The Adventures of Tai'an

We did a tour with the guest house to the Gobi desert. The cost of the trip was Y370 per person. There were 3 of us. The trip was about 3 hours. We got there just in time for lunch. The food left a little to be desired. We were then taken out to the sand dunes in a jeep. Perhaps the jeep ride was the best part of the trip!

We rode a camel which was Y65 for the hour. Thank god for desert boots. They are Y10 to hire. You could also take a ride on the sand buggy. I saw what this did to Amanda, so I opted out of the adventure. It appeared I was the only who was considering it in the group anyway.

Back on the jeep and back to the guesthouse. We stopped on the side of the road to have some watermelon. I'm not a fan of watermelon but decided to have a piece to wash the sand out of my mouth more than anything and also because I was thirsty. The guesthouse owner couldn't understand why we couldn't eat a whole watermelon. Is he nuts?!?

We drove through water and stalled the car. The car started straight away. A little further down the road the car stopped again there was water in something. The car did not stop in a very good place. We were under a bridge with trucks coming from both directions with only enough room for one vehicle. We had to push the car. Eventually with the help of the other guest the car was started.

Finally back to the guesthouse, shower and bed for us. Tomorrow we head to the grasslands.

We thought there is so much to see. But after our first day we had nearly seen everything we wanted to see.

We had a taxi driver take us to the Wuta Pagoda. When we got there it was closed for renovations. The taxi driver insisted on me having my photo taken here. He then took us to DA Zhao.

DA Zhao is a large well maintained lamasery that is still used as a temple. There are heaps of monks chanting and praying. It was Y30 to get in.

Across the road was Xilitu Zhao. It is meant to be the home of Hohhot's 11th living Buddha. It was also Y30 to get in here. The monks were not so friendly and it was not worth the Y30 to get in.

We then walked to the Great Mosque on route to find ourselves towels for the guesthouse! The Mosque is built in Chinese style. Not much to see.

We then jumped in a taxi and went to the Inner Mongolian Museum. Unbeknown to us we paid to go into what we thought was the museum only to later find out that the museum is closed on Mondays and what we paid for was actually a special exhibition. It was worth the cost but we never did get to see the Museum.

Everything we wanted to see we saw in a day!

Our first morning we went to Ming Tien for Breakfast. There is one of these in Tai'an. I ordered a latte and french toast. The latte I couldn't drink. It had like a milk film on the top of it and I think it was made of carnation milk. The french toast was a peanut butter sandwich that had been crumbed in coconut and fried. it was served with condensed milk. It was edible but not something you would order again.

Pizza Hut became our restaurant of choice. It was the only place we felt we could eat something to give us some comfort.

We were having problems trying to find accommodation in Hohhot. Barbara contacted a previous teacher from the school as she had been to Hohhot and stayed in a Guesthouse. Jamie recommended the Anda Guesthouse to us. I went online and check out the reviews and everything appeared to be OK.

The Anda guesthouse is a Mongolian family guesthouse. It was opened on the 06/06/07. They recently moved but have not updated any information about the move. So everything you read and see on the internet is incorrect.

They have a guest pick up from the airport for a fee of Y80 per car or free from the train station. However the cost for a taxi is less than Y20 from the airport.

When we arrived we drove down this alley that was full of mud and puddles. They let us out and then we had to walk down a concrete lane where in front of us we could see the sign - Anda Guesthouse. We entered the door and we were going to be living in traditional Chinese fashion for the next 6 nights. I have stayed in Guesthouses, Back packers etc, but I have never stayed in any thing as bad as this. I knew Barbara would want to get out as soon as possible.

We had booked 2 rooms. One room was Y160/night and the other room was Y180/night. There were two nights when Barbara and I would have to share a room as there was no availability in private rooms. We were cool with this. However when we got there the room Barbara was to stay in the floor was soaking wet. It had been raining and we don't know how the floor got so wet. So Barbara decided she would bunk in with me until the floor dried.

You could read the disappointment all over Barbara's face. She was looking forward to going to Hohhot as Jamie and Kat had raved about their time there and Barbara was hoping for the same. Me, I couldn't care less whether I went there or not, but it was a compromise Barbara and I made as she hates the heat and I hate the cold. She came to Shanghai and I went to Hohhot.

They offer tours however the information you read from previous guests is not the same. We did the desert trip in which the owner took us out in his car. On the way back he drove through water and stalled. The vehicle started again only to stall a little further down the road. We had water in some part of the engine. We had to push the car! We also did the Grasslands tour and we believed we were going to a tourist camp however we ended up at a Home stay.

The accommodation is not at all comfortable. There is no sunshine or balconies. The bathroom is not clean. We had to replace the toilet paper.

We had planned to stay 6 nights and stayed 4 which included the overnight stay in the Grasslands.

Barbara and I shared the room for the entire stay.

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Hohhot is not pronounced as it looks the actual pronunciation is Huhehaote.??? The population of Hohhot is 1.4M. It was founded by Altan Khan in the 16th Century. Hohhot is the capital of Inner Mongolia. It is a prosperous and a cosmopolitan city. Visitors would normally go to Hohhot to start a tour of the grasslands. In summer they also have the Naadam Festival.

We were hoping to see the Naadam Festival whilst we were in Hohhot, however we couldn't find anything about it on the internet. We asked at the hostel and were told that the government had banned it this year because it coincided with the Olympics and they didn't want that many Mongolians in one area.

The Naadam festival is a week long summer festival that features traditional Mongolian sports such as archery, wrestling and horse racing. It is held at the horse racing track.

This is the first time in history that the festival has not been on. I think it is very sad that they Government are scared that by having all the Mongolians in one area they might upset their Olympics!

In Hohhot what we hoped to do was sleep in a yurt, explore the Mongolian culture on the grasslands, hang out with some Russians, sample some Russian food, ride a Mongolian horse across the grasslands, watch the Naadam festivities and ride a camel in the desert. Wow this was a lot to do. We thought 6 night should be enough but if it wasn't we could extend our stay.

We were deeply disappointed in Hohhot.