inner mongolia (day 1)

well, pictures shall tell the story of day 1 ((:
we took a cabin bunk train from beijing all the way to mongolia.
our first time as adventure tourists!


first stop - resonant sand gorge at gobi desert!


we were met by none other than the owner of the entire desert itself
who sent us a van and a personal driver to pick us up at the train station!! woots.
talk about the power of connections. with A who knew B who knew C who knew D who knew us!! HEE~

and to quickly sum it all up, in a short span of a few hours on the first day, we rode a chair lift up the desert..


rode a camel for the first time in my life..




rode on a racing jeep that went shuttling at high speed up and down the sand dunes..


and had sand and more sand and even more sand around me that were soft like silk..






we were then invited to have lunch at some HUGGE restaurant, and to watch a dance that told the story of a traditional mongolian wedding (:




then as super VIPs present, we were presented with wine by the "bride" and "groom"
as part of the prestigious ceremony to pay respects and seek blessings hahaha ((:

(look at the amount of food on the table!!!)

and we even got a chance to meet and talk to the performers!!



here is a shot of the "bride" & "groom", and muren, a native mongolian.
an awesome cultural immersion and exchange session. it was quite an eye-opener hahha.

after lunch was the highlight - HORSE RIDING!!
we were brought to some hugggeee grassland


and the guy just gave us our horses, and told us to "get on it and get a feel"
the only instructions he told us was to pull on the left of the rein to go left, and right to go right, and all the way back to stop.
and then we were totally on our own. -gasp-


no talk on safety precautions, no list of what-to-do, nothing. zilch.
okay.. i was PREETEE freaked out at first. i barely even knew how to mount a horse, much less ride it.
but it was quite ok after a while of flustering and worrying, when the horse started actually listening to me HEHE ((:

i was given a tiny baby pony, who was soo sooo adorable ((:
but i think i flattened it. hmmm.

dinner was at a B-E-A-utiful restaurant with a purrfect view of the desert.
we were housed in this little building with a wide glass giving us the view of gobi ((:


and when we came out from dinner, we were greeted with really breath-taking sunset scenery. sooo beauuutiful!



this is my dad drinking with muren, a native mongolian who was also a performer at the ledge near the desert
it was so awesome, with really cool dry weather, and the desert view behind them.


and this is named a mongolian "bao", which are like little houses where the native mongolians sleep in.
essentially, their house, their room, and their storage place all in one


and this, is the view from the ledge/cliff which i sit on when i talk on the phone ((:


that pretty much sums up day one ((:
ok that was a damn long entry.
i think i've grown FAT. sighh. all that yummy OILY food that i cant resist.
gonna start running when i get back. and maybe attempt to resist food. yummy food :(

im going back tomorrow at midnight!! YAAYYYYY!!
i cant wait ((:
i miss my home, i miss my bed, i miss my doggies, i miss hawker food, i miss my friends, i miss church, i miss having non-dry hair, and i miss YOU!!!

if i have nothing to do again tmr, i shall attempt to upload day 2 pictures for fun (:
for now, goodnight everybody!