nicol wong
Inner Mongolia & Datong, China
07.12.17China·中国

Inner Mongolia

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Yurt Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia nicol yuk lui Wong yukluistyle nicolyl

Even though I am a month and a bit late in posting this, it’s been hard to find the time to sit down and just type away. As promised, here is the post about my trip to Inner Mongolia back in early October, during the Mid Autumn festival with CET Trip Beijing.

Warning: Long post ahead.

I wasn’t prepared for the long coach journey. It took around 12 hours to get to the first destination. We had a 4am meeting point outside a university in Beijing so I had decided to not sleep and attempt to sleep on the coach knowing it would take around 12 hours to arrive at the first destination.

Day 1 – Xilamuren Grassland (希拉穆仁草原)

Xilamuren Grassland was our first destination, just over 1.5 hours north of Hohhot. Arriving there, we were greeted by the locals and we had the opportunity to go horse riding in the grasslands. It was my first time horse riding and I can’t decide whether I had enjoyed it or not. We had watched a live action show about the historic battles and must I say, the horses were very, very well trained.

Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia
Horse Riding Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia

After horse riding, I was able to dress up in traditional Mongolian clothing and was treated to a Zhama feast and show. They love their lamb! We was able to enjoy the bonfire and had danced and drink in the evening with other tour groups.

Zhama Feast Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia
Zhama Feast Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia
Zhama Feast Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia

Zhama Feast Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia

I remember a friend telling me that his yurt was disgusting from the way he had described it so I was terrified thinking what have I gotten myself into. To my surprise, the yurt I was staying in was way beyond my expectations. Very modern so I suspect it was possibly refurbished as it was very modern. The heating had just stopped working and it was freezing temperatures.

Yurt Xilamuren Grassland Inner Mongolia

Day 2 – Kubuqi Desert (库布齐沙漠)

Would you believe me that this was the view when we had stopped off at a service station on the way to the desert?

inner mongolia service station

This Kubuqi Desert area was transformed into more of a tourist attraction, being able to join in various camel riding, quad biking, sand sliding, sand surfing, cable car and zip lining. It was a lovely way to spend a day in and could say I had enjoyed being in a desert despite it being a bit on the touristy side.

Kubuqi Desert Inner Mongolia
Kubuqi Desert Inner Mongolia
Kubuqi Desert Inner Mongolia
Kubuqi Desert Inner Mongolia

One the way back to Hohhot, we had stopped off at a restaurant for hotpot. Hotpot was absolutely beautiful and needed to keep warm.

Day 3 – Yungang Grottoes, Datong (山西,大同市云冈石窟)

Yungang Grottoes had consisted of temples, buddhist cave art (which was remarkable) and many, many, many statues and caves. We had spent the day exploring the grottoes, head to toe admiring everything. There isn’t really much to say about it other than history is always interesting.

Yungang Grottoes Inner Mongolia
Yungang Grottoes Inner Mongolia
Yungang Grottoes Inner Mongolia
Yungang Grottoes Inner Mongolia

After dinner, our tour group were having a party and there was a lot of beer and drinking games.

Day 4 – Hanging Temple, Datong (山西,大同市悬空寺)

The final day of this trip. We had spent 2-3 hours here and didn’t really have the opportunity to go up the hanging temple itself. I had overheard other tourists saying that there was 4 hour wait in the queue and we didn’t have that much time knowing we had to head back to Beijing. I didn’t mind not being able to go up there as it was a busy holiday.

Hanging Temple Inner Mongolia

From there, I had arrived back in Beijing at around 10pm and it was a good experience. You could say that I had enough of sitting on coaches. This whole trip had cost me 1850元 (around £207) which had included the coach journey, insurance, hotels, meals and tickets to the attractions, everything. I actually would recommend going on a trip to Inner Mongolia, getting away from the city life. Our tour guides were amazing and made the tour even more enjoyable. All tour guides from CET Trips are students from Beijing universities and as always, you meet new people in the tour groups. It’s not just for students to join the tours, there were families, expats on the trip.

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22 responses to “Inner Mongolia”

  1. Nina says:

    This post has made me want to go travelling now! I’ve always wanted to visit Mongolia it looks so beautiful, thank ogoodness you for sharing these amazing photographs

  2. OMG! I can’t believe I never knew there was Inner Mongolia…. I have heard people say Outer Mongolia in a phrase (and I knew Mongolia was a place) but it never occurred to me that there would be an Inner!!!! Lovely post, the temples look amazing.

  3. This place looks insane – all of those glorious colours, too! What a place!

  4. I’ve never visited Mongolia before. It seems like an interesting place to go and see. The hot pot sounds good!

  5. Oh wow how amazing does Mongolia look, I have to admit it isn’t somewhere I would have thought of travelling to, but it really does look so beautiful.

  6. This place looks incredible! This has never been on my to see list but after reading this review I may have to visit Mongolia!

  7. Vivian says:

    So reasonable to travel to Mongolia! I love all of these photos, shame about the heating but your yurt looked amazing!

    Vivian | LIVE IN LOVE
    IG | @viviyunn_

    ~

  8. Elizabeth says:

    What a beautiful place to have had the opportunity to visit! So much history and colour!

  9. Wow those temples look amazing, this is definitely somewhere I’d love to explore myself x

  10. Jen says:

    Gosh, your trip looks wonderful. Such beautiful places to see, and exciting things to experience. The coach journey is a little crazy. but I guess that is to be expected with the location.

  11. Melanie says:

    What an incredible place and experience. so much colour, vibrancy and fun. This is somewhere really of the beaten track and I would love to do this 🙂 x

  12. taylor says:

    wow! looks so stunning there! i bet you had the most magical trip!

  13. This trip sounds amazing and all the activities you partook in all are so fun and looks enjoyable.

  14. Bread says:

    Wow, looks amazing. I can’t imagine even thinking of going there. At least not until I saw this.

  15. Looks like such awn amazing place! I have never been before but its on my travel wish list

  16. What a fantastic experience for you! Inner Mongolia looks an incredible place to visit x

  17. What a beautiful place to visit with my husband, I wish I have a chance to go there someday.

  18. Laura H says:

    You know people always say I look mongolian when I’m actually half English, half Chinese – I need to actually visit it now so I can see what it’s like for myself!!

  19. Danielle says:

    This is a part of the world that has always fascinated me and I would love to visit. This has just made me want to visit even more.

  20. This looks amazing! Never considered Mongolia before but you’ve shown me the pros of the place!

  21. stephen says:

    Wow! You always take such great photo’s a real eye for the art in a scene. Love this article I have travelled afar but never Mongolia x one for the bucket list x thanks for the awesome post

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Nicol Wong

Nicol is a British Chinese blogger, using this blog to document the good, the bad and the ugly experiences, thoughts and personal journeys.

欢迎您来到我的博客!Nicol是一名英国华裔博主。她用这个博客记下来一些经历过好的,坏的及丑陋的时光,想法与自我之旅。