Our pursuit to quench our thirst for history this past week has taken us to places that definitely do not appear on most Chinese travellers' itineraries. I write this blog from the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, Northern China. Baotou's main reason for existence is the mining of rare earth minerals, that are almost exclusively mined in China, that make amongst other things, our mobile phone touch screens work. The Lonely Planet describes Baotou as an "unlovely, sprawling industrial city". On first impression this description of the city, with its two million inhabitants, seems fair. The Lonely Planet goes on to detail just one hotel and not a single thing to do in Baotou. So why are we here? We are here for the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, located 130km south of the city.
On arrival in Baotou we had no map, no hotel and the knowledge that English was going to be in short supply. We weren't disappointed. Unlike previous cities we had visited in China, the signs did not use the Roman alphabet in addition to Chinese characters. To add to our slightly nervous state of mind, most residents greeted us with stares of another level compared to the stares we had encountered so far in China. In Baotou these stares were an elongated comatose distant look with jaws dropping to the ground as we walked past. Casey receives even longer stares due to her long blonde hair. I encourage her to lap up the attention, to which she seems reticent, I am obviously more of an exhibitionist! Ignoring the stares as best we could, we walked for a while and managed to match the Chinese characters correctly of both the street and the hotel detailed in the Lonely Planet. The hotel entrance was a building site, but unperturbed we pressed on and attempted to make a booking. It soon came to light that the hotel did not accept foreign guests (we think a special permit is required to allow this), but they helpfully directed us across the road to another towering building. As has proved to be the norm when walking into any Baotou establishment, our entrance to the lobby was greeted with giggles and pointing (are we really that funny?). We managed to secure a room for two nights, due to our requests being translated via the telephone, with the kind-faced middle aged lady proprietor's son on the other end of the line. He told us if we needed anything throughout our stay (even the middle of the night) to go to room 801 where his mother will phone him to translate again.
Our Baotou hotel
The kind offer made by the proprietor proved to be a theme in Baotou. As well as stares, we also received our fair share of smiles, warmth and kindness during our stay. Despite our best attempts to work out how to get to the Genghis Khan mausoleum, we were concerned as to how it would work out. All our research suggested it would involve bus hopping from one small Inner Mongolian town to another, something with the huge language barrier we were keen to avoid. We therefore ambitiously set about trying to find a tour operator that could arrange a driver for us. Walking down a random street we saw a building with a desk at its front with two women sitting there, they beckoned us in and the younger girl spoke English. We explained what we wanted, and she took us a few shops down to what was a tour operator, but he couldn't help. She then proceeded to research on her phone how to get there, before walking with us to the train station, to translate for us to book some tickets to Dongsheng, about half way there. She assured us we could get a bus or taxi from there to the mausoleum. She had taken an hour out of her day to help us, for which we were so so grateful. We thanked her profusely, to which she responded with obvious sincerity, that it was a pleasure to help us. A lovely gesture, of which doesn't seem uncommon from Chinese people.
Our friendly helper!
We awoke early to begin our trip to the mausoleum. We successfully boarded the train to Dongsheng. The easy part was done! We soon realised that the train was actually going to Dongsheng West station, which as it happened was in the absolute middle of nowhere. It was clear that no buses were going to the mausoleum, so we began to negotiate a taxi fare there. A frenzied group of taxi drivers appeared, speaking no English, but they quickly got the gist of where we wanted to go thanks to the Chinese characters in the Lonely Planet. The prices were quoted were huge, and yet again we were saved by a kind young Chinese girl who stepped in to interpret for us. In truth her English wasn't great (but better than our Mandarin!) and she helped a great deal. We settled on a return taxi fare, that was expensive but not outlandish.We were on our way to the first Genghis Khan related site on the trip and we were very excited!
