Part 1: Zhangjiakou, Xilingol, Baiyinxile, Inner Mongolia Prairie, Tianlu, Cier Mountain, Yunquan Temple

In my mind, there are some places that I must visit once in my life if I can, including Xizang, Xinjiang, Zhangjiajie, Inner Mongolia Grassland, etc. This year, I had the honor to visit the hinterland of Inner Mongolia Grassland with my neighbor Brother Sun and his family. I am deeply impressed, so I hereby record it.

Schedule:

Day 1: Take a train from Qingdao to Beijing on June 16, and then charter a car from Beijing to Zhangjiakou City

Day 2: On June 17, drive from Zhangjiakou to Silingele Grassland

Day 3: Playing in the grassland on June 18

Day 4: Return to Zhangjiakou from the grassland on June 19 and visit Tianlu

Day 5: Play in Zhangjiakou City on June 20

Day 6: Chartered a car back to Beijing from Zhangjiakou on June 21 to visit the zoo and climb the Great Wall

Day 7: Visit the Forbidden City and Military Museum on June 22

Day 8: Visit Nanluogu Lane and Houhai Boating on June 23, and take the train back to Qingdao at 5:55 pm

accommodation arrangements

Zhangjiakou City: Xinhua Building

Inner Mongolia Grassland: Home of Herdsmen (key introduction will be made)

Beijing: Park Plaza Hotel

Day 1:

We bought train tickets from the same journey in Singapore with our passport number. In order to save time, we went to the train station one day earlier and exchanged our passports for a round-trip train ticket. At 8:30 a.m. on June 16, we took the G180 from Qingdao. In order to avoid losing our luggage during the trip, we brought an oversized suitcase this time, as well as a box of dried seafood and a box of fresh seafood, both of which were quite heavy. I hired a Little Red Riding Hood at Qingdao Railway Station and asked him to push the luggage to the express entrance. He put it into the luggage storage place in the carriage. Although it cost 60 yuan, 20 yuan per piece, which was a little expensive, it was still worth it. When we came back from Beijing, we got on the bus late and the luggage storage area was full, so we had to put it at the junction of the two carriages. Arriving in Beijing at 12 noon, it took quite a while to get out of the station. I found that the space of the vertical stairs at the railway station was very small, only accommodating three or four people and a few pieces of luggage at a time. Anyone who wanted to use the vertical stairs usually dragged their families, helped the elderly and the young, or carried large luggage, so there was a long queue at the entrance of the vertical stairs, and there were even disputes between people.

We finally left the station and waited for a while. Master Yu, whom Brother Sun helped us contact, came to pick us up. He drove an ordinary car, and we couldn't tell what brand it was. The interior of the car was also relatively old. The most important thing was that there were no seat belts in the back row, which really worried me all the way, but fortunately I arrived smoothly. On the return trip, we still took Master Yu's car. Although we changed to a car in better condition, there was still no seat belt in the back seat, and Master Yu himself basically did not use seat belts. It seems that safety awareness in this regard needs to be strengthened.

Beijing had just had a light rain that day, so it was not as hot as expected, but Zhangjiakou was cooler and even felt a little cold when I first got off the bus. We arrived in Zhangjiakou City at about 3 p.m., and then stayed in the family room in Xinhua Building recommended by Brother Sun in the center of the city. The room was surprisingly good. It was divided into two rooms inside and outside, a double bed, two single beds, and a desk. The room rate was only over 300 RMB per night. The value for money was very good. Breakfast was also ok, including porridge, pickles, and steamed buns, which was very suitable for our northern appetite.

At 6:30 in the evening, Brother Sun came to the hotel to pick us up for dinner. He also introduced Brother Liang, who was also from Singapore, to us. Brother Sun had many relatives in his family, so two tables were held in two private rooms that night. This Muslim restaurant is very famous in Zhangjiakou and covers a large area and has two floors. The hotel is also located in the city center, just a 5-minute walk from Xinhua Building.

