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Travel Diaries
July 2018: Erenhot, Inner Mongolia
Curiosity Central
After a tedious drive to Beijing’s airport, I was already tired from a journey that hadn’t even begun yet. I fastened my
backpack and yanked my jacket defiantly as the driver insisted I should take it with me, felt more like an argument truthfully.
Boarding the plane was rather effortless without a glut of luggage, as I strolled to my seat I received some rather strange
glances from the passengers aboard; their puzzled looks amused me a little as I must have been a rare entity to them.
What business would a South African born Indian possibly have in Erenhot, anyway? On tenterhooks, they curiously peeped over their shoulders to catch a glimpse of my passport, judging by their body language and dialect; they were definitely
dissimilar compared to the average Beijinger. As I sat down; I was greeted with a cordial smile from the guy sitting alongside me.
The departure had been a little delayed, so the guy casually started a conversation…”South Africa?”, he asked
inquisitively as he looked at my passport in awe, “Aren’t you a little Asian?...I mean, your hair?...” and that’s when I met
Jason Bay, a local from the bizarre Erenhot also known as Erlian, he was a Business Communications student living in the
glitzy Sanlitun in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, which is well known for its prestigious bar streets and international stores, what an enigma it was to have him fit so well in Beijing.
He had certainly fancied the fact that a traveler from afar had chosen to visit his hometown. The flight was about an hour and a half long, we spoke about all sorts of things from education to our families.
He seemed like a caring gentleman, he beamed when he spoke of his grandmother and how he had planned to take her
shopping the day after his arrival. I secretly admired that.
Finally, we descended into Erenhot, Jason guided me through the airport and made certain I was safe in my cab before he left
with his family. He gave me his number and said I should call if I needed anything during my stay. How kind of him.
In the far north of China, the mystifying Erenhot is a border town in Inner Mongolia which is the largest hub
for cross border trade between Mongolia and China. The out of date city has a personality of its own as it is located in the Gobi Desert giving it an overall archaic feeling. It’s known as the “Dinosaur City” as it was once the home of dozens of dinosaurs about 70 million years ago. Many dinosaur fossils have been found in this area, many known to be the biggest and best preserved in Asia, what an honour it was to be there.
The cab driver was rather strange himself, the air was cool and dry, he played some Chinese rock music-the equivalent to The
Eagle’s, Hotel California…the “dark desert highway”…in this situation seemed really fitting indeed. He whistled along to the
beat of the music then abruptly answered a phone call, making him even kookier than he already looked, the words he uttered
were a faint mix of Chinese mumbles and a garbling dash of…Russian, was it?.
Intrigued, I stared out the window as we drove through a long stretch of road with sand on either side for what seemed to go
on forever, I had spotted some outmoded dinosaur figurines along the road, just posing by their lonesome selves.
Far in the distance I noticed some lights, I figured we were approaching the city, just then I spotted the “Kissing Dinosaurs”,
there were two dinosaurs on either side of the highway, their long necks stretching to the other until their mouths meet at a
kiss, they were majestically huge towering over the road, the area behind them had been littered with dozens of other smaller
dinosaurs in all shapes and sizes, perhaps they were their children.
The feeling of the town was medieval, the people and the ambience were outlandish but in a peculiar way, I enjoyed it and was
rather piqued at the prehistoric feeling it gave. I felt as if I had time traveled to another era, it was incredible. The rest of my stay had been interesting; the town was nothing like I had ever seen before.
I loved the eccentric aura exuded by the locals and the place itself. The hotel, the streets, even the shopping mall emanated
feelings of an anachronistic setting, an outré as the hair on my arms were erect from the strangeness but my mind was
absolutely captivated at the feeling of unsettledness, how paradoxical? A few days later, I was ready to go back “home” to
China; Erenhot was definitely a place of mystery and an assurance that the world is so vast, there’s so much to experience and
there’s so much we haven’t already! Without a doubt, Erenhot gives life to the words, there’s beauty in the unknown***
© Memoirs of Maryannable's Mashables
Curiosity Central
After a tedious drive to Beijing’s airport, I was already tired from a journey that hadn’t even begun yet. I fastened my
backpack and yanked my jacket defiantly as the driver insisted I should take it with me, felt more like an argument truthfully.
