Inner Mongolia, China

Air Asia X to Tianjin.. 1am flight

Tianjin International Airport

Edwin is great... what a guy...
he even helps Sau Kuen to tie her shoelaces...

Arrive at Tianjin airport in the morning... get on the bus to train station

On the bus...

Train station

Met up with a leng lui ... she gave us some directions
Wow look at all our luggage...

Modern station... yay we are here in China...

Get on the bullet train

View outside train

Faster than a speeding bullet !

About 30 mins and we arrive in Beijing

Sau Kuen our tour organizer,
gets train tickets for next day to Badaling Great Wall

Next, put our heavy luggage in lockers at the train station, so we can walk around without carrying too many stuff..

After a quick lunch, hop on another bus... usually its $1 yuan per person

Going to our first tourist stop in Beijing...

Clear signage... wow Beijing is so modern and clean...

3 wheel transport...

Buy tickets

Lots of open space for citizens to do their activities... dancing etc..

On the way to Temple of Heaven

Yay... this is one of Beijing famous landmark

Heh Heh

Echo wall

Go to another side, another temple

Next ... Tiananmen square

Tiananmen Square

Quite hot.. Buy some drinks

Kelly and Sau Kuen go and collect train tickets from a friend
while me and Edwin visit the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City)

Ok we are here in the Imperial Palace ... since already around 2pm..
we got 3 hours to cover this place.

Another building...

Got a few of these big buckets,
used to store water for firefighting in the old days

Another building... its a really big place...

Stone carvings

This is suppose to be the longest stone carving...
amazing how they were able to move this slab of stone around...

Oh.. there is a garden with lots of old trees... this was where all the concubines used to hang out...

Ok, meet up with Sau Kuen and Kelly... time for dinner...

Take the LRT

Eat some famous duck

First day in China, decided to spend abit more on food...

Back to the lockers to collect luggage...

Get a taxi

Check in to the youth hostel... quite comfortable...
common toilets outside... feeling really tired so went to bed early...

Next morning .. this is the Beijing train station we will be going to later in the evening... right in front of the youth hostel

Youth hostel

Take the LRT... on the way to another train station

Jet Li promoting some milk

Grab some breakfast at KFC...

Wow so modern buildings...

Oh.. we missed the train by a few mins, the gate closed early ...
Go and get another ticket...

Run run run to catch the train !!!

We are on the train to Badaling... on the way to see The Great Wall of China

View outside window...

Can see parts of the Great Wall

Ok arrive in Badaling, walk abit to the entrance

World Heritage sign I think...

Lots of people here... its a weekend...

Yay...

Yes crowded with people.. but if you stick our head outside.. its actually quite peaceful and windy ...

Quite steep

Beautiful... amazing....

Still a long way, didn't walk all the way .. got human traffic jam .. bottle neck... imagine a huge crowd squeezing into one door...

Met up with the rest... have some snacks

Get on the bus back to Beijing

Toilet stop at Mcdonalds

Next tourist stop... the Hutong.. some old shop houses thing..

Wedding couple taking photos

Shopping for souvenirs

Kelly getting directions

Another landmark building ... drum building or something

Wow.. electric bus

Have lunch... trying out famous beijing food.... popiah...
and some intestines thing with peanut sauce.. and noodles... nope, not used to eating this...

Back to Hutongs, walking around and have some pudding dessert...

Walking around... these are actual houses, with people still staying

Bicycle

Snooping around in other people's back yard...

Olden style bicycle repair shop ... everything in one cabinet..
According the Edwin, used to see this in Malaysia back in the old days

Take a bus back to hostel... and walk walk walk

Have dinner at Edwin's favourite restaurant... Mr Lee restaurant... some kind of fast food chinese food...

Food is ok...

After shower, catch the train to Harbin....

Spend the night on the train... this is the first class coach...
Private room for 4 of us... quite comfortable ... with plug point to charge battery.
Just have to wake up early to use the toilet..

View outside the train

Arrive in Harbin, one of the northern cities in China

Exit station

Store luggage ...

