Rediscovering Eden
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the bright and morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
I am Yours
dailies
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Adventure in Inner Mongolia and Thanksgiving! 包头-呼和浩特-北京
-6:30 PM
Its been a week since I'm back from Inner Mongolia. Pictures are up on facebook! Like 200++photos.hee. It was a great trip! 6 of us went with a rough,really rough outline of what we wanna do.Phonecalls with regards to accomodation etc were planned last minute. haha,and we with our backpacks boarded the train to 包头 with much anticipation. The last time I was on the overnight train, was to Xi'an and I had 硬卧 i.e. a hard bed to lie on. This time, cos we decided to go budget, we took 硬座,the 2nd cheapest of tickets, a mere 113RMB for a 13 hours ride.And yes, we sat on this 90degrees chair all the way. Seriously,its pretty ok,what more, i bought a travel inflatable pillow,hee,and i had a little table in front of me,so i could change positions whenever i want.
The part of the train ride that a little shocking for me was the people who bought the 站票,i.e. they stand all the way.There were so many of them,even kids.And we thought that the train will have a carriage for the standing people, like an mrt or sth but NO,they were to squeeze with us, the people who had seats. Now i know why the area with beds is like 3 times more expensive,cos they dont have the standing people. And man, the standing people really squeeze their way,even into our 6-ppl little cozy space which was already tiny enough for us to stretch our legs.We shared our seats with a little gal and a young lady and struck conversations with them.
At 包头 the next morning, we stepped out of the train station, say a super duper cheap hotel next to it and decide to forgo our last-min planned accomodation.Hee,we are flexible mar.:P Its really cheap, like 21.70RMB per person per night and we were there only for one night.
The desert experience is really a must-go!! Like how many people actually get to visit a real desert??Never mind that it has become a tourist attraction cos,there are not many people there anyway and its a really huge desert with sand flying into your eyes,face,ears,shoes,nostrils etc etc.hee.Its like hot and cold and windy at the same time!
Things to give thanks:
1. Many decisions had to be made once we reach cos we alighted at the main train station of 包头 instead of the East station which according to a friendly gal we met on the train, would be nearer to our desert. What more,the train took soooo long, like cos it was decreasing its speed, to get from the east station to the main station. So we were like in the train asking passengers this and that so that we could jump into action once we were off the fringgin slow coach train.When we reach 包头,we didnt have the tickets to 呼和浩特 and the tickets from 呼和浩特 back to Beijing. We didnt have breakfast. We didnt know how on earth we could make it from our hotel to the far-away desert. So we divided ourselves into pairs to save time. Sounds like amazing race huh? except,er, we are the planners and the organisers and the participants.Heh.
We manage to get ALL the tickets, even the one from 呼和浩特 to Beijing cos we werent too sure if we could get it since we were in 包头 only. We managed to buy tickets even from 包头 to 达旗,the nearest town to the desert for 10RMB.But in the end, we manage to find a little van with a driver who was willing to drive us all the way from our hotel to the desert for 250RMB(after bargaining..haha). We went back to the train station, manage to get a refund of 8RMB for the ticket to 达旗.THough the little van was more expensive,it was a more direct route and took the same time as the train. Moreover,if we took the train, we'll have to change to another van or another local bus at the town to get to the desert.
THe van uncle was really amusing and funny and nv failed to make us laugh with his straight-face jokes. And like he will even tell us to go sleep cos its a long ride and when we finally can fall asleep, he say dont sleep cos we are reaching.hahaha and we ate on his van and had free water (ok,we prob paid for it in our 250RMB).
At the desert, i really wanted to play everything including this parachute thingy.But because the wind was too strong, the parachute station was closed and we were like disappointed cos its like an experience we wont get elsewhere. But its ok,we did other fun silly stuff too-e.g.climb down a super steep hill which was much more fun than paying 60RMB for a cable car like thingy to bring us to the inner part of the desert.
After the desert, we went to a park recommended by the driver and we got to play and touch DEERS!! Hee,really friendly creatures. The only other place tt i know that let animals out is the Singapore Night Safari..dont think i've been to anywhere else that does so.
