughing at me right now because I know I'm laughing at myself. One of the other highlights of Inner Mongolia was the day we spent on the dessert. We had such a great time there! Camel riding, quading, riding in dune buggies and sliding down a massive sand dune on a board (basically tobogganing with sand instead of snow) were all wicked fun! Once again, I have some great photos to share but due to shitty internet, I can't post. (seriously large sad face). Another memorable place during our trip was the Buddhist temple in Hohhot. At first glance, there wasn't anything overtly special about this temple, it was just your average Chinese Buddhist temple. But after spending a few minutes inside we found it to be the best one we have been in thus far! The temples we visited in Beijing were extremely crowded with people and you couldn't really appreciate it. But here in Hohhot, there were very few tourists and you could really get a sense of peacefulness. We definitely lucked out as well because while we were there all of the monks that were living in the temple had their daily gathering and did a prayer ceremony. Very cool to witness especially since the temple in Beijing didn't really have many monks hanging about.
Inner Mongolia is a very beautiful area of China and one that most people don't make it to when they come to visit. I think it's overlooked by most because of it's remote location in comparison to the rest of China and it is a trip I will never forget (I think more of because of the circumstances that made it such a hilarious trip rather than the trip itself) I am glad I went even if it meant being on a tour bus with a shitty tour guide and diarrhea. At least I learnt my lesson, NEVER go on a tour bus trip again!
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