Finding pieces of myself

The endless expanse of snow and grass that so many find so moving...
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In our guidebook, the main reason to come to the arid northern region of Inner-Mongolia is to explore the “endless acres upon acres of open grasslands.” Funny how sometimes the simplest things can be so enticing, isn’t it? Grass isn’t the sort of thing one usually travels well off the beaten track to explore, but I had the sense there might be more to it than that. In fact, if you start to think about the reasons behind choosing to come to a frigidly cold, vast open land with little more than a scattering of yurts (traditional Mongolian tents), clumps of grass and patches of snow and frozen ice, you inevitably start looking deep within yourself – which perhaps embodies the difference between a traveler and a tourist.

I attempt to eat a freshly frozen snow cake!
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When, for a few days, you leave behind iPods (yes, I’m listening to one now), laptops (yes I’m using one to type this), wifi (yes, I’m using it to post this entry) and shopping malls (well… I gotta get a good foot massage somewhere, don’t I?) the landscape of Inner-Mongolia inevitably gives you no other choice but to reflect on being alive.

... if you manage to find a piece of yourself out here, then it will have all been worth it.

I sit outside the house where a Mongolian family warmly welcomed us from the cold...
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Our guesthouse is new, having been in operation for only 5 months by a Mongolian family in Hohhot, who basically let their three bedroom apartment rooms out to travelers, sleeping on the floor in the living room in high season and taking a room or bed for themselves when the opportunity allows. Their tiled kitchen walls have become whiteboards with dinner menus, tour options, train timetables and one wall dedicated with permanent markers to traveler testimonials. One message reads, “I found a piece of myself out there in the grasslands. With love, thankyou.”

Felicity dines on a traditional Mongolian breakfast of salty tea, millet and richly-spiced cakes...
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Forcing yourself to brave the cold and sit in minus five degrees for twenty minutes as winds buffet you from all sides is a deeply spiritual experience that is best left up to the individual. But if all this means that like the traveler on the wall, and like myself, you manage to find a piece of yourself out here, then it will have all been worth it.