Back from Inner Mongolia!

Hello all! I'm back from Inner Mongolia! Actually it was two days ago but last night I fell asleep and hence I didn't blog. Believe it or not I'm leaving for Korea tonight for an exchange trip with my band! Yup one day of rest and then off I go again. I wanna blog a few things about my Inner Mongolia trip so here I am! :)

Anyway to sum everything up, the trip is just one super duper freaking awesome trip. It was the best two weeks of my life so far. Inner Mongolia itself is such a beautiful place! Seriously loving it there. I'm also surrounded by awesome friends, friendly locals. The food there is awesome as well. I can't help but to have severe withdrawal syndrome after the trip. That's another reason I didn't blog last night. Cause I was feeling sad and horrible, all I wanna do is just to watch TV :/

I spent 14 days there. The first week was alright, lots of digging and marking. I'm a marker by the way, with Yong An and Jeff. We marked out the plots for the diggers to dig the holes. It may seem like a simple job. Actually it's not really. It's quite stressful! Haha

The second week was like the finilisation on the whole planting process. We plant the saplings and we water most of the holes. Don't forget the R&R days as well. We spent some days going for sightseeing tours in the second week.

The thing I like about the trip is that we're not "bounded" by tours. We're free to buy our own things, daily necessities and food. We're free to roam the city and engage with the locals. Do our laundry, get things to eat. So in a sense we have more freedom and "adventure" during the trip, which I really love! In the second week we're given the chance to buy our own dinner and lunch. That's awesome eh.

The working days are fabulous as well. We would work from 9 to about 12.30, then have lunch either outside or on the field (most of the time on the field) from 12.30 to about 2. Then we start working again till 5.30. We would carry our shovels into the field, wearing gloves and straw hats, working together. In the afternoon it could get quite warm when the sun is whining. In the evening, the temperature drops rather quickly.

There are times where we would have to wait for the rain to subside, or to stop working when the rain gets heavier. I would also miss those times where we would use the natural toilets! Just look for a tree and pee woots. Sometimes after we work, the sunset would be so beautiful. It felt really awesome to see the sunset after a day of hard work. It's like a gift from the sky to us.

At night we would go back to our hotel, eating dinner together in the same place. The food is nice. I love their shou ba rou, or like stewed lamb meat and then chopped then dipped in sauce. Breakfast would get a bit boring as we're having the same thing for like about 10 days heh. There are different food in Duolun itself. I like the beef noodle and the dumplings. So yummy!

The town itself is rather small. But there are still cars and people walking etc, quite bustling. But the pace of life there is so slow, so relaxing, so nice. Unlike here in Singapore, or Beijing where life feels so fast. When we returned to Beijing, we could feel how much faster life went by in Beijing rather than in Duolun. I really miss Duolun. The people there, the food, the weather. Everything.

Inner Mongolia is a beautiful place. It was my first time seeing grasslands stretching wild and free under the blue sky. Herds of cows or donkeys can be seen in the distance. Some lonely trees would be there to dance and sway in the wind. Plus since it's autumn now, some of the grasses turn yellow or even red. Some of the tree leaves as well. It's such a beautiful scene.

Yesterday was really horrible. I was having severe withdrawal syndrome. My heart didn't feel right, I felt really empty and sad that the trip is over. I guess I was really having such a good time there. I told myself, you know you had a wonderful trip when you feel emotionally attached to the people around you, to the places you visited and to the locals.

In my case, yes, I am really emotionally bonded with the places there :)

Alright I guess that's all for now. When I got back from Korea I will do more posting about the trip, and about the Korean trip as well. See you in one week time! Hope I'll have an awesome time in Korea, which I know I will! :)

Feels weird not counting down to my Inner Mongolia OCIP trip. But I had such a good time there. It's one experience I'll never forget. An experience that will remain in my heart.