Please exile me to the most beautiful time

Chapter 9 Mongolia: Between Ideal and Grass (1)
This is a trip that even surprised me.

"Mongolia? Do you mean Inner Mongolia?" "No, it's the country to the north of us." Only then did people vaguely recall, yes, there is such a neighbor to the north.This is an old neighbor that the Chinese are both familiar with and unfamiliar with.It borders a large area of ​​northern China, but due to various reasons, it rarely appears in the sight of the Chinese people.Isn't Russia in the north? If you don't remind you that there is such a country between China and Russia, you will almost forget the existence of Mongolia.In my impression, Mongolia is an endless prairie, with cattle and sheep everywhere, galloping horses, as well as the sound of Matouqin and melodious singing.Both Jiang Rong's novel "Wolf Totem" and Tengger's song "Mongolian" say so.Whether this impression comes from the ethnic concept of Mongolia or the political concept of Mongolia, it seems that the two are confused to some extent. The word "Mongolia" is familiar, but Mongolia is unfamiliar.

I once met Tang, a girl from Inner Mongolia in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and we hit it off very well.When I was still struggling to walk on the African continent, I made an agreement with Tang that we must meet again after we all returned to China.More than a year later, I returned home after a long trip to Asia and Africa, remembering my promise with Sugar. "Long time no see you, come quickly." Tang typed a line to me.Without saying a word, I booked the train ticket for 3 days later, packed a few simple clothes, carried a small bag for a day trip, put on a skirt and sandals and set off on the road.

It was the eve of September 2013, almost exactly two years after I left home and started traveling.It's summer again, and it's the train from Nanjing to the north, and it's Inner Mongolia again, which is quite a bit of fate.Maybe I'm destined to go on this trip, where there is a beginning, there must be an end.

As soon as I met Tang, we chatted non-stop. We went crazy together for a few days, and I suddenly had the idea of ​​traveling to Mongolia.Two years ago, I stood in Manzhouli on the Sino-Russian border and looked at Russia, feeling that I was only one step away. Under the guidance of fate, after two years, I came to a place not far from the northern border of China again. When you get here, why not take a step forward and take a look at Mongolia in the north.

Tang Shuo, who was born and raised in Inner Mongolia, traveled to many countries, but for some reason, he never thought of going to Mongolia even though he was so close to his hometown.Precisely because it is close at hand, it will be ignored, as if most of the local people have never been to a local tourist attraction.Rare opportunity, just go!I bought two pairs of thick cotton socks and borrowed a thick coat from Tang. The two of us took the train to Erenhot, got visas at the border, passed through the border city of Zamyn-Uud, and took the night train to Ulaanbaatar. And went.

Tang is an authentic Han girl who was born and raised in Inner Mongolia but does not understand Mongolian, so she can only communicate in English and gestures once she crosses the border.The neo-Mongolian language on the streets of Ulaanbaatar was almost mistaken for Russian.At first glance, they look exactly the same as Russian. It is a new Mongolian language based on Russian letters that Mongolia has used since the 40s, or called Cyrillic Mongolian. Inner Mongolia still uses pictures that look like pictures. Traditional Mongolian.The young owner of a pizzeria in the center of Ulaanbaatar told me that they learned the new Mongolian language since they were young. They can recognize the traditional Mongolian language but are not good at writing. As for the Russian language, it was only popularized in the past under the influence of the Soviet Union. For a long time, the new generation of Mongolian young people like English, Japanese, and Korean, and Russian is far less popular than in the past.

What else but grasslands

Although the era of Russification has passed, Mongolia today still has a strong Russian flavor.The Russian-style buildings and sculptures on the streets of Ulaanbaatar, together with the writing in the Cyrillic alphabet, make this place look like a little Russia.Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia and the only big city.A huge and sprawling territory is the most "popular" place in this extremely sparsely populated country-half of the country with a population of less than 300 million lives in Ulaanbaatar.This "metropolis" has no subways, few high-rise buildings, and looks a bit chaotic and dilapidated, similar to many Chinese cities in the 90s.

The narrow streets are crowded with vehicles, surrounded by poor cabins and yurts.Food billboards with the same ideas appear one after another on the street, making people more and more interesting to look at. The content is without exception. There is always a round-faced uncle in Mongolian costume happily eating some kind of food, just like a TV series. You can almost imagine his bold laughter resounding through the grassland.The food in the hands of the uncle varies with different advertisers, from instant noodles to milk powder, from orange juice to fine wine, in a word, it has its own characteristics.

Speaking of food, Mongolia may be the country with the lowest proportion of vegetarians in the world. This is an out-and-out carnivorous country, either mutton or beef, or broth or pilaf. There is no vegetarian food at all, which makes vegetarians eat sugar. The meal was a headache.In order to explain to the store that he is a vegetarian and cannot eat meat or meat oil, Tang asked an English-speaking Mongolian to record key words such as "vegetarian" on his mobile phone, and played it to the waiter when ordering.Even so, there is often no explanation, or no choice at all.Here, no meat or meat oil is used, so only salad is left to eat.Sugar had to rely on salads, bread and fast noodles to satisfy his hunger.As a carnivorous person, I ate very happily, haha.Drinking milk tea in Mongolia is as common as drinking tea in China. People in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia drink salty milk tea, which tastes rich and slightly salty.I was not used to drinking it at first, and thought the taste of salty milk tea was weird, but after drinking a few more cups, I fell in love with it.

