Green--Bashang Grassland: Beyond the Horizon(2)

Bashang

Where to stay:

     Hotels are everywhere. If in Bashang, you should definitely stay in the local feature dwelling--Mongolian yurt. It's a wood-framed mobile house used by the nomads. It's designed to be easily dismantled and carried by camels. The complete construction only takes two hours. But now people build commercial yurts at Bashang for tourists to stay. They are a lot bigger and stronger. I stayed in the yurt for one night and it was like a regular hotel room, except the strangely shaped ceiling. It's the same price as regular hotels ($25-30), and if you don't mind, you can share a yurt with other people (there is a wall in the middle but not all the way to the top). It can get very cool even in summer. So bring a thin coat with you. There are also yurt restaurants. Now you can imagine how big it is.



Mongolian Yurt hotels

 

Inside of the yurt



     Late July to August is the busiest time for Bashang. There is a campfire party basically every night. People sing, and dance, and drink. There is no age limit for drinking in China, so have fun with that. And of course there are lots of delicious food. There is no social barrier at Bashang. People are known for their simplicity and hospitality. They welcome every visitor and bring out the best food.

People dancing at the campfire party

Food:

     Food is a very important aspect of the Mongolian life. People at Bashang are heavy in diary and meat, especially beef and lamb. The most famous food of Bashang is the roast whole lamb. People used to save the little lamb for the most honored guests. The cook will skewer the lamb after they clean the inside. The seasoning is mixed ahead of the time, containing oil, sesame paste, salt, pepper, and many other seasoning. When the outside meat is ready, people will slice the outside layer. Layer by layer, the lamb is finished and only the bones are left. Don't waste those bones. You can ask the cook to make bone soup while you enjoy a cool drink. The soup is very delicious because of all the seasoning left on the bones. And it's very nutritious, high Calcium, high protein.

     Lamb kebab is also a local special. People skewer small cubes of soft lamb and roast them. It's very delicious relatively cheap.



Roast Whole Lamb

Lamb Kebab

Tips for Travelling in China

For readers:

• Are you travelling on a budget?
• Do you enjoy scenic natural wonders?
• Do you enjoy companies and making friends?
• Are you willing to try local food?

     If all are yes, this is the place for you!

     For young travellers who want to explore China as much as possible on a limited budget, I recommend the following tourist resorts in my blog. Those sites cover many different types of tourist attractions, including grasslands, ancient villages, snowy mountains, and seascapes, etc. Many of the places have both stunning natural scenery and a relatively busy downtown area where you can buy necessities and have fun. So don't worry about ending up in the middle of nowhere.

     But before everything starts, I want to give you some suggestions about travelling in China.

Travel Options:

• Indenpendent Travel:

     Good:

     You can design your own itinerary. You can get up whenever you want and go wherever you want to go. You don't have to wait for others in your group. Basically you are travelling with a free spirit.

     Bad:

     You have to do a comprehensive research before you go, including where to stay, where to go, what to eat, where to shop..etc. When you don't know the place very well and it's not a very popular site, it's very hard to judge whether the information is accurate or it's just a sale advertisement.

• Travel Agency:

     Good:

     The agency will arrange everything for you, including a pre-designed itinerary that packs major tourist sites, feature activities, places to stay...etc. Some meals are included but you also have the choice to try local food on your own. Transportation is included, mostly by bus if it's under 6 hours, but depending on the places you travel, trains are also very common.

     There are many itineraries available and it can be very flexible. You simply look for the one that includes the places you want to go and search for the right trip length and price.

     Depending on the service you choose, you can have the assembly place in your city. Kind of like a teacher taking students on a school trip, students will meet in school and the teacher will take the students to the trip. People from your city will meet in the assembly place and the group will go the destination together. Or you can a regional guide or a ground guide who meets you at the train station or airport or bus station and takes you to the hotel. You are responsible for the transportation to the travel site place. The ground tour guide will take everyone in the hotel and start the tour as soon as possible but no later than the next day.

     Bad:

     If your own group doesn't have enough people for the agency to start the trip, most likely you will be combined with strangers. You can't predict what team members you will get. They could be annoying. Sometimes when you finish the tour at one site, you have to wait for others who linger for an extra 15 min just to take a photo or buy a souvenir.

     Most tours are very exhausting. The agency will try to pack as many sties as possible into the itinerary. You don't have much time on your own outside the schedule. But you can always skip a site you don't want to go and stay in the hotel.

     The agency guarantees the hotel star level and meals, but sometimes they are not as good as you expected. Even the tour guide sometimes say: "We don't guarantee the quality of the meal, but we definitely guarantee the quantity of it. So eat your fill."

     Economic tour itineraries will have shopping places built in. I guarantee that the sale market has business partnership with the travel agency and the agency get a certain percent of the sale profit. That's the reason why the tour guide will strongly persuade you to buy souvenirs. Don't get into the trap. The sellers know that you won't come back just for a souvenir, so it's hard to guarantee the quality.



Lunch with other tour groups

• Recommendation:

     It would be the best if you have enough people (4-8,depending on the travel) so you can start a tour on your own. I experienced many travel agencies personally and I recommend the following ones. They are very credible and they will try to meet the customers' need. All of them have tour guide that speaks fluent English or other foreign languages. I strongly recommend ground guides. They only charge service fees, and it's pretty cheap if group members are sharing the cost. You can arrive the city and explore around on your own for one day or two before you start your tour. When you design your own tour with them, you can skip the shopping places and ask them to take you to a legitimate mall.

http://kanghuitravel.com/

http://www.cytsonline.com/

http://www.cits.net/

http://www.chinatravelsolution.com/



Typical Chinese Tour guide