A photo of me and Boss Ding

The one in the center of the table is the first delicacy I would sincerely recommend: sheep tail. Originally, I didn't eat mutton and thought the mutton smell was very strong. However, the mutton tail not only did not have a trace of mutton smell, but also had an aroma. It was moderately fat and lean, separated from the flesh and bones, and melted in the mouth. I couldn't help but feast on several sheep tails. The finished sheep's tail not only maintained its perfect shape, no bone was broken, but there was also no shredded meat on the bone, which showed how well the sheep's tail was stewed. The day before leaving Zhangjiakou, we came to the Muslim Hotel again and tasted the sheep's tail again. The first time we ate it dry without soup, and the second time we soaked it in soup, but no matter how we ate it, the taste was still the same. Good. According to Brother Sun, the boss has his own ranch, so the mutton in his restaurant is directly provided by his own ranch, and the meat will be particularly delicious.

The second one is sheep scorpions. This is my first time eating sheep scorpions. I feel that the meat of sheep scorpions is a little thicker than the tail of sheep. But my husband is a gourmet and once ate sheep scorpions in a Chinese restaurant in Singapore. According to him, this is the best sheep scorpions he has ever eaten, and there is no other.

The third one is a doornail, which is actually a fried beef bun. Because the size of the buns is the same as the size of the doornail on the gate of the Forbidden City, it is named doornail. The aroma of the door nail is fragrant, oily but not greasy, with face value, content and flavor. On the way back to Zhangjiakou from the grassland, we also ate a meal of steamed buns in Xilingol. The Mongolian big bun, also the so-called beef steamed buns, tasted really unflattering, making us miss the taste of doornails more and more.

So if you have the opportunity to come to Zhangjiakou in the future, be sure to come to the Muslim restaurant and try sheep tails, sheep scorpions and doornails. In addition, you must drink the milk tea here to get rid of it. It all depends on it to lose weight. It tastes great.

the next day

On the morning of June 17, after packing and checking out, I met Brother Sun and the others in the parking lot and drove all the way to Inner Mongolia at 9:30. Including Brother Sun's relatives, there are a total of 16 people in our party, so Brother Sun's cousin Ganggang specially borrowed an 18-seat diesel-burning van to carry all our people, people and luggage. The highway has very good road conditions and very few cars. The straight road leads to unknown distances.

Good scenery on the road

Ganggang is a transport force in the army, and our driving skills are not generally good. Even so, we arrived at our destination at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, especially on the last part of the road. If we hadn't just driven, we would definitely have gotten lost. Our hospitable brother and beautiful and capable Sister Ximei have been waiting for us because we hope to see how they kill sheep. Although it was a little cruel, it felt very shocking. For the first time in my life, I learned that sheep could be killed like this. Big brother just used a knife to cut a small opening in the sheep's abdomen, then reached in to find the artery at the heart, and directly broke the artery with his hand. There was no bloody scene, but the sheep couldn't stand it when they saw it. Big brother even took out the sheep's heart, which is the so-called heart-cutting, I think. This method of killing sheep can preserve all sheep blood and use it to make blood sausage. It is also a unique delicacy.

The children were attracted by the beautiful scenery and couldn't wait to rush up the hillside to take photos. The white clouds seemed to have been lonely for a long time. They were attracted by the children's laughter and fell from the sky, watching them running happily.

The beautiful scenery of the grassland feels like a large area with just a photo. Brother Sun told us that compared with other grasslands, the grassland here is particularly beautiful because of its hillsides, ups and downs, levels, and changes.

It's really not easy to prepare dinner for 18 people. We didn't start eating dinner until nearly eight o'clock in the evening. The highlight of this evening is the hand-made meat made from sheep that we just killed in the afternoon. As the name suggests, don't care about the image. In front of such delicious mutton, let us grab it with our hands, eat it in a big bowl, and drink wine in a big bowl. According to Sister Ximei, because their ranch contains more than 40 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines, their sheep can be said to have grown up eating herbal medicines. Even the sheep's feces can be comparable to Liuwei Dihuang Pills. Accompanied by my brother's beautiful and loud Mongolian songs, amidst Sister Ximei's frequent toasts and the aroma of white wine from the grassland, my husband and Brother Liang were completely drunk and lived up to the grassland's fine wine, mutton and hospitable hosts.