In the morning... its cooler here compared to Beijing.

Line up for tickets, try to change to more comfortable seats for tonight's train ride, and also purchase tickets back to Tianjin...

Get on the 21 bus to the famous Harbin street

Crossing the road... which side to wait for the bus ? Have to ask the locals

Some on the stalls in the underground pedestrain crossing tunnel ..
selling famous Harbin sausage

On the bus...

Roundabout ...

Ok arrrive on this street... famous for unique European looking architecture..

Walk walk walk... still early.. some of the makan shops still closed..

Ask around for a place to eat... one of the locals recommended this place

Dumplings and more dumplings.... with vegetables inside

Yummy breakfast... also got some hak mai porridge... (black pulut)

After breakfast, walk around... getting more and more people ..
Lots of big brand names... Zara... Rolex.. etc...
This whole street is a shopping area...

Statue at the end of the street

Get on a ferry to 'Sun Island' .. guy selling ice cream and pop corn

On the way to Sun Island

On Sun Island.. another tourist place... walk around...

Let's rent a bike

Rented a few bicycles and cycle around

Two people on one bike

On the way back, grab some fruit... fruit on a stick... no plastic bags.. very environmentally friendly ...

Back to the shopping street

A local talking to Edwin and practicing his English

Lunch time .... suppose to be a famous pancake restaurant.. even Chia and Mr Chin has eaten here before I think.... wrap the vegetables in the popiah skin....

Eat eat eat...

Ice cream again.... this trip we ate alot of ice cream...

Walk walk walk .. getting hot.. need umbrella

Another famous landmark... some kind of old Russian style church building

Yeah

Inside.. some photo exhibition... about the architecture history of Harbin

Earlier on there was a nice bus driver who gave Kelly some ticket stubs as souvenir.
Next still got time... walk walk walk some more... buy some bananas.
Been walking all day man... longer than trekking... 8 ++ hours already.

Ask many people for directions to another famous building.... got lost ..
Lucky thing met up with this friendly aunty... she not only show us the way.. even ran with us to the bus stop ... got on the bus back to the Harbin train station. If we were not in a hurry she said she wanted to make us some dumplings...

After dinner, evening waited for Sau Kuen and Kelly to sort out the train tickets back to Tianjin, sold out, so had to make adjustments to schedule.... ok no problem...
Now waiting in the train station for train to Hailaer, Inner Mongolia...

Oh my god... no more first class... this is more public... 3 storey bed ....
All of us sleep at the top deck... at least more comfortable than sitting down...
can sleep ... actually better, since Kelly can mix around and chat with anybody and Edwin managed to chat with a leng lui English teacher...

Next morning, breakfast... have some instant noodles...

Yay, we are here in Inner Mongolia.... Hailaer train station

Met up with our driver.... Siau Pang ?
At first shock to see that his car is quite small... good thing I pack light
So just nice all our luggage can fit in the boot...

Whoo hoo.....

First stop in Inner Mongolia... some nice grasslands scenery...
This river scene suppose to be very famous..
Sorry, camera too small, can't capture the whole thing...
Amazing...

Small car.. but very terror, can drive offroad to the grasslands..

Sheep

Yes... another amazine grasslands / river scenery with sheep...

Ok drive to next town...

Time for lunch... Edwin and driver choose which part of the lamb..

Lamb for lunch... wow... with some potatoes and vegetables
scrape the bone clean with a knife... also had some milk tea and blueberry juice..

Oh... already full.. but still have to eat ice cream... yummy

Lots of hay... its autumn now, they are storing hay for winter I think ..
for the cows..

Stop for another photoshoot

Nice autumn colours...

Lucky for us, Siau Pang turns out to be a very good photographer !
Ask him to take photos for us.

Sheep and horseman

Stop to look at some nice trees

Sau Kuen, our tour organizer...

Mounds of hay dot the landscape...

River...

Calf

We arrive at a village, check in to our rooms... quite comfortable
Getting really cold now... had dinner with the other guests..
Also tried some local wine...

Next morning

Walking around... somebody died... the owners son I think...
Got drunk and stabbed in a fight...
So no breakfast today...

