Gobi Desert Greetings

While the terrain down in the south of China where I've lived for years was very similar from place to place with the occasional mountain popping out on the horizon, the terrain here in Inner Mongolia is wild. You'll be in the middle of the plains for hours and suddenly there are mountains rising high above you only to be followed behind by a desert. That's why Adam and I were excited to find that the tour we had chosen took advantage of the varying terrain.

After spending the night drinking and laughing around a poop fire and sleeping in our yurt (seriously one of the coziest places I have ever slept!), we boarded our trusty bus and headed out of the grasslands, passed the big city, left the mountains in the dust, and stepped out in the Gobi Desert.

The Gobi Desert spans across both China and Mongolia. In Chinese it is referred to as 戈壁 (Gebi) and in Mongolian, it is Говь or "Gevi." The Gobi Desert is the fifth largest desert in the world and the largest one in Asia at 500,000 square miles. It is both sandy and rocky and it tends to be a very cold desert (I know! I assumed all deserts were hot too... until I was freezing in one!)

We were in the part of the desert called Ordos Desert. You can see the city of Hohhot to the northeast of us.

The Gobi Desert is the home of many different species despite the harsh climate including gazelles, Mongolian wild ass, and sometimes even snow leopards, wolves, and brown bears! And of course, a desert would be incomplete without camels. 

There are two species of camel in the world. The one humped dromedary camel, also known as the Arabian camel, is from (you guessed it!) the Arabian Peninsula and is found all through Northern Africa today.  The camels found in Inner Mongolia are known as Bactrian camels and are only found in small pockets in Central Asia. They are considered critically endangered in the wild and are almost entirely domesticated today. 

The Bactrian camel population VS. the Arabian camel population.

Now it's been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl with hopes of being an Egyptologist to ride a camel through the desert. Fourteen years in the making, you can be darn sure I was going to get on the back of a camel while living in the middle of the Gobi Desert. 

After putting on unnecessary protective covers for our shoes, we hopped into a large (for lack of a better word), sand dune rover (it almost resembled those amphibian trucks that can enter into the water on those super touristy Duck Tours). The driver with no fear of hydroplaning (or the sandy equivalent), zoomed down the road and up and over the dunes. As we traveled further from our bus and deeper into the desert all vegetation seemed to vanish and nothing but golden rolling sand dunes surrounded us for as far as we could see. 

We arrived at a little oasis where we were greeted by our own little herd of camels. I was the first to hop up on a camel's back and I quickly dubbed him Clyde. 

Fun fact: when camels stand up with you on their back, it is terrifying. You lean forward and then fall back, all the while with this massive creature beneath you. But my heart quickly stopped pounding from fear and started beating for the incredible views I could see from Clyde's back. 

Cross off #103 from My Life List! 

Following behind in a perfect little line (except for Clyde who didn't like waiting his turn), we wandered through the desert. The wind was brutal and the sand got everywhere (seriously, I am still finding it, three showers later) but the relaxed amble of the camels and the wave-like patterns in the sand were incredible. 

I've always had a love for horses (I think many girls go through a stage in their younger years where they dream of owning a horse before they actually realize the cost behind it) but for some reason, I've found that my love for riding a camel runs far deeper than riding a horse (it could be that the horse's trot was merciless on my bottom and the camel's slow stroll pitied my bum). You can see why for thousands of years different people in different parts of the world have chosen the camel as their companion through the harshness of the desert. 

Being a girl from Buffalo, New York, I am very much familiar with sledding. I had my Pocahontas sled growing up that I would take down to the river with my mom and my brother. It was wet. It was cold. It was white. 

If you can sled down a hill in the snow, why not try it in the sand too?

Taking one of the super beat up, broken, and completely falling apart "sleds" one by one each of us conquered the dunes of the Gobi Desert. Standing at the very top, it's a bit intimidating. You see how steep the hill is. The wind beats at your back, threatening to push you over before you're ready. But you know how it goes--when in Rome! 

I only managed to slide down twice because once down, we had to climb back up the hill. It sounded easy but about halfway up, myself and a young French girl just turned and looked at each other and decided that right there on the dune was a perfect place to die. 

