Four of us went to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia for our little May holiday vacation. It was quite the adventure. We left school pretty early on Thursday so we could get dinner before our flight. The new terminal in Beijing has a BURGER KING and a STARBUCKS! Such a nice treat. We got to the airport and our flight wasn't on the departures board-- yikes. We were told "maybe it is delayed?" and were sent to check-in. Our flight was delayed because of weather in Hohhot so we had lots of extra time at the airport. We boarded our 50 minute flight and were up in the air soon enough experiencing a little turbulence. They announced that we had 20 minutes until we landed so we all started getting ready for that. About ten minutes later, they came back on the intercom and said that "Due to weather in the area, we are being re-routed to Beijing." ...Uhhh.. that's not really what we were hoping for. So we turned around and went back to Beijing. We stayed on the plane and sat on the runway for at least an hour.. nobody seemed to care. If we were on a plane in the US, people would've been freaking out and getting a little angry. The locals on the plane here though just took it in stride and didn't get upset at all. We eventually took off again and there was much rejoicing when our tires actually hit the runway in Hohhot. Too bad I don't get the miles for flying there twice!

For the national holiday on Friday, we rode bikes out to the mountains for a picnic. This was one of the best days we've had all spring. It was about a 15km ride. We had to stop at one point to get someone's tire fixed. There was just a few guys set up on the side of the road with all their gear to fix stuff-- and apparently they live in that little Gehr.
 
When we got to the mountains we were amazed by how beautiful it was. The path into the park was lined with trees and lilac bushes..so gorgeous. The blue sky and the green trees were just so phenomenal.


The hike up the mountain was fun. It gave us a great view of the city and the local area. There were some wierd views too though. This huge "lion" statue was definitely special. And back behind that there is a huge section of houses that look like some US subdivision-- out in the middle of nowhere...a little bizarre.


We rode around the city too and Becky and I took a walk around one day too-- we found this gem. I would love to know what the word "Salubrious" means..   and I'm pretty sure I'd love to live here since there is a "group of healthy men" there apparently


Something else we found on our trek around was people selling some random stuff on the street. I think I've mentioned before that it appears as though anyone can sell anything anywhere here. This little station wasn't manned though so who knows if you pay or it you can grab it and run.

Our trip was only 3 days but we had such a great time. We had a coffee night on Saturday and a bunch of students came over to hang out. We had some awesome conversations and there was also a little scary story time, impromptu rapping and a little interpretive dance. Quite the event. It was great to make some new friends and just get some fresh air in another city!