Dogs ... that's the toilet on the left...

Very cold in the morning...

Exploring the town

River

Cows crossing the river

Funny solar powered lamp post...

Visit a school, help Kelly give away the pencils and erasers that she brought along to give away to the kids... pass it to one of the teachers

Visit the classrooms....

Very nice school for a small village in Inner Mongolia...

Wow, this looks like a typical house in the village... with the chimney..

Stop at the Grocery store to buy water... got some mushrooms..

Breakfast at another house... a hot bowl of noodles... yummy

Eat...

Ok, next .. stop by roadside for photshoot ... met up with some other Hong Kong tourists

Statue... on top of a hill

In another town... nice view

Satalite dish...

Nice trees etc...

Ok.. lunch time... delicious food...
Tou fu fah (bean curd) ... with some sauce..
Something different because in Malaysia we normally eat this with gula melaka

Yummy blueberry juice .... good stuff

Tofu fah

The restaurant... catered to tourists... so toilets quite clean

Another beautiful scenery... river...

Stop for toilet somewhere..

Red leaves

This is the Erguna Nature Reserve... not many people here..
Hope to keep this this way.... otherwise too many tourist will ruin the beauty of this place..

Wow... beautiful.... Opposite the river can see Russia

Driving to another town

Farmers burning the fields... to get better soil I think...

Professional photographers... even have to stand on the car..

Arrive at the town...

Toilet stop and check out the rooms... we decide to spend the night here

Tonight me and Sau Kuen share this room ...

Villagers come out to show us their horses...

Kelly and Edwin pick their horses and do some horseriding...

Moo ...

Quack quack...

Horses...

Beef burger... speghetti bolognese...

Me and Sau Kuen walk up a hill

Met up the Kelly and Edwin... climb up the tower for a better view

Some other tourists...

Below the town where we are staying ... opposite the river is Russia

Dog

Opps... missed the sunset...

Nevermind still quite nice, getting cold

Alot of tourist here with nice big cameras...

Dinnertime, Edwin decides to order some fish...
We love to eat more vegetables... but our driver is a meat man..
Will order some lamb tomorrow...

Next morning... nice misty view

River covered with mist...

This is the house where we stayed...

Breakfast

Corn porridge.. milk porridge, egg with bread... salted vegetables
and yummy blueberry jam... good stuff...

Met up with some cantonese speaking tourists...

Stop here for a quick photoshoot... opposite the river is Russia..

Hay

Some more nice grasslands view...

Pang and his car

Give way to the big load of hay coming this way...

Lunch stop... lamb and some vegetables...
Edwin didn't understand what he ordered so we ended up with 2 plates of vegetables.. can't finish all...

Yummy yummy... I love the food here in Inner Mongolia...
Pang always brings us to the nice place with good food....

The restaurant...

Stop to buy groceries for tonight dinner...

Saw some horses on the way....

Take photo of horses

Wow this car can go off road and driving on the grass...
We are going to his friend's place.. the mongolian yurt...

Arrive at the yurt ...

Our room in the yurt... big enough to fit 2 queen sized beds..

Enough comfortable blankets ...

Having some tea at the kitchen tent/yurt

Cowdung make good firewood..

Edwin posing in front of the door...

Heh heh .... its all grass... flat land... amazing...

Photoshoot... the mongolian couple change into their traditional costumes..

Kelly brings out her tripod and instant poloriod camera, so we can all be in the group photo...

Photo session in the Yurt

Me next to the kitchen yurt ...

Getting cold ... checking out the toilet ...

A big mound of cowdung...

First yurt is our room... second yurt is kitchen tent.. 3rd on I think is the couple's room... they also have a satellite dish...

Next morning... see them milk the cows...

Becareful not to step on the shit...

Moo...

Mom cow and baby calf together...

Friendly dog...

Siaw Pang helping his friends set up the fan...

Windpower to generate electricity...

Boiling the milk

Edwin trying out the bow and arrow...

Ok.. we leave the Yurt... and arrive in Manzouli town ...

