16
Location: Baotou
Hello friends and family! Hannah and Bianca here, reporting to you live from our luxurious yurt, reflecting on yesterdays adventures. Where do we begin? We started the day with an early wake up (which we slept through) and a long ride to the Resonant Sand Gorge. A lot of us had been looking to this day, and we were not disappointed.
We started our adventure by strapping on some high-fashion sand boots and heading onto a very Indiana Jones looking truck. The truck took us through the desert dunes where we stopped for a couple of photo ops, rolled down some dunes and headed to zip-lining. Although some of us were scared, we conquered our fears and zip-lined in style.
We then headed to the Camel garden (yes, it’s called that, and yes, it’s a bop) where we hopped on some camels and rode through the desert. The camels led us to to the top of a mountain, where on the other side the ATVs awaited. Once we hopped on the ATVs, with hair flying everywhere and huge smiles, we rode around with some professional drivers who took us down and around the steep sand dunes giving us the adrenaline rush of a lifetime.
While waiting for our Indiana Jones truck to arrive, we grabbed a soccer ball and started an impromptu game, The Tiger Wushu Warriors vs. the Sand Sisters. While the game was fun, what was even more fun was having random strangers join us (shout out to our new friend Kay for winning all two of the goals for the Sand Sisters). Finally, we headed down the slopes of a steep sand dune on sleds that led us to a very refreshing smoothie station.
I think we can all agree that it was the experience of a lifetime. In the desert, we headed to the Genghis Khan Museum and Mausoleum, which a lot of us liked because it was very interactive. There was a garden with larger than life figurines that represented Genghis Kahn’s army formation and a huge map on the ground that showed, in color, the area’s he ruled over. I think we can all agree that our favorite part was dressing up as Mongols and having a full photoshoot.
After the museum, we took a five-hour bus ride back to our hotel in Baotou; watching the bright magenta sunset on one side of the bus and the bright pink full moon rise on the other side. Overall, it was an amazing day made better by even more amazing people. We have to fly, gotta deal with the chicken outside our yurt and watch a Mongolian horse race. See you next time on Keeping up with Bianca and Hannah.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Why does Genghis Khan look like an old Italian lady?” -Hannah