Asphalt and Sand

I wrote this a while back, after I went to Inner Mongolia in May.


The country has just staggered out from being whirled up in the frenzied flurry of the Labour Day national holiday, and I myself staggered off a 16 hour long bus journey back from Inner Mongolia. I've sworn off long-distance buses in China. You'd have to threaten me with the bloody murder of my pet cat if you want to get me back on one of those Destination Hell vehicles again. Well, to be honest, the bus itself wasn't toooooooo horrendous. It was more crammed than the regular cattle class seats on airplanes, but when the sun was out, it tended to get stuffy and hot, and the jams on the road were nothing like I ever experienced. We drove through Hebei Province and Shanxi Province, the province that surrounds Beijing City and the one next to that, which are churning out huge quantities of coal and full of disgustingly wealthy coal-magnates. So being in coal country, the roads were clogged up with coal-transporting trucks. However, some chatting with our driver as we stood around on the tarmac waiting in vain for the endless row of trucks to start up their engines and begin trundling along again informed me that most of the coal gets transported by train - these trucks are mostly bound for more rural areas with no railroad access, and smaller factories which do not require such large quantities of the black stuff.

The stories that float around about the Shanxi coal magnates are pretty crazy. Apparently they stroll into Rolls Royce showrooms and pay for fleets with sacks stuffed full of cold hard cash. And they only make price inquiries after making the decision to purchase. When they get married, the town gets clogged up with convoys of 4WD limousines.

Mad stories that just make the whole rich-poor gap thing all the more appalling.

I'd previously gone through the same two provinces to and from the ancient city of Pingyao, and I thought our journey back then was bad enough. Ohhhh noooo. The roads during a national holiday are hopeless. However, it did give some memories I'm sure I'll never forget. And it was quite interesting chatting to my fellow inmates of the Hell Express. Solidarity in suffering.



Cute horses I met on a farm (?). The brick building you can sort of see in the background is the 'toilet'. Basically a few holes in the ground with pathetic excuses for dividing walls that basically only come up to knee-height. I was rather shaken by the experience. Haven't seen one of those since I was 10, which was, yep, in China as well.

These two sweet little teenage horses are apparently still not tamed. The dude I spoke to said they're still really afraid of humans, and they were indeed still really jumpy. They did let me pet their noses a little, though. ♥



I didn't ride horses this time, though. There was something like 100% inflation for the hourly rate, and the 'grasslands' had no grass (refer to picture at top of post).

What I did get to ride, though, was a camel!!!!


As you can see I was really quite excited. It was in the desert and all rather silk route-esque.

The camel wasn't as excited, though.


Oh, camels have the most adorable feet, by the way!! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a good picture of the feet.

Most of my pictures weren't too fabulous. They were mostly taken in blinding sunlight when I couldn't see shit on my camera screen. And the GR Digital doesn't have a viewfinder. So it was a lot of squinting at shadows, pointing and shooting and hoping for the best.

There was also an excessive amount of bus window photography, but I'll spare you with most of that save for this one selected from my playing around with the ISOs in the dark.


Oh yes, and finally, a not particularly good picture from standing around on the asphalt.


I don't think you can really get a feel of the experience and sight until you've been in the situation.