Heading North to the Grasslands—Ulanqab—1 (A Dragon Boat Festival Breather)

A Preface

    Lately, I’ve felt decidedly “unambitious,” like I’ve lost my sense of direction. Every day after work, I come home and either play games or read for fun—anything but study 🙈🙈🙈. Then I took some time to think it over. I guess I haven’t really made any proper plans since starting my first job. I’ve been coasting every day, but I haven’t given up entirely: I still finish all the work I’m supposed to do within the allotted time.

    To address all this, I’m planning to take a closer look at where I am now, dig into it a little more, and think about what I want for my future. With the Dragon Boat Festival coming up, I thought I’d get away and clear my head. In a way, I wanted the holiday to mark a break between how I’d been living before and how I’d live afterward. So we decided to take a “Ulanqab grasslands trip.”

Setting Off

    At seven in the morning, we hopped on a high-speed train to Hohhot. After three hours, we finally arrived. Along the way, I noticed lots of gullies that looked like the loess ravines I’d seen on a previous high-speed train ride through Shanxi. That was unexpected—I’d always assumed it would be plains all the way. Of course, we saw plenty more gullies later on, too.

    Once we arrived in Hohhot, we got straight to arranging a rental car. It was pretty convenient, but at that point we had no idea this rental would lead to a little incident that nearly landed us in the news.。

    Of course, no visit to Inner Mongolia would be complete without a meal of “ice-boiled lamb.” After picking up the car, we headed straight to a place serving it. Honestly, if we’d arrived just a tiny bit later, we would’ve had to wait in line. But—and it’s a big but—I wouldn’t really recommend the place we went to. First off, the hygiene problems were serious. Even the chopsticks had turned green. I don’t know whether it was mold or what, but we spent ages picking out chopsticks; the ice-boiled lamb itself was actually passable, but the hygiene issues sent the whole experience plummeting.

    After our first meal, we decided to stock up on snacks so we’d have something to munch on along the way. Really, we were just wandering around. We found a shop devoted to snacks and went in to grab a whole pile of stuff. There was so much that one person could barely carry it, and it still came to less than 100 yuan. After we walked out, there was even a prize draw, which got us a small pack of Coke—six cans. What a bargain! That was money well spent. Hahaha, our enjoyment levels were maxed out right then.

    How could we go to the grasslands without some flowers? We’d brought along a bouquet and two flower crowns. Although the sun was scorching at the time, putting on a flower crown instantly gave me a little hint of coolness, along with a faint floral scent. Of course, they’d also be important props for our photos later.

Huitengxile Grassland

    Our fun-filled grassland road trip officially began! We saw all sorts of clouds along the way, and that song “Up to the Clouds” got stuck in our heads for the whole drive, hahaha.

At last, we reached the grasslands. Everywhere we looked was scenery, so beautiful we could barely take it all in. All those high-contrast photos were a feast for eyes used to weaving through towering buildings every day.

Once we were on the grasslands, of course we had to run around and let loose. Looking out at the endless grassland before us was wonderfully freeing. There were all sorts of little flowers out there, too, blooming beautifully.

    Since we’d come all this way, how could we not stay the night and experience the grasslands up close? As it happened, our yurt was right at the edge. Just pulling back the curtains brought the grasslands fully into view—it was so refreshing and relaxing. And, and—this yurt was really quite close to nature. A flock of sheep often wandered around it. I wonder if their leader was doing it on purpose, hahaha.

Of course, this was the most blissful part of all. So comfortable, with a gentle breeze blowing—just enjoying life.

    After we’d finished romping around the grasslands, we decided to explore the area. We drove to a nearby banner town. Maybe because it’s fairly close to Datong, there were loads of knife-cut noodle shops. In the end, we picked a barbecue place. To me, the only distinctive thing about it was the private room we sat in, which was called “Super Mario”—nothing else there I’d particularly recommend. Just a stop along the way.

Although the food wasn’t especially amazing, on our way back to the yurt we spotted an absolutely gorgeous sunset, tinged with pink. There happened to be a five-star red flag right in the middle of the view, which felt quite meaningful.

The Bonfire Party

    After dinner, we had a feeling we might not make it back in time for the evening’s fireworks and bonfire party. Maybe we got a little lucky: we saw fireworks from another cluster of yurts on the way, and when we got back to ours, our show hadn’t started yet. Nice! By a happy accident, we’d get to see two shows.

    Not long afterward, our bonfire party started too. The atmosphere was fantastic. At the end, everyone held hands and danced around in a circle, bringing the excitement to its peak. Lots of people nearby were setting off fireworks, too. It really was a pretty unforgettable scene.

There’s also a short video of the fireworks, so you can get a feel for the atmosphere that night.

    With the bonfire party over, a wonderful day was drawing to a close. Wait a second—how could we come to the grasslands and miss out on that stunning starry sky?