Hohhot--Inner Mongolia

Thursday...Welcome to Hohhot.

Left our apartment at 6:30 am and went to the Tianjin airport. Got our tickets, through security, and found our gate. Todd read newspapers, Cameron read and played on the iPad, and I people watched. There were a lot of white people in the airport today. I wanted to walk down and find out where they were all going but I didn't. We saw a little boy wearing an NBA jersey that said "Celtisc" on it instead of Celtics. I tried to get his picture once we were on the plane but it didn't work. A couple sat down 3 seats away from me at the gate. As soon as they did the girl started chewing him out. I have no idea what she was saying but her body language and voice told me she was not happy. The man got up and walked away 3 times but came back. Before his bottom even hit the seat she started in on him again. He finally started saying things back. This went on for 45 minutes and it only ended because we boarded. And who knows...they may have continued on the plane. Bet that was a fun trip for them.

Where are we going?

Killing time at the airport.

She is not a happy girl.  Poor fella.

He put his hands up right as I took the picture.

Landed in Hohhot at 11:00. We immediately found our Shangri La guide and driver. They spotted the giant Americans pretty easily.  Hit the bathroom and then made the 30 minute trip to the hotel. It wasn't that far but traffic was bad. Cameron was pretty excited because we had "car-fi" in the car. Yes, wifi for the car. He played one of his games on the iPad. Once at the hotel we were immediately met by 4 others at the door. They all went in the elevator with us to the 21st floor to check in. There, 6 people checked us in, went over our itinerary, gave us red drinks which no one tried, took pictures of us, and finally we were in our room, alone.  This place was a little over board with helpfulness and service.

We are in Hohhot.

Diggin' car-fi.

How many people does it take to go over an itinerary?

Some of the people taking care of us.

Our room was really nice. They even had a nice cot all made up for Cameron. There were 1 and a 1/2 bathrooms which was nice. The weird thing is in the master bath the shower and bath tub were in the same spot.No, the shower was not in the bathtub...next to.  So every time the shower runs the bath tub gets wet. That would be annoying to clean everyday. They had two beers and two Coke Zeros for us too. A bowl of fruit was on the table. Wow, what are we royalty? We had a drink and relaxed for a half hour. Then our city tour began.

Our first stop was Zhaojun Tomb. Our driver gave us our tickets and we went in. Todd took a couple of pictures and then we went into The Wedding Hall. We were completely surprised to find out it was nothing more than vendors selling "junk". Definitely not what we thought.

We are ready to explore this tomb.

The sign says where we are.

Tall statue.

 Back outside Todd went to take another picture of Cameron but guess what? The camera didn't work. The battery was completely dead. I was secretly ticked but hid it well. All I could think about was how was I going to do the blog with no pictures. He did take pictures with his phone but it wasn't the same. I will never leave again without my camera (it was in the hotel).

Cool.

The guys look like they are figuring out where to go.

We climbed a hill to a Pagoda at the top. Pretty steep stairs which caused sweating. At the top it was a pretty view but Cameron couldn't believe there were more "junk" sellers.  We could see some yurts off in the distance. That's what we will be sleeping in in 2 days. Back down to the bottom.

Pretty view.

We grabbed a couple waters at the 'cold stand' and couldn't believe they were actually cold.
We went into the museum next. Pretty uneventful. We hit the bathroom. When I walked in I knew I was in trouble because it smelled bad. I was trying to hold a water, use a squatty potty, hold my breath, and pee all at the same time. In doing all this, my sunglasses fell off and landed on the floor which almost caused me to barf. Finally back out in fresh air I grabbed a water from Cameron and poured it all over my glasses. I then used the back of Cameron's shirt to wipe them off. DISGUSTING!

Cameron fits right in with this Mongolian group.

We headed for the car and then we went to Sai Shang Old Street. This reminded me a lot of Ancient Culture Street in Tianjin. A bunch of little shops selling all kinds of things. Nothing that we wanted though.

Last stop was Muslim Culture Street. Cameron was hoping to get some street food but that didn't happen. There was a ton of it but nothing that we knew what it was or that looked really good. Oh, except for the big pieces of raw meat hanging in the hot sun and the goat heads that were ready to eat. Gross! We found a gas station and bought potato chips so Cameron didn't starve to death.

Back in the car and back to the hotel. This time only 3 people were waiting for us. 3 people helped us get the elevator. This was getting to be a little annoying but they mean well. We watched some tv and headed for the lounge at 5:30. We had some snacks and drinks and played Skip Bo.

Chillin' before going to the lounge.

Family time.

Cameron enjoyed the Cuddle Fish.

At 7:30 we went to dinner at Xin Cafe on the 2nd floor. Huge buffet with a ton of food and all kinds of sections...pasta, Indian, sushi, all kinds of meat, fruit, veggies, desserts, etc. so many choices. I tried Indian food for the first time and it was good. The bread was really good. When we were all finished we went in for dessert. There was a chocolate fountain that Cameron and I put marshmallows in. He then put watermelon and a cantaloupe through it. Different but good. We each got a scoop of ice cream...green tea, strawberry, and chocolate. It was real ice cream and it was delicious. After being stuffed we went back to the room and watched the end of The Incredibles. A thunderstorm rolled through with a lot of rain. Off to bed.