The Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) Experience

For now check out a bunch of Harbin and Inner Mongolia pictures I just uploaded to my Flickr page (the first link in the links section). Later today I will finally get this blog post out of the way. Lots more on the way...

Well, that "later today" passed without a blog post...blame The Great Firewall for that. Somehow my Internet failed and did not save the post. SO I'll try to recap it here. Bright and early on Saturday morning we hopped on the night train from Harbin to Hailaer in Inner Mongolia. After a mostly sleepless night we were off to a Japanese War of Aggression Memorial, built on a former major Japanese base in the Manchuria region. You guessed it, this was not your typical museum, as most museums seem to be in China. This “memorial” had a battlefield with tanks and soldiers, actual bones of Japanese soldiers viewed through a see-through glass floor, a “magic carpet ride” tour through Inner Mongolia, a shooting range if you wanted to test out your favorite weapon, and the preserved Japanese tunnel complex deep underground. Expectedly the museum had a very anti-Japanese feel to it and detailed all of the terrible things the Japanese did to Chinese POWs. Later on we stopped by a traditional Inner Mongolia tourist attraction in the beautiful landscape of the Inner Mongolian grasslands. Just picture wild horses galloping around a never-ending plain, while cattle roam around boundless grass. After wondering around the countryside, riding horses (for the first time), and enjoying some real Inner Mongolian lamb, we stopped by a homestead right along the highway. The family there had an incredible set-up, getting most of their energy from a single windmill, which powered their TV and homemade satellite. Supposedly passersby donated most of what they had, as the mother and father’s children were off on their own in the city at this point. After busing 2-3 hours north to a border city, the distinct prevalence of Russian influence was everywhere. Even more so than Harbin, all signage was in Russian. The next day on the way to the border, our tour guide gave me a Mongolian name by the name of “ta la” or beautiful grassland. Not sure what that means but it sounds good to me. Stopping at a lake to relax and get lunch, we were able to ride ATVs and a dune buggy-like vehicle through a rocky, dried out lake…another first for the trip. At the border, the authorities were originally not going to let us up close to the border but finally relented. And I’m glad they did. From the arch of the Chinese side of the border, I spotted some Russian guards on patrol around the fence on the Russian side. Other than the nice views of Russia, other Chinese visitors wanted to get their picture taken with me and other people on the program…not surprising. Although I was thinking about at the time why they wanted pictures with us if they all thought we were Russians as everyone around Harbin thinks. Later in the day, it was off to another tourist trap, but an amazing tourist trap at that. Imagine a city of Russian babushka dolls…this is where we were. Hundreds of life-sized dolls of every great person in the world were there amazingly. Michael Jordan had grey skin with a moustache and pair of wings to give you a sense of the incredible display.

Coming up next: A Chinese wedding, Harbin, and campus living.