Inner Mongolia

Early June 2006

We have traveled 2 hours along the bumpy terrains of Inner Mongolia to see the grasslands and to experience one night inside a Mongolian yurt. During the two-hour bus ride, an image began to form in our minds: pretty Mongolian girls singing to us upon our arrival, a whole lamb roasting on the spit, waiting to be devoured by a bunch of hungry Beijing tourists, a night of cultural exchange dancing by the bonfire—a truly exotic Mongolian experience.

But somehow, this fantasy didn’t quite evolve into what we expected. In fact, the little ‘Mongolian’ settlement we were in was totally unreal—‘Mongolian’ girls running around struggling to put on their ‘costumes’ (with a pair of jeans underneath) as tourists arrive by the busloads, pieces of unidentifiable meat roasting on a makeshift barbeque pit, ‘traditional’ Mongolian music coming out of an electronic organ with a synthesizer, and everyone else dancing to doof-doof techno music around the ‘bonfire’ that is an empty oil barrel with burning twigs inside it.

Let me tell you something real though, the horsemen were real Mongolians. And probably their horses too. And the sandstorm. Yes, the sandstorms. Those were real.

As the wind swept across the barren patch of earth that our yurts were built on, little sand hurricanes were swirled up into midair, terrorizing tourists that were about to go on their riding trips. I could see the sand coming from fifty meters away. Everyone watched in awe before realizing that it was coming straight at us! We automatically scrambled into a group huddle, ducked our heads and pulled our hoods as far down our heads as possible, waiting for the ordeal to end. I could hear the sand beating against our body and the wind howling across the bare land. Woohoo! I got to see a real Mongolian sandstorm!

The wind finally stopped after depositing a gram or two of sand into our ears and jacket pockets. I shook the sand off, put on my surgical mask, wrapped a scarf over my head turban-style, slid on a pair of sunnies and got onto my horse. Yes, I was all ready for my Mongolian adventure.