jiayan

After complementary breakfast – buffet style – at our hotel, we set off for the National Forest Park near our hotel, recommended by the 服务员 by the front desk. On our way we saw a bunch of cow heads on the street and a dead dog in the grass…very pleasant sights indeed.

...They had to...

But after buying our tickets (student discount -15RMB instead of 30RMB) the view was a lot better, for the most part.

Our communist pose

China flag outside the National Park

Group picture before entering Park

Group picture by this giant Rat (?) head's skull in the Park

There was an animal zoo but all the animals looked so depressed (like the bear that was sitting in front of his own waste) and some were in really small cages (like this eagle that could not fully open it’s wings). There was no zoo keeper in sight…

This one is actually sleeping..

We also visited a bird cage, at least they look happier since they could fly/swim freely.

Inside the bird cage/nest

Peacock!

Then we visited this part of the forest that had stories behind the trees, like the King Tree – older than 500 years old and believed to extend your life if you take a picture with it, and the Watch Pine – two pair of twins that did not want to be separated from each other and became pine trees so they can always watch each other.

John by the entrance of the forest area

Jenny, Steph, and John

Me with the Longevity Tree - yes! I increased my lifespan by 10 years!

Then we wandered off the main road and explored some abandoned houses. I was really scared and kept begging everyone to leave but they ignored my cries…

The girls inside the abandoned house

John..sneaking in

Zack (top), Ben, and John (bottom)

The girls again

Leaving the abandoned house..finally!

We finally left the National Forest Park after that (more than four hours already passed) and found another local restaurant for lunch. After eating and putting on more clothes (it’s pretty cold in Mongolia but even colder at night), we set off for the Grasslands to ride horses and watch the sunset. We wanted to spend the night in yurts but since we came at a time pass tourist season, there was no night activities and we would’ve spend many hours in the freezing cold witth nothing to do. We settled for just the horseback riding and sunset watching. Unfortunately, we did not get to ride the horses because you can only go in groups of four and with eight people, it would not have been fair to make one group wait for the other group to finish riding the horses then for the other group to wait as well. So we ended up walking to the river and exploring the grassland on our own – meanwhile avoiding as much horse excrement as possible. The nice thing about watching the sunset was that we saw the moon rise less than 10 minutes after the sunset. Just being in that serene location with the beautiful view was definitely worth the trip.

Grassland! Horses!

Scenic view at the grassland

Jenny blowing dandelions

Having fun...

The moon! But horrible quality...

After the grassland we went to the hotpot restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet (trust Lonely Planet!) where the food was much cheaper, more filling, and better tasting. After eating we went convenience store hopping again before returning to our hotel rooms.