Although I no longer live in a yurt, there are no toilets or showers here. Fortunately, the weather is very cool, so it doesn't matter if I don't take a shower. It's just that I'm a little uncomfortable going to the toilet, so I can only find a place that no one can see and solve it on the spot. However, Sister Ximei said that she would apply to install toilets in the second half of this year. If she comes back next time, there will be no such problem. Then there is sleep. Although there are many people who go there, Sister Ximei's house has many rooms and beds, so everyone can still sleep well when they squeeze in their clothes.

Six of us slept in Sister Ximei's big kang, but it didn't feel crowded at all.

the third day

June 18 was a busy and fulfilling day. After breakfast early in the morning, Sister Ximei took out the Mongolian clothes she bought specially for us and asked everyone to change into and take photos.

Notice the horse on the hillside? Brother's ranch used to raise military horses for the army, so their horses were very tall and handsome. But based on this, it is absolutely impossible to ride such a horse without special training. Although my brother later found the most obedient horse, we all just sat on the saddle, led the horse by my brother, and made it turn two small circles.

The eldest brother's only son was working in the city. When he heard that we were here, he drove back specially and showed us the correct opening posture for riding a horse. I saw him flying onto the horse, his body tilted slightly, and his buttocks hardly touched the saddle. The horse galloped rapidly on the grassland and disappeared behind the hillside in the blink of an eye. After a while, it appeared from the top of the mountain and swooped down rapidly. Isn't it a good word?

After taking the photo, Ganggang drove the car. Brother gave us directions and led us to a nearby Nao (Mongolian, meaning lake) for fishing. But unfortunately, Naoer refused to allow entry because a platform specially used for fishing was being built. So we turned around and went to an education base nearby, which contained some animal and plant specimens, as well as some ancient utensils and tools. The animal specimens are very realistic, and it also allows me to know for the first time how big wolves on the grassland are. On the way back to my brother's house, we saw a white birch forest and quickly stopped the car. We picked up many branches of white birch trees and prepared to light a bonfire at night.

Beautiful Nao, although the sky is a little cloudy

The coyote specimen is so realistic

Beautiful flowers on the grassland

After lunch, I had not slept well the night before, so I took a long nap, maybe three hours. When I woke up, I found that the children were not sleeping and sawed the birch branches into small pieces with a saw and placed them in preparation for the bonfire party in the evening. Under the guidance of Uncle Ganggang, my son also drove a van to his heart.

The piled firewood and Sister Ximei's yurts

This is Sister Ximei's flock. Sister Ximei's ranch has 7000 acres of land. It is divided according to the standard of grazing one sheep per ten acres of land, which avoids the pasture from being over-eaten. Moreover, only sheep can be raised, not goats. It is said that this is because goats eat grass too much and will be uprooted to eat it.

Sister Ximei's vegetable field, so that there are no fresh vegetables to eat at all.

The highlight of tonight's dinner was the mutton kebabs, which used the mutton from the sheep that had just been slaughtered yesterday. Her husband once again demonstrated his strong ability to eat food, and the roasted mutton kebabs received unanimous praise.

The sky gradually darkened and the moon came out. This was the first time in my life that I had seen the red rising moon.

When it fully rose, the red moon became very bright again.

Brother Sun is very experienced in lighting bonfires. Soon, the raging bonfire started to burn. We set off the fireworks brought from Zhangjiakou and danced a shapeless Mongolian dance around the bonfire. What a rare experience!

A raging bonfire

brilliant fireworks

After dinner and the children fell asleep, the men continued to drink. We women gathered at a table and played mahjong until after three o'clock in the morning. After getting up early the next day and having a quick breakfast, Sister Ximei drove a car and rushed with us to Xilingol to visit her sick father-in-law. At this point, the trip to the grassland came to a perfect end. Thank you, brother and sister Ximei, for your hospitality!