It has a deep connection with Tibetan Buddhism, and even the title of "Dalai Lama" originated from Mongolia. "Dalai Lama" is the honorary title given to Sonam Gyatso, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism by the Mongolian tribal leader Altan Khan after he converted to Buddhism. Sonam Gyatso's two previous lives were posthumously named the first and second Dalai Lama Lama, Sonam Gyatso is the third Dalai Lama, while Yunten Gyatso, the fourth Dalai Lama, is a Mongolian.And because Mongolia has always been deeply influenced by shamanism customs, Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia has integrated some shamanism customs.More than half of Mongolia's population now believes in Tibetan Buddhism.Most people who come here have to go to Ganden Monastery.There is one Ganden Monastery in Tibet and one in India. This Ganden Monastery in Ulaanbaatar is the largest temple in Mongolia and the only existing Tibetan Buddhist temple in Mongolia. The gilded Zhangranze Buddha in the temple is regarded as Mongolian national treasure.A pair of huge statues of Buddha's feet outside made me laugh for a while. Is this a place for those who temporarily hug Buddha's feet to hug?

Ulaanbaatar by night
There are not many accidents and fun in the bumpy urban area of ​​Ulaanbaatar. The most attractive places in Mongolia are not in the city.

However, wandering in the city full of concrete smell, always looking for some fun, we stumbled across a strange museum called the International Smart Museum.The museum has a collection of educational toys from all over the world, such as Kong Mingsuo, Jiulianhuan, etc., most of which are the private collection of the curator.These folk wisdoms involve various disciplines such as geometry, topology, and operations research. If they miss the point, even the simplest Kongming lock cannot be opened.The most complicated Kong Ming lock in the museum requires more than 6000 steps to be completely unlocked.While we were marveling at the huge Kong Ming lock, the old curator was concentrating on performing small magic tricks to the Mongolian students.The museum is currently undergoing renovations, and the design samples are amazing - the entire museum has become a giant Kong Ming lock!

We live in a backpacker hotel in the city center. The price of a bed is 6 dollars. In each yurt, five beds are arranged along the round edge. Bow down to get in and out. In Ulaanbaatar in early September, the temperature difference between day and night is close to 9 degrees, and the temperature has dropped below zero at night, so it is necessary to rely on heaters to maintain the temperature.No matter how hot the fire is when you fall asleep, it will naturally go out at night.In the middle of the night, a song wrote: "The night in Ulaanbaatar is so quiet, so quiet." I woke up from the cold in the early morning and shivered under the quilt. I just wanted to change the lyrics to: "The night in Ulan Bator Night, so cold, so cold."

A French couple has just returned to Ulaanbaatar after traveling on horseback for 6 weeks on the Mongolian grasslands.Living in the desert and grassland for a whole month and a half, the wind and sand and the lack of moisture caused the girl's lips to be severely chapped. The skin and flesh on the lips turned into pieces, and there were obvious cracks, which looked a little scary.What's even more surprising is that they don't even have a GPS detector, only a paper map.Fortunately, they met many yurts willing to take them in.

Although their actions are crazy, I am more concerned about their horses, which are tall and big, and they are amazing to ride.Thinking of this, I feel that they are really too happy. The young couple are galloping on horses, and the sea and the sky are bright. What could make people feel happier than these?

natural paradise

Tang and I carefully discussed the possibility of traveling on horseback. Without outdoor equipment and experience, and without equestrian skills, and it was freezing at night, if we acted recklessly, we might freeze to death on the grassland.Riding horses sounds very attractive, but life is more important. After analysis and analysis, the reasons for giving up took the upper hand. We resolutely chose the long-distance bus.But in order to make up for the regret of not riding a horse, he decided to set off to Terelji, 50 kilometers away, to enjoy the addiction of riding a horse.

Hi, woman!
If the days in Ulaanbaatar are somewhat boring, then the grasslands around Ulaanbaatar almost satisfy all fantasies about Mongolia.

Terelji has no direct connection with the word "city". This is a natural paradise, with green grass everywhere, herds of cattle and sheep, and horses passing by in groups. In the distance are continuous green hills and forests, three or five yurts Form one small community after another.I found a family who was in the hotel business and lived in it. The hotel is a few yurts 10 meters apart.During the peak season, these yurts are full of tourists, but now it is September, the grassland is about to enter winter, and there are only me and Tang in the whole hotel.

The yurt is tied up next to a stream in the forest, open the curtain and walk 10 steps straight to the stream.There is no running water, no bathroom or toilet, no computer or internet, and the only electrical appliance in the yurt is a small light bulb that can only be used at night, and it relies on the owner of the hotel's rumbling small generator to generate electricity for lighting.The trees in front of the gate were cut down and split into firewood, which was used to light a fire in the yurt at night to keep warm.Drinking water is directly heated from stream water.No car horns, cell phone ringing or loud disco can be heard, only the sound of running streams and the occasional neighing of horses.Washing up by the stream in the morning, feeling the crystal clearness of the stream, I can't help but touch the water with my fingers and immediately shrink back. The stream is icy cold, and occasionally a few fallen leaves drift away along the water.Several ponies were pacing in the forest, wagging their tails and stepping on the crunching fallen leaves.

Horseback riding is still an essential skill for this nation on horseback.Mongolians living on the grasslands, no matter adults or children, are heroic and heroic when they get on the horse, waving the whip and galloping the horse.I don't know how to ride, I can only stare blindly and worry, please master to take us around on horseback.The master selected two batches of well-behaved young horses as mounts for us, and the mother rode the horses by herself, and took the two rookies on the road.

(End of this chapter)