It was very easy to wake for the sunrise as the light floods in an illuminates the Yurt. My guides werent waking up as they've seen it so many times so it was up to me. After the initial excitement you realize this is a very slow process taking over an hour. I managed to sleep ok and it wasnt too cold overnight in all the layers of clothes and blankets. Unfortunately someone was a smoker in my sleeping bag so now all my clothes stank.There are no toilets or runni...

Just my luck with me, travelling, and rain. All night I could hear the sound of rain tapping on the window and rooftop. By the morning it was quite heavy. How am I supposed to goto the grasslands now when it will be raining all day, nowhere indoors to cover, and the ground will be all mud. I was thinking they might even cancel it and that I dont feel like going if this is how the weather is going to be.When I came down I said I was going to try to change my fligh...

Just my luck with me, travelling, and rain. All night I could hear the sound of rain tapping on the window and rooftop. By the morning it was quite heavy. How am I supposed to goto the grasslands now when it will be raining all day, nowhere indoors to cover, and the ground will be all mud. I was thinking they might even cancel it and that I dont feel like going if this is how the weather is going to be. When I came down I said I was going to try to change my flig...

For lunch I headed up from where the two main buddhist temples are to the muslim quarter. Already from here you could see arabic architecture in the distance. About a 10 minute walk north you are in the muslim district. The first thing you see is a giant white domed arabic structure. This is in fact a new musque under construction next to the old mosque.Unlike my visit to Xinjiang province in August, these are ethnic Hui Chinese Muslims, not Uyghars. Hui Chinese ...

My evening flight from Beijing had brought me to Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia Province. Confusingly there are two Mongolia's. The country of Mongolia with its Capital Ulaan Bator, and the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia on the south that borders the country of Mongolia to the north. Even more confusing the chinese outer province is called 'inner' mongolia when it would make sense to be 'outer' mongolia to the main country.I knew about Hohhot and Inner...