On the morning of leaving, Brother Sun's wife photographed the beautiful grassland in the morning light.

The beautiful and capable Sister Ximei is a kind person. On a rainy autumn night seven years ago, a couple from Shanghai who were driving for a road lost their way on the grassland. They followed the lights of Sister Ximei's house, but hesitated at the door for half an hour and did not dare to come in, afraid that they would not be welcomed by the owner. It was Sister Ximei who saw the lights of their car, opened the door and warmly welcomed them, invited them to eat and drink, and stayed them for the night without taking a penny.

This is Sister Ximei's WeChat avatar. It's really more beautiful.

the fourth day

June 19, Beautiful Tianlu

On the way back to Zhangjiakou from Xilingol, Ganggang made a special turn to let us appreciate the beautiful scenery of Tianlu. Because of time, we only walked one part of it and it already felt beautiful. Moreover, we came a little early, and the flowers had not yet bloomed. If July came and colorful flowers all over the mountains and slopes were blooming, I wonder how it would be beautiful!

Beautiful Tianlu

There will be a relatively wide flat land at regular intervals along Tianlu Road for everyone to rest and take photos. There are also places where people can ride horses and camels for doing business. However, the people and customs here are quite tough, and it is not easy to bargain. Riding a camel for only about one minute costs 50 yuan, which is a bit expensive. But the children still enjoyed it, especially when the camel got up and knelt down.

the fifth day

On June 20, we first went to see the exhibition hall of the 2020 Winter Olympics in the morning. Zhangjiakou is a very suitable place for skiing, and there are also many ski resorts. After the promotion of the Olympics, there should be more people coming here to ski in the future.

In summer, some inflatable facilities are set up for children to play with.

In the afternoon, Brother Sun and his family specially led us to visit Yunquan Zen Temple on Cier Mountain. Speaking of the grandma's temple on Cier Mountain, Brother Sun said that it was quite effective. If you want to ask for a child, take a stone from the foot of the mountain and worship piously here. When you go back, you will be pregnant and have children. This is how Brother Sun's daughter asked for it. Every year when Brother Sun and his wife return to Zhangjiakou, they come to Cier Mountain and Yunquan Temple to make their wishes and pray. What impressed me more deeply is: First, this temple is the "first Buddhist temple outside the Great Wall". At this time, I suddenly remembered that Zhangjiakou was the "Outside the Great Wall" often mentioned in Master Jin Yong's martial arts novels. It turned out that my concept of "outside the Great Wall" was very vague, and today I finally stand on the land of "outside the Great Wall".

The second is that this looks like a Thousand Buddha Pagoda cast in copper. The Buddha statues on it are densely packed and beautifully carved. In my opinion, copper cast Thousand Buddha Pagoda like this does not seem to be common, although the number of temples I have visited is very limited.

The third is the couplet at the entrance of grandma's temple:

The first couplet is: Couples are a good relationship and a bad relationship, and no disagreement

The second line is: Children Harajuku debt collection and debt repayment

Everyone's interpretation of this couplet should be different, and you can slowly understand the profound meaning behind it.

Cierdong

The fourth is the natural mineral water in the water cave

Yunquan Temple has three famous caves, namely wind tunnel, water tunnel and ice tunnel. Now all three caves have doors and locks. Brother Sun said that the water in this water cave is extremely clear and sweet, better than any bottled mineral water, so we specially brought several empty mineral water bottles to hold the water. After giving the staff some money, they opened the door and helped us get a bucket of water from the hole. It was really cool and sweet to drink, especially after washing our hands and face with this water. The heat all over our body was dissipated and refreshing. The water in the water cave really deserves its reputation and is worth drinking.

Thank you to Brother Sun's family for inviting us to have such a beautiful and unforgettable trip to Zhangjiakou and the grassland!