July 16

all Manzhouli signs are in Mongolian, Chinese, and Russian

Friday morning, the group had a little trouble getting started but we finally assembled at 10:30 on the bus for our prairie “field trip”. The delay was also somewhat due to the fact that Zhiyong was out gathering supplies for what turned out to be a picnic feast. Charlotte and Zhiyong did not accompany us since they had errands to run and Zhiyong’s father was due in on the train.

On board the bus as we traveled out into the countryside, we watched and listened to seemingly endless Mongolian or Tibetan music videos . You could even follow the Chinese characters turning red to sing along (instead of following the bouncing ball). A few of the folks did sing along.

Manzhouli is completely surrounded by wide open rolling grassland prairie. It reminded us of Montana or Wyoming although there were no mountains in the distance. There were, however, some angry looking clouds in the distance. We drove about an hour west on a very narrow and uneven highway. Along the way, we saw small villages, smoky charcoal making “plants” plus sheep, cows, goats, donkeys, and horses grazing along the roadside. Eventually we drove off the road onto a deeply rutted dirt road leading to a small cluster of yurts.

The group was quite excited that there was a fresh water spring here. Many filled their water bottles with the sweet tasting water. I-i even dumped the water out of her purchased water bottle to fill it with this spring water. Although it reminded us of Olympia’s artesian well water, we chose not to risk tasting it. There was a shrine of sorts at the spring and I-i thought that it indicated the area had been blessed. The people in the surrounding yurts totally ignored us and just went about their own business. We found it odd but didn’t get an explanation.

Not speaking the language has definite drawbacks. At times we felt a little out of it, or confused, and occasionally helpless. I guess that is why people do guided tours in China!! Of course, we wouldn’t swap our incredible experiences for the comfort of a guided tour any day!

Next we all set out walking across the prairie while the bus drove around and met us on a hillside overlooking a small lake, nearby grazing flocks of sheep and goats, and a small town along the road in the distance. When a large herd of horses came galloping out of nowhere to the lake, everyone, including us, got very excited and animated. There were probably a hundred horses and several foals. The horses were owned by the Mongolian people living in the yurts but were semi-wild and somewhat skittish when we tried to get very close.

We probably spent close to three hours in this spot--walking the hills, gorging on the gourmet picnic fixings, getting a charcoal fire going to cook meat-and-fat skewers (really good), dodging the rain, and finally watching a thunder and lightening storm swirl its way across the grasslands towards us.

When we loaded back up and lumbered off in the bus, Mark and I assumed that we were done for the day but we were wrong. There was one abortive attempt to go through a large farm (too muddy) and the bus had to back out the way it came in. We never found out what that was about.

Finally, with Manzhouli visible, we turned off the road along another rutted but flag festooned dirt road leading to a large complex of large and small yurts. This turned out to be a commercial establishment. Some of us, myself included, took a horseback ride. We also took pictures with a cranky 11-year old dromedary who complained loudly and spat and got nuzzled by a curious 3-year old dromedary who also spat (much to everyone’s amusement when one of the aunts caught it full on in her face). We all also used the latrine which sported two rectangular holes in the floor over a pit…..oh, well, life in the country.

The visit culminated in an extravagant Mongolian dinner. First course included blood sausage, tripe, liver, heart, and rice and lamb sausage. We were also entertained by singers and musicians--rock-n-roll meets Mongolia. One young man in a long black embroidered coat sporting slick-backed hair made us chuckle to each other--Elvis has entered the room or, wait, was it Elton?! Another played an electronic keyboard. However, two young men were playing the authentic horse-head fiddle called a morin khuur which is Mongolia’s national instrument. A couple of young women in ethnic clothing rounded out the group.

horse-head fiddles

There was a rice wine drinking ceremony (kind of like downing shots of tequila) which involved throwing back three bowlfuls and getting draped by a white scarf as a reward. Someone motioned towards Mark but I scowled and waved them off. At that point, a hot-rock roasted goat was carried in and Charlotte’s father was designated to partake in a ceremony of some sort accepting the goat, I guess (there is that language gap again).

We then all ate goat meat!  Mark and I also were offered a few tasty vegetable dishes that had been ordered by some in the group who were sick of meat (and other animal products). Ah….. Just about that time the bride and groom appeared and we found out that there was to be a wedding rehearsal at the church that night. A bit later Charlotte’s sister Wang Hui, I-I, Dong Ying, Mark, and I loaded into a taxi and careened off into town.