We paid the uncle the 250RMB then and suddenly actually, his attitude changed.He picked up a friend and seemed to wanna drop us off anywhere and was not so forthcoming as before. But he was still kinda nice.While turning slowly into a little pathway which i dont think he was suppose to, a motorbike came towards us at top speed. Before we knew it,we saw the motorbike,and the next thing we knew was 'PAIN'.It all happened with seconds,like 2 secs??Only the backrow ppl i.e.SJ,Me,MJ were affected cos the motorbike came crashing into the hind side of the little van.SJ was the closest to the bike and got pushed towards me and crashed into my head and my head banged onto MJ's head. It was painful,but thank God,not THAT painful. Thank God for a thick skull. We got out and saw this huge dent to the side where the bike rammed into us. The motorcyclists had blood bleeding from his cheeks,nose,mouth while his gf,the pillion was covering her mouth. The gf was pretty ok except for the shock that came from the accident. The uncle told us to try find our way around and we kept turning back to look at him. MJ and I really wanted to go tell him that if he need witness or sth, we could be the witnesses but considering all factors including the fact that the others werent too keen on that idea,we left. The uncle received a fake 100 dollars note last wk and now this,we all felt bad for him yet thankful that we were all right.
2.We had a good dinner,good rest and left for 呼和浩特(Hohhot)the next morning.It was fun on the train where we all became doraemon,bringing out all our little snacks to share. When we reached Hohhot,we went to the nearest shop to get a map and while we went individually to check out the surroundings,we were each approached by men who said that they were tour guides and asked if we wanted to go to the grassland.By the time the 6 of us gathered, we had this whole big group of men surrounding us,like there were 3 circles of men around us and each shouting to us to get their package etc. In the end we settled for one with the cheapest transport fee.
When we got to the vehicle, we realie that we had to split into 3-3 cos they do not have a van but just 2 dodgy cars and we kind of didnt want to split but they assured us that both cars will not be more than 1 metre apart.A,FK and I seriously didnt wanted to use these people,moreover,other men from the 3-layer circle came over and it turn out that they were all one gang!THe gang even included one guy I shall call Pinkie(cos he always wears a pink shirt) whom I kind of raised my voice at when he throwed his name card onto my map when I was studying the map. Like how rude!And all so pushy! The 3 other gals felt that they were safe and so ok,we followed this 2-car people.Before we got onto the car,a policeman came and grab our 'guide' and pulled him to the police area near the train station and we were all stunned. We quickly asked the other guys what was happening and they explained that they do not have licenses as tour guides but are local people who wanna earn a living through the tourism trade. Actually,as I'm typing this, I realise and thank God that we came back safetly cos without license,even if all 6 of us were kidnapped or sth,there wil be no way to trace at all.But I suppose thats for most backpacking trips! Anyway,they brought us for breakfast and then we were on our way to the Xilamuren grassland!
We wanted Huitengxile at first and these people somehow got us onto their vehicle and we found out that they only had Mongolian Yurts and a base in Xilamuren.Oh well. I was really disappointed cos Xilamuren is tourisy and I dont like tourisy places! Anyway,we went for a really long ride up the mountains,learned a few mongolian words from Pinkie while telling them that we are from Fujian. Ever since I came to China, i know more about exactly where I am from,things I never knew while i was in Spore and my hokkien has improved tremendously.Beams*haha.(I have to save myself from telling people I'm a Singaporean.)
The grassland,horse-riding,the clear blue skies, the ethnic culture etc etc,is so so so rich. I love it! We spend the night in a yurt after a day of horse-riding,wrestling,and dancing (it felt like Zouk in Mongolia and was unintended cos we thought that we would be only watching the Mongolians dance and sing. It was only at the end where all the lights went off except one purple spotlight, and the Mongolians came and encouraged us to dance with them. So all the tourists and locals danced together and it was nice cos it isn like Zouk but more like a cultural dance where we just followed whatever the Mongolians did. At one point we held hands and were turning clockwise and anticlockwise to the beat of the music,before going to the center of a man-made circle one by one to dance.).We slept on this hard cold platform in the yurt and it was so cold, like below zero degrees at night and we were all freezing. I really couldnt slp and though i lent a friend one of my jackets, i had to ask it back and i felt really bad but i was really cold. Woke up next morning to a back-ache and a grouchy me,esp when i have to wear my heavy un-glam specs cos no way was i going to put on my contact lens with my dirty fingers.
And oh, cos we were in the grassland with open-air natural toilets shared with cows, we didnt bathe for 2 days and didnt brush our teeth too.:P And because of the sheer cold and wind,I didnt da bian though I really really had the urge to. The toilet is really traditional too,its jus a slide and you see everyone's da bian and toilet paper sticking out and there was only ONE toilet!!haha,seriously reminded me to my days in MEET. And now I know why God put me in MEET China Team,else..i dunno what my reaction would be to such 'natural-looking' toilets. Hmm,shouldnt be that bad too!:P
3. We paid our bills for food and all and got a drive down for breakfast and got a drive to the town where we once again began our amazing race-method of asking around how we could get to such-a-such-a place.And it was irritating that everyone gave different directions,not to mention that the sun was scorching hot and we were taking off our layers we had put on while up in the mountains the day before. We walked a lot,really A LOT,even asked the police for directions(and they didnt really give good ones anyway) and finally we got onto the bus and made our way to the National Museum.