It's just incredible seeing sights like this--they belong in books or movies or your imagination. How can they be real? How can you touch them? Hear them? Smell them? As I push myself down the sand dune, I couldn't help but feel like Rey on Jakku from The Force Awakens (sorry for the major nerd out but it's true!). 

I can see the similarity.

While the grasslands were beautiful, it is the desert that I would demand that everyone gets to see at least once in their lifetime--to see that what is harsh can also be beautiful and life changing. 

Until Next Time,
Amanda

PS: Happy Hump Day!! See what I did there? ;)
55 days... 

The China Bucket List: The First 10 Months

I am obsessed with My Life List. I first read about a "life list" in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book when I was nine years old. The next minute, I had a piece of paper out and I wrote down my very first life list with only five things on it:

1.Own a horse (that has since been taken off!)

2. Go to London

3. Climb the Eiffel Tower

4. See the Sphinx and Pyramids

5. Climb the Great Wall of China

Sadly, I do not know what happened to that original list--since then it has gone through many transformations and I have gone from just five items on the list to 265 items (as of 6/17/14). I have completed exactly 100 things on this list (I just realized that now and I am super excited... I feel like I need to have a Bucket List party!) and I managed to complete nine things in the first 10 months of living in China.

Before coming over to China, I made up a China Bucket List--I took the things from My Life List that I thought I could complete while living in China (you can see it in a post I wrote back in August, right here!)... some of the things I actually managed to complete were on that China edition of the bucket list and some of them were not! Some I never thought I would be able to accomplish in China... So here is a look at the nine things I was able to do in China. I've included the number it is on My Life List, what it is, the date (if I wrote it down), a story behind it, and some photos if they were taken. Enjoy! It was so much fun to relive each of these exciting moments--the moment I get to cross something off My Life List!

#158: Try durian

October 2, 2013

Durian is just one of those things that you cannot avoid when you come to visit China, whether it is just for a few weeks or over a year. A spikey green/yellow fruit, it looks similar to all the other bizarre looking fruit in the markets (seriously, have you seen dragon fruit?). Like so many things in life, looks can be deceiving… But in this case, something that looks that crazy, tastes and smells just as equally crazy.

This fruit is a sign that God has a sick sense of humor... one that I am not too fond of...

 For those of you who have heard tales of durian’s infamy (I first heard about it on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern) or those who have been able to witness it firsthand know that durian has a very distinct look, taste, and especially smell. It was the one food that Andrew Zimmern could not swallow (literally) and it is one of the “must have” foods if you are living in China (the other being stinky tofu… something I have not tried yet). With so much stigma surrounding this one piece of fruit, you can be darn sure that it was put on My Life List long ago and when I saw the opportunity to cross it off, I took it!

Andrew Zimmern with the infamous little fruit that even HE doesn't like!

 It was my first big holiday in China—National Holiday—and it was my first big trip (first of many) around China—Qingdao, Dalian, and Dandong. I traveled with both the Adams and our first stop was the beer capital of China, Qingdao (where Tsingtao beer is from). We were in Qingdao for three days and it was on the final day that we found a man selling some durian slices on the street. I paid my 10元 and unwrapped the two slices (now I know why they wrap it all the time!).

I smelled it (first big mistake).

 I ate it (second big mistake).

 

 I hated it.

 I’ve heard people describe the smell/taste to be a mixture of rotten onions and turpentine. To me, it tasted like rotten eggs and regret.

After I gagged for a few seconds and after a beer in a bag (a Qingdao specialty), I was able to laugh about it, cross it off the bucket list, and smile knowing that I had passed through some bizarre initiation that all foreigners must go through… now to find a clueless newcomer to enact my revenge…

#187: Kiss in the rain

Sadly, I cannot put an exact date to this one, nor do I have any photos of it and that is okay.

For anyone who loves movies like Breakfast at Tiffany’s or watches any dramas from Korea or Taiwan, I’m sure you love a good kiss in the rain scene as much as I do! I’m not sure how old I was when I put this one on my List and I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to accomplish it (with my history…) but a girl could always dream. When Adam and I were first getting to know each other, we got to talking about My Life List and he read through it… he must have spotted #187 because he waited a week between our first date and our first kiss—it turns out he was waiting for it to rain! Trust me when I say, it is better than the movies… Just make sure you shower right away so the acid rain doesn’t eat through your clothes and onto your skin! 

