Destination: Inner Mongolia

I traveled to Hohut with Jay during a rare three day weekend to visit his friend Kelly who graduated from Texas A&M. Hohut is the capital of Inner Mongolia Province, which is part of China. The Chinese call Mongolia the country (not part of China) Outer Mongolia, the capital of which is Ulaan Batur. (This is an example of Chinese percieving things in their relationship to China, the center country) Inner Mongolia is one of the four "autonomous regions" of China, which means there are minorities which historically, have not enjoyed being part of China. Consequently, there is more military presence and the local populous is watched more closely than in other regions without minorities. To me this seems opposite of being autonomous, but whatever. Kelly showed us some great Mongolian food and introduced us to some of her Mongolian friends in the music scene.

Kelly (above, seated next to Jay) is actually quite popular in the province because she has studied and preformed Mongolian folk music for the last two years; she is probably the only white person in the world who does so. Kelly has made several tv spots and participated in a few big music festevals - her neighbors enjoy living near someone so famous!




Here are some photos from the Hui (sp?) Muslim section of town. Walking through the streets here felt more like Qatar than China, except that the people wearing robes and headresses were Chinese!






There is also a substantial Buddhist population in Hohut. We saw some beautiful Buddhist temples and met a group of young Buddhist pupils studying in a monastary at the foot of the mountains north of the city. No pictures allowed inside, so all I can show you is the gate, and a monument outside the monastary called an "Ov-vo." Mongolian tradition says that if one carries a stone to a holy place, or a high place that God will remember their struggles on earth after they die. Ov-vo is a pile of stones which Mongolians have carried to these pilgrimage hotspots.