Boarding the plane was rather effortless without a glut of luggage, as I strolled to my seat I received some rather strange
glances from the passengers aboard; their puzzled looks amused me a little as I must have been a rare entity to them.
What business would a South African born Indian possibly have in Erenhot, anyway? On tenterhooks, they curiously peeped over their shoulders to catch a glimpse of my passport, judging by their body language and dialect; they were definitely
dissimilar compared to the average Beijinger. As I sat down; I was greeted with a cordial smile from the guy sitting alongside me.
The departure had been a little delayed, so the guy casually started a conversation…”South Africa?”, he asked
inquisitively as he looked at my passport in awe, “Aren’t you a little Asian?...I mean, your hair?...” and that’s when I met
Jason Bay, a local from the bizarre Erenhot also known as Erlian, he was a Business Communications student living in the
glitzy Sanlitun in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, which is well known for its prestigious bar streets and international stores, what an enigma it was to have him fit so well in Beijing.
He had certainly fancied the fact that a traveler from afar had chosen to visit his hometown. The flight was about an hour and a half long, we spoke about all sorts of things from education to our families.
He seemed like a caring gentleman, he beamed when he spoke of his grandmother and how he had planned to take her
shopping the day after his arrival. I secretly admired that.
Finally, we descended into Erenhot, Jason guided me through the airport and made certain I was safe in my cab before he left
with his family. He gave me his number and said I should call if I needed anything during my stay. How kind of him.
In the far north of China, the mystifying Erenhot is a border town in Inner Mongolia which is the largest hub
for cross border trade between Mongolia and China. The out of date city has a personality of its own as it is located in the Gobi Desert giving it an overall archaic feeling. It’s known as the “Dinosaur City” as it was once the home of dozens of dinosaurs about 70 million years ago. Many dinosaur fossils have been found in this area, many known to be the biggest and best preserved in Asia, what an honour it was to be there.
The cab driver was rather strange himself, the air was cool and dry, he played some Chinese rock music-the equivalent to The
Eagle’s, Hotel California…the “dark desert highway”…in this situation seemed really fitting indeed. He whistled along to the
beat of the music then abruptly answered a phone call, making him even kookier than he already looked, the words he uttered
were a faint mix of Chinese mumbles and a garbling dash of…Russian, was it?.
Intrigued, I stared out the window as we drove through a long stretch of road with sand on either side for what seemed to go
on forever, I had spotted some outmoded dinosaur figurines along the road, just posing by their lonesome selves.
Far in the distance I noticed some lights, I figured we were approaching the city, just then I spotted the “Kissing Dinosaurs”,
there were two dinosaurs on either side of the highway, their long necks stretching to the other until their mouths meet at a
kiss, they were majestically huge towering over the road, the area behind them had been littered with dozens of other smaller
dinosaurs in all shapes and sizes, perhaps they were their children.
The feeling of the town was medieval, the people and the ambience were outlandish but in a peculiar way, I enjoyed it and was
rather piqued at the prehistoric feeling it gave. I felt as if I had time traveled to another era, it was incredible. The rest of my stay had been interesting; the town was nothing like I had ever seen before.
I loved the eccentric aura exuded by the locals and the place itself. The hotel, the streets, even the shopping mall emanated
feelings of an anachronistic setting, an outré as the hair on my arms were erect from the strangeness but my mind was
absolutely captivated at the feeling of unsettledness, how paradoxical? A few days later, I was ready to go back “home” to
China; Erenhot was definitely a place of mystery and an assurance that the world is so vast, there’s so much to experience and
there’s so much we haven’t already! Without a doubt, Erenhot gives life to the words, there’s beauty in the unknown***
© Memoirs of Maryannable's Mashables