#201: Go to the “fish doctor”

January 9, 2014

The very first thing to be crossed off from My Life List in 2014 was also the first thing crossed off during my Spring Festival trip with Hannah.  Our first stop on our month long journey all around Asia (China, Hong Kong, Nepal, and Malaysia) was the breathtakingly beautiful Yangshuo. Nestled along the shores of the Li River, winding pedestrian only streets weave through cafés, restaurants, hostels, and quaint little shops. It is like a storybook village nestled in a faerie land surrounded by sleeping giants. I have gone on and on about the natural beauty that is Yangshuo in a previous post that you can read over here!

The place is seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!

While we were wandering around, still bouncing with excitement over the fact that our amazing adventure was just beginning, we spotted one of the many “fish kissing” spas. Also known as the “fish doctor” or just a fish spa, you pay 15元 (about $2.50) for 30 minutes before you put your bare feet into warm water just filled with little brown fish. Immediately, they jump on your feet, nibbling away at all the dead skin on your feet. It tickled and then it hurt a little bit and then a fish would swim between my toes and I would start laughing and screaming again. This is one of those crazy, cooky things that you see everywhere in China and other parts of Asia but seem so exotic and different to Americans… and it is these sorts of things that I just love about living in China!

I thought I had lost these photos when my iPhone got stolen... These are never before seen!!

 Of course, since then, I have learned that these fish spas might not be the safest thing to do. I’ve read online and I’ve been informed by multiple friends that different diseases have been spread through the kissing fish spas… However, I am perfectly fine. I would still recommend it if you are ever in Asia somewhere.

#233: Cruise down the Li River

January 12, 2014

Whenever I was a young girl and thought of China, I always thought of the natural side of the country, not the pollution or crowds or big cities (though they certainly exist!). I imagined tall, looming, shear dropping cliffs and winding rivers with bamboo boats… I didn’t know it, but I was imagining the mountains of Yangshuo and the Li River.

Location of the 20元 painting along the Li River!

Upon arriving in Yangshuo, I had no clue that it was right along the Li River. I thought that someday I would need to make a special trip to the south of China in order to accomplish this goal. Needless to say I was thrilled when I learned that I was staring at and walking along the Li River.

My happiness quickly evaporated each time someone came up to us and asked, “Bamboo?” trying to lure us into taking an overpriced bamboo boat ride down the Li River. I was quickly coming to dislike the Li River and that did not make me happy—this was a place that I had imagined since I was a child and I was not going to allow a band of old women trying to make some money off of the tourists ruin it for me!

Hannah caught my disdain for the bamboo ladies on camera...

 We hiked for about 5 hours throughout the day, following the river and trying to dodge the old ladies that would call out to us or just start following us (seriously, there was one woman who literally ran after us for over an hour). In the end, we ended up having to hop into one of the bamboo boats anyway because the hiking path ended (luckily this time, Hannah did not crash into the Yulong river and smash her face up). I had wanted to ride in a boat along the Li River, but I did not want to be bombarded and bullied into it.

Our stalker... We began to call her Gollum after about an hour...

The ride along the river was amazing (cold, but amazing... and sadly, no photos). The mountains that run along the shore just tower above you and make you feel so small and insignificant and yet part of something so much bigger than yourself. I desperately forced myself to enjoy the boat ride because it was something I had always hoped to do… But to have to be forced into it because the path literally ends at the river did take away from the excitement and joy I had hoped to feel. 

#52: See the Largest Seated Buddha

January 16, 2014

This was something that was nearly 10 years in the making for me. In 2005, Travel Channel aired a show called “5 Takes: Pacific Rim” where five photo journalists traveled all throughout the Pacific Rim and simply documented their adventures (as if that is not a dream job for all of us!). While they were in Hong Kong, I remember some of the members of the show went to see the world’s largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha (what a title!) and instantly, it was put on my bucket list at the age of 15.