The "mausoleum" is not actually a mausoleum at all, but rather a tribute to Genghis Khan by the Chinese. Despite this, there were several references to his death in Ordos (the Mongolian word for Dongsheng), even though there is no evidence it occurred here. There is even less evidence for where he is actually buried, due to Genghis' strict instructions that it should remain a secret after his death. Furthermore, the original artefacts from his reign have all been lost over time, particularly during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. Despite these shortcomings the site was brilliant and lived up to our expectations and the effort required to get there. Displays included weapons and helmets as well as paintings of Genghis. The highlight being the giant mausoleum building housing replica yurts (Mongolian tent homes) of his family and giant Genghis statues in the style of Buddhas in monasteries. The statues appeared to be worshipped like a God, with numerous people kowtowing to them. He may have ruled 800 years ago, but he is certainly still highly revered in these parts. Yet again we got some funny looks and we were the only westerners in the area that day (or maybe ever for all we know).
The Genghis Khan mausoleum
Previous to our trip to Baotou, we visited the rundown town of Yan'an. To be fair, we probably didn't see Yan'an in its best light, as it rained the whole time we were there. The 700km, seven hour round trip from Xi'an was however fully worthwhile for the sites we got to see. Yan'an is famous in China for being the city that Mao and his Communist buddies set up as home between 1935-1947. They had arrived here after the 'Long March'; a 6400km trek from Jiangxi to Yan'an to escape the military attacks of the then nationalist government; the Kuomintang. It was from Yan'an that the Communists led by Mao, later formed an alliance with the Kuomintang to repel the Japanese invasion. Victory against the Japanese was followed by civil war between the Kuomintang and Communists. Mao won, and the rest is history.
The Yan'an revolutionary museum was a treat, and if nothing else, it got us out of the rain for a few hours. The building was grand (far nicer than anything else in the town) and was huge. Exhibits were numerous, with the key elements explained in English as well as Chinese. We went on to visit a few sites where Mao lived and developed ideologies that would later be put into practice (often with disastrous consequences), and the hall where Mao's leadership was conferred after the 'Long March'.
The hall where Mao was conferred as leader of the Chinese Communist Party
Xi'an is China's ancient capital. The city's ancient wall still surrounds the city. When approaching the city from outside the wall (as you do when you arrive by train), your imagination is stimulated by the potential wonders and grandeur that lie within the high walled city. The expectation of wonderment is soon dispelled when entering through one of the gates. An ugly, dirty and creepy city that makes you feel a little unwashed. The street food looks unappealing compared to other cities and you find yourself more concerned about your personal belongings than you had previously. Having said this, there are some nice sights to visit in the city: the Bell and Drum Towers as well as the Muslim Quarter with its bustling street market. We weren't in Xi'an to see Xi'an however, we were here to see the Terracotta Warriors, located about an hour's drive west of the city.
The Terracotta Warriors are amazing. Seven thousand terracotta life sized figurines, all individually made with no two the same. This huge undertaking was to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huang, after his death as part of his mausoleum complex. Qin Shi Huang was quite a guy. The first Emperor of all of China after defeating six other warring states in 221 BC and it was he who began the building of the Great Wall to defend China from invaders from the north (though it proved no obstacle for our friend Genghis). Qin Shi Huang's success however, doesn't seem to justify his ego. Not only was his mausoleum protected by the Terracotta Warriors, the whole complex took an estimated 700,000 folk to build... surely there were better ways to deploy such resources! We enjoyed our visit immensely (this was Casey's second visit there), despite the army of crowds that seemed to number greater than the warriors themselves.
The awesome Terracotta Warriors:
Our time in central Northern China is drawing to a close before we arrive in Beijing. We have had a great time learning about three of the most important individuals in China's long history as well as visiting some fantastic places. This has been all the better for the obscurity of many of these places. Obscurity brings challenges in China however, and it certainly brings stares, and lots of them. I am not sure if the locals stare at us like celebrities or the Elephant Man or in all probability somewhere in between. Regardless how they view us, their generosity of their time and warm smiles make the challenge of visiting remote parts of China, that are well off the tourist trail, great fun and a pleasure!
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