Check in to our hotel....

Back to civilization with decent toilet ....

Mahjong table with automatic shuffle...

Lunch time

More dumplings... wah so much food.... yummy yummy

Walking around Manzouli town... Edwin posing with a dummy...

Lots of sports shop here selling sweaters, sports shoes...etc...

This town is close to the Russian border... some Russian signage
Can see quite a few Russians come here to shop...
Bought some chocolates, socks and gloves...

Time for dinner... yummy barbeque.. lamb leg... delicious..
Kelly says must recommend anyone who comes to Manzhouli must try the
BBQ lamb.

Manzholi at night...

Nice lights with European looking architecture

Getting cold... 3 degrees .... night time photoshoot...

Next morning.. pack up.... long drive today...

Breakfast... tea egg... sui tan... yummy yummy...

Another tourist stop.... giant Russian Egg Dolls...

Nemo

This dolls remind me of Higglytown Heroes, the cartoon..

Ok... long drive today..

Stop at a grasslands swamp to see some birds...

Driving around in the middle of nowhere looking for birds...swans.. seagulls etc..

Whoo hoo ....

Stop at another town for lunch...

Very clean, all the restaurants in Inner Mongolia... wrapped in plastic..

Siau Pang gives me some lamb bones... looks like the spine.. and the spinal cord is suppose to be the best part...

Yummy... vegetables and soup yummy....

Oh look a camel... stop for photoshoot with furry camel...

Drive drive drive... this looks like they are constructing a railway line

Already dark... finally arrive at the National Park ... check in and time for dinner... The black fungus is good.... food is slightly more expensive here.. tourist area...

Nice comfortable rooms...

The place we stayed in the National Park

Selling some dried flowers, mushrooms and black fungus...

Do some trekking today...

Got a platform for us to walk.... this place suppose to be volcanic rocks or something..

Walk up another hill... steps all ready ...

Nice lake

Another place in the national park... some kind of canyon with lots of rocks

Buy some ice cream...

Lake

Oh wow.. a Taliban..

Sisters tree

Some kind of rock that suppose to look like King Kong

Long drive today, and arrive in another town... dinner time .. no appetite ...

The hostel where we stayed.. not too good...

Siaw Pang takes us to see some pine trees

This is the largest pine tree forest in the world......

In the car...

Photo with weird pine tree

Sharing a happy moment... today will be our last day together with
our driver Pang

Some factories... power plant

Last meal in Inner Mongolia... need to have the BBQ lamb again !
Another branch.. same shop that we ate in Manzhouli...

BBQ lamb leg.. with vegetables and pickels... yummy...
and also some beer and coke...

Hailaer Train Station.... bye bye...

From the peaceful grasslands to the crowded train station

Taking the 4pm train back to Tianjin

Its gonna be a long train ride ... 28 hours.. will arrive next day 7pm in Tianjin..
Time for a nap... again sleeping on the top deck... zzz

Public coach... but no problem.. Kelly and the rest can mix around and chat with the locals... some nice ladies gave us some peanuts etc...

Have our meals on the train... dinner, breakfast, lunch....
Instant noodles, bananas, chocolate, blueberry drink...

Arrive in Tianjin.... took a taxi to one of the popular places...

Some young kids playing music in front of a pub

Tianjin.. very modern... impressive buildings... Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Parkson,
Isetan... but already getting late... shops already closing

Taxi...

Stop to buy some snacks to bring home...

Time for dinner... decided to eat Mcdonalds...

Went into one of the shopping complex... decided to watch a movie..
RM15 bucks for a ticket ! Movie title is "Founding of a Republic" or something
Got a quick history lesson about Chairman Mao... according to Edwin this is all propaganda ....

Walking around Tianjin in the middle of the night... walking back to
the train station.

Edwin's favourite restaurant.. Mr Lee...

Got our bags and took a taxi to the Tianjin International Airport
already 1am, will camp here tonight.... wash up in the very clean airport toilet..

Next morning, have a KFC pork burger for breakfast... yummy...
flight is at 8am..

Byee byee China...

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