Anyway yesterday I met up with Jolene, Sharon, Melissa, Carmen, Weiqi and Yang Peng! We met at Vivo and had dinner together. Finally get to meet some of the 4E1 peeps. Been a long time since we all met and talk huh :) As for today, I had lunch with Candy, her sister, Nic and Kayheng! Following a walk walk session with Doreen, Alicia and Junhua. Shihui joined us later. Yay I finally meet some of my awesome Green Transformer team! :D
And yup I'll be going back tomorrow. Finally going back home. I kinda miss it haha, my comfy room, my family, my dogs and the fooood. I hope it'll be a great way to end off my September holiday :)
Alright now I shall blog about the OCIP trip! My plan is to blog about some parts of the OCIP itself. Not day per day, cause I think it'll take a long time and I'm lazy to transfer what I wrote in my journal to here. Sorry heh, laziness at its best.
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Inner Mongolia OCIP write up #1 - 8 hours bus ride, times two
In order to reach Duolun, we had to take an 8 hours (approximately) bus ride there from Huairou, Beijing. We headed off that day, 6th of September at about 9 AM and we reached Duolun at about 6 PM. That is inclusive of lunch at Feng Ning and the occasional toilet break we had. Some in proper toilets, some just... Road side. It's a pretty interesting experience I guess.
Armed with an iPod, I was either awake or asleep or talking during the journey. The first few hours of the journey I was kinda awake. I was writing my journal and listening to my iPod, as I enjoy the scenery. The scenery of the first few parts of the journey were really plain and normal to me. More of tall rocky mountains with small shrubs growing on them. Less of what I was looking for - grasslands.
After Feng ning, which I learnt from a local that it's near Inner Mongolia, the view start to change. Tall mountains are filled with grasses. And surrounding them are grasslands or empty plots of lands. The rows or maize plants turn into wheat. Green turn into yellow. It was really a gradually awesome change. And somehow, the sky turned nicer too. From cloudy to blue, with a slight drizzle in the middle.
Then somehow something tells me that we've reached Inner Mongolia - the grasslands. Somehow we just entered this area, and a stretch of grassland greeted us. We saw a small Mongolian ger as well. And straight away, I know we're in Inner Mongolia. It was really a beautiful sight. I felt really blessed and happy to have been chosen for this trip. To be able to see all these wonderful sights.
Right after that the journey didn't come to an end. I thought Duolun was nearby and I was really anticipating the bus to stop and for me to see how Duolun looks like. In my mind, Duolun is a small sleepy town with grassland surrounding them. Like a tiny village but with a touch of modernity. And the hotel we're staying will be some super simplistic hotel where the owner is this old lady who will cook us breakfast.
Alas I was wrong :P
I've never taken a bus ride so long before. I've taken a 7 hour train ride, where the seat is comfortable, toilet is there, food is there. That was in Norway 2 years ago. But never an 8 hour bus ride. Somehow, it was really a fun and enjoyable ride I've been on. The beautiful sights, the wonderful company of my friends, and wonderful music in my ear. I was listening to Sacral Nirvana by Oliver Shanti and friends on the way.
I wrote in my journal: "With Sacral Nirvana in my ears, it feels like I'm in one now"
Which is really true, I feel really blissful and awesome to just listen to that song, and watch the grassland and everything else pass by. It's amazing how music can change everything, every mood and every feeling you have in one particular moment.
And on the last day we had in Inner Mongolia, that was the last day we had in Lanqi after we stayed one night in a Mongolian ger (16/09/2011), we had another 8 hour journey back to Beijing. This time round it was kind of faster, cause we had no lunch but we grabbed a street food pancake in Feng Ning instead of having a meal in a restaurant. So we headed off at 8 from Lanqi and we reached Beijing at 4 or so.
Same thing, we had our occasional stops for our toilet break. This time round, I got to experience peeing in a super beautiful gorge. I mean it's seriously beautiful. I think it deserved a best toilet award! :P And from Lanqi we passed by Duolun. It was a great way for me to relive the moments I had in that beautiful town. I thought we wouldn't pass by it, but we did eventually.
The thing is, I somehow feel that the ride back to Beijing was faster than the ride to Duolun. Even though by right, the time taken was almost the same. Maybe shorter by a bit but doesn't differ by a lot. The views we passed by were not exactly the same, maybe ji shi fu, our driver, took another route. Or maybe it was the same, just that I couldn't remember.
I guess it's right that they say - the journey back always feels shorter. I guess perhaps because on the way to Duolun, my heart was filled with excitement and anticipation. The wait thus felt longer. And on the way back, my heart was filled with memories and stories. The journey felt shorter, because instead of being excited, I was feeling sentimental and my thought was filled with stories instead.
A distraction that steals me away from time, that steals time away from my obvious mind.
The 8 hour journey, will be something I'll never forget :)
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