Train
station in Beijing
Here's a sampling of the things we
had for dinner in Hohhot (note also
the fish
in the middle of the table).| Train
station in Beijing |
| Here's a sampling of the things we
had for dinner in Hohhot (note also
the fish
in the middle of the table). |
 Fried meat, etc. |
 Smoked Tofu - definitely not my kind of thing!!! |
 Cold pork with onion like vegetable |
 Ever popular pickled vegetable |
 Pickled beans |
 Corn, potatoes, and ... stuff |
 Noodles with fatty pork meat. It looks slimy, but it's actually pretty good! |
 Dates |
 Chen boshi - the highly
respected head of the Inner Mongolian Geological Survey. He was
our
host in Hohhot. He's a really great and friendly guy. I
gave a three hour long lecture about porphyry copper deposits here with
Fei HongCai's assistance as translator. The Inner Mongolian
survey geologists were extraordinarily attentive to such a long and
specialized talk given in a foreign language that few understand. |
  On the drive from Hohhot to Bayan
Obo, we passed through some scenic mountains with aluvium-filled
valleys. I'm always impressed by seeing rivers of gravel like
this and think about the sand castles I built as a child that quickly
"dissolved" when water rained down upon them. |
 The rivers of gravel are
incredible! |
  Villages along the road to Bayan
Obo from Hohhot mostly looked something like this. I wondered
what these people did for a living - herding? |
  Very recent, rapid downcutting
erosion caught my eye a lot, as well as slumping. I wondered if
this was the result of
recent uplift (in which case, I ask why? What's driving that?) or
recent climate change. |
 Yurts (or
gers) along the road. Yurts are the traditional portable housing
of Mongolian people. Bayan Obo and Hohhot are in Inner
Mongolia, which is an Autonomous Region in China. The country
just north of the border is the country of Mongolia,
formerly known as Outer Mongolia. |
 Zach, Xiao bóshì,
and Fei along the road to Bayan Obo. |
  Delicious mushroom soup we had at
a small restaurant in a small town along the way. |
 Workers resting after installing
beautiful granite curbs. I love how the Chinese use real stone so
frequently - it's something I wish we did here in the United States,
but I'm not holding my breath. |
 This was an amazing scaffolding
built between two buildings. I don't know what they were making,
but they sure were set to go! |
 The train ride back from Hohhot to
Beijing had some nice scenery. I'm amazed at how many beautiful
places there are in the world! |
 We rode the sleeping car back to
Beijing. It was surprisingly comfortable, but I'm not saying I
would want to sleep in a bed like this every night! |