We walked in with our big backpacks, placed them at the counter and started exploring the place. It really looks like NTU's ADM,exactly the same concept and at another part,it looks like Spore's MRT line! It was really nice to see sth so familiar to heart. The museum showcase the culture of the Mongolians as well as the ancient dinosaur fossils dug up in Mongolia. Its really interesting and I really like the dinosaur part actually.I've always wondered where they were located,how they became extinct,did they eat humanns and which part of creation did they fall under and if so, why didnt they eat up all the other stuff on earth and yada yada.Hee.
I was gaining a headache as I explored the museum. A was also becoming sick and was coming down with flu. I felt flu coming to even myself that while A was sleeping on a bench in the museum and while the others were still exploring, I quickly went to my bag, took out 2 sachets of 板蓝根感冒冲剂,took my water bottle which I left outside the museum(we cant bring water in) and drank everything down while praying that I dont get flu or anything near that. I finished walking the entire museum, saw a bench and slept till my friend woke me up. The chinese medicine which I drank can prevent flu/colds/sore throats/fever etc. and has to be drank before the flu becomes flu blown else we have to drink something stronger. Apparently when the swine flu broke out, the medical halls ran out of those.THank God that I felt better after my medication and 15 mins of sleep.:)
The afternoon was spend taking long distance buses,walking walking and walking with my ever heavy bag,buying local products e.g.奶酪,going into every shop,bargaining and checking out the prices and asking if we could try this food and that food AND finding out how to go to XiaoFeiYang Restaurant which is famous in Inner Mongolia. Once again everyone gave different directions and we tried umpteen times,asking locals etc but no one knew not even the police. One guy directed us to a really good restaurant but at that point,it was under renovation and we all sighed. FInally we settled for the nearest restaurant as we all really couldn walk anymore and turn out,it gave good oriental dishes too!so YAY!
Oh ya,while finding out how to go XiaoFeiYang and boarding and alighting the different buses(due to the different directions given by the locals),on board on of the buses,someone actually quietly unhooked MJ's camera from the string tied around her neck and he was holding the camera under his jacket. She didnt know it either.Another Mongolian local on the bus nudged A repeatedly until A was irritated and realise what was going on. THe Mongolian gal that told us about the theft signalled for us not to do anything rash and stupid.So A just fiercely and quickly snatched the camera back from the jacket and we got off the next stop,which was our stop coincidentally. The thief also got off and throughout the whole process,he acted as if nothing was wrong,nonchalent and cool even after we snatched the camera back.
Honestly,we were all shocked and stunned by the train of events that happended just within this 3 days.I thank God we came back safetly cos many things could have gone wrong and suddenly I realise why my dad didnt allow me and A to go backpacking to Inner Mongolia on our own,just the 2 of us which was my original plan.
4. THe train ride back to Beijing was a squeezy one.We had to squeeze ourway up the train cos no one was giving way and if we dont push, we'll miss the train cos it doesn wait.When we finally pushed our way individually up and argued with some inconsiderate people who sat on our seats and acted as if it were theirs, we were so tired,we didnt bother to go wash up though we had not cleaned ourselves for 2 whole days.Even when MJ and SJ tried to,they came back halfway because from our seats to the toilet,the halfway mark to the toilet had men all over the place,it looked scary. The men were half-dressed,playing cards or smoking or wadever,sitting on the floor,seats,tables,sink,cubby holes and whatever little space provided and they occupied half the carriage and when we gals were making our way through them to get to the toilet,they would just stare.We couldnt even wash our hands cos they were sitting on the sink itself!I went by myself once to the toilet and was told that earlier on the policemen had come on board to take down the names and information of the men on that area of the train. Scary. I was like placing my hands infront of myslef as I walk in between them and thank God I was wearing my pants and not my shorts.
5.We got back early the next morning,at around 5.05am when we expected 5.40am,so we hurried, caught a cab and went home to bathe and prepare for the lessons and internships that were to begin at 8am. Yes, in CHina, you have classes on Sundays! :)
Welcome to China.
Thank God for keeping us safe.Thank you Jesus for the unforgettable experience of a lifetime. I want more! :P