Tian Tan, as it is officially called, is seated peacefully and silently on the top of a mountain, surrounded by forests, and looking out over the ocean. I have always said that my “heaven on Earth” has to be either up in the mountains, hidden in the woods, or along the seashore, so Tian Tan was like a sanctuary to me. Yes, it is the world’s largest seated Buddha but it is so much bigger than I imagined it to be! You see it in the distance and it just keeps growing in size and magnificence as you climb the 286 steps to the top. 

You have tourists, adventurers, photographers, monks, and believers all climbing up and making the same journey together. It was so surreal to watch the monks and pilgrims bowing and praying at the base of the statue, the eyes of the Buddha silently staring down at them. 

There is something that I just love when visiting pilgrim destinations or religious sites—there is always a sense of respect from everyone present, whether you are a believer or not. Yes, it was crowded at the top of the mountain and people were huffing and puffing their way up the mountain but the minute their eyes meet the partially opened eyes of the Buddha and the sun is shining down on them and the wind blows through their hair, there is a sense of wonder and peace. No one shouts or laughs or runs; everyone is whispering or (better yet) completely silent and just looking out over the natural world surrounding them… It was a wonderful breath of fresh air and a moment to relax before returning to the chaos that is China.

#3: Stand in the Indian Ocean

February 9, 2014

The first four things I ever put on my bucket list (after the first edition of only five things which I made when I was nine) was to stand in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans. As a nine year old, I had no idea that my life would take the route that I am currently on and I didn’t know if these goals were at all plausible. The Atlantic was very close to me—just a drive across the state. The Pacific was a bit farther, but still, just across the country. I managed to do both of them before I was 13 years old. The Indian ocean, I wasn’t too sure until I knew I was coming to live in China… then I just knew, I had to get to the south somewhere and find the coast.

I ended up meeting that goal while visiting the island of Langkawi in Malaysia during Spring Festival. 

There isn’t too much to say about it—it was warm, wet, and blue. I was not a fan of Malaysia and I am never too thrilled to be at a beach… However, being in Malaysia and at a beach allowed me to cross off one of the very first things I ever put on my List… Now to figure out how I’m going to stand in the Arctic ocean…

#181: Live in another country (China)

February 28, 2014

Now most people over here in China who had read my bucket list were surprised that I had “Live in another country” on the list but had not crossed off yet. Yes, I was living in another country but technically it hadn’t been the first time. What do I mean by living in another country? Not just visiting for a week. I have to figure out the layout of the city I’m living in, work out transportation, go grocery shopping, go to the bank but hopefully never the doctor. I had lived in Sweden for a summer back in 2010 and that was my first taste of living on my own and taking care of myself (no dining hall?!?!) but that was only for a summer and I was with a study abroad program that would hold my hand for most things. Don’t get me wrong! I LOVED living in Sweden and I would go back in a heartbeat but I never really thought of it as actually living in another country on my own.

Look! A blonde Amanda!

Once I moved to Hangzhou I knew it would be for at least two years. Could I say, “I am living in another country!” after just a week? A month? What would be the ultimate goal—the marker that would declare that I had lived in another country for an actual amount of time? I decided on the six month mark: from August 28^th-February 28^th.

Now I won’t go into a full on rant about what it is like to not only live in another country but a country as bizarre, chaotic, and aggravating as China—I am already working on a post… a sort of “Year in Review” which you can look forward to in the coming weeks. You’ve been warned…

#139: Make my own Buffalo wings and eat them

March 1, 2014

I am a Buffalo gal… there is no doubt about it. I grew up drinking nothing but Loganberry soda at my grandmother’s house. Sponge candy still makes me way too happy. And I consider myself to be a wing connoisseur. Usually, anywhere that I travel to, I like to try their “Buffalo style” wings just to see how they really compare (yes I may or may not be a wing snob). In Buffalo, we have two main places to get wings—the Anchor Bar or Duff’s. Now we all know that the Anchor Bar may have originated the wing but Duff’s perfected it. I love wings. I can eat my weight in them… and then keep eating.

 VS

I’m not sure when I decided to put this on My Life List but the minute that Adam saw it on my List, he made it a reality.

For my birthday, I could have chosen to do anything—travel up to Shanghai, go to West Lake, eat at a really fancy restaurant, or stay at home and make wings. Adam got all the materials—wings and Frank’s hot sauce. That’s it. That’s all I need.

We battled with the spitting peanut oil. We laughed. We danced to Elvis, the Beatles, and the Who. We nibbled on cheese. We mashed some potatoes. We doused the fried wings in hot sauce. We gorged on wings, mashed potatoes, and watched Harry Potter. Perfection.

My first birthday away from home (and not at the Magic Kingdom) and it was quite a success! Our wing making ability is so good that we did it again just a few weeks ago for our friends, Adam and DH, as a sort of farewell sit down dinner. Now all I have to do is get Adam to Buffalo at some point to see how our wings compare to the originals!

#160: Make pottery

June 11, 2014

This was another random thing I put on My Life List years ago and I cannot remember when or why I did so. I do that on purpose: some things on my list are huge and monumental things that I’m not sure if I can ever accomplish (#17: Hike to Everest base camp) and others are pretty mundane (#151: Learn how to change a tire). Some I specifically remember when or why I added it to the List and, others, I’m not too sure.

I’ve always enjoyed going to historical parks or Renn Faires and watching the pottery (I’m always impressed by what people can do with their hands… and it makes me feel slightly inadequate). I’ve never seen “Ghost” but that pottery scene does sound pretty sexy. Seriously, I don’t know! I just love getting my hands dirty and I love creating things… even though I’m not good at art at all (I’ve attempted painting and drawing so many times in the hopes of being good).

While the Big Four was just wandering through downtown Hangzhou, DH led us to a pottery store filled with cups and plates and a little classroom! For just 98元 you get a lesson, a ball of clay, paint, enough time to create whatever you want, and a kiln to fire it up!

So the artistic-less ones dug our hands into the clay and we attempted to make something beautiful!

DH attempted a cup at first (something that I had thought of making too at first). He struggled. Long and hard. I actually thought what he had created kind of resembled a cup but eventually he ended up giving up and joined the rest of the class in making plates.

Adam and I had decided to make couples plates for each other (we try not to act like an obnoxious couple but sometimes we just can’t resist… and I would like to point out that it was Adam’s idea to make couples plates, not mine!). We set to work, trying desperately to copy what the teacher had just shown us… I think Adam remembered  a bit better because my plate ended up coming out kind of lopsided and the edges were all kind of nasty… Oh well! I know that I’m not artistic and I fully embrace it!

Adam carved in the class AW and AL around a heart (the same thing he once carved into a pizza) and I set to work on making owls. I love owls, they are my favorite animal. When Adam got back from his European adventure, he had bought me a bunch of owl statues and ornaments. I have owl slippers and owl pajamas. Owls are my cover photo on Facebook and everyone assumes that the two owls in the photo are me and Adam… so I decided to run with that! I made two little owls sleeping next to each other—I was surprised to see that it actually came out kind of cute!

After painting them, we handing our little creations to the teacher only to find out that we have to come back in three weeks to pick them up. Three weeks! Poor DH won’t even be in the country anymore… Hopefully we’ll be able to retrieve our plates and forever remember our challenging but enjoyable day… oh so enjoyable!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

And there you have it!! That is my 2013-2014 Life List review (yes, I know that I have the summer still and I imagine I'll be able to do a few things over the next few months but I wanted to look at the school year and what I was able to accomplish in the last 10 months). It's been fun, wild, and crazy. I managed to make my way to China (Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Dalian, Dandong, Yangshuo, ZhangJiaJie, Changsha), North Korea, Hong Kong, Nepal, and Malaysia thus far... so many more places to go!

It's been neat meeting a whole new group of people and hearing what they have to say about My Life List. I never know if people get tired of me saying, "Oh that's on my bucket list!" but my List always seems to make people smile. My hope is to inspire others to write down their goals, hopes, and dreams and read through that list often... and then make their dreams a reality! I'm always growing and evolving and changing, just like my life and just like my bucket list; it pushes me to suck the marrow out of every moment in life. It is such an important and vital aspect of who I am as a person, I even won an award for it this year!!

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

 

Until Next Time,

Amanda