Xinjiang Travel Notes 08 – Staying in a Mongolian yurt

On the grassland near the parking spot, there are still many tourists wandering on the grassland. The sky has returned to blue sky and white clouds. Looking at the snow-capped mountains in the distance, it is so high and empty, and people are so small between heaven and earth.
We got on the Jingjiao bus as we wished. Some Jingjiao buses go to the cableway station, and some go to the North Gate. It’s the same for us. We will get off at the World Heritage Exhibition Center and stay at the Herdsman Inn in the scenic area in the evening. tent. This was the most "expensive" night of our entire trip, with the worst conditions and the most beautiful scenery. There was no way to take a shower at night, so we had to use dry toilets, so we could experience the life of herdsmen up close. The scenery outside the car seems to be more beautiful than when we played on the grass. Maybe it is because the observation angle is higher, maybe the sunlight has become softer, and it is more likely due to the change in mentality. In short, I feel that the grass is greener, the flowers are more beautiful, the sky is bluer, and the clouds are more charming... But most of these I cannot directly experience at the moment.
About 20 minutes later, we got off the bus at the World Heritage Exhibition Center. The driver forgot that we needed to get off the bus halfway and almost pulled us over. The World Heritage Exhibition Center is empty except for the four of us. The exhibition center is not big. There is a single-story house not far from the roadside, which is also closed. There is a barbed wire fence dividing the grassland a few meters on both sides of the road. The scenic area is only a small part of the grassland. Xiaoxia called the inn and asked a car to come pick us up. I said, is the inn far away? If it's not far, just walk there. Xiaoxia said, it’s still so far away, so let’s wait for the car to come.
When I was doing nothing, I saw a bird flying over the barbed wire fence, so I put on a telephoto lens, but before I started shooting, the bird had already flown away. I don’t want to change the lens anymore, just take pictures of whatever I encounter. I just carry the camera on my back and protect the lens with my hand, and a few people stand on the roadside chatting. An eagle was circling not far away and flew in our direction, so I picked up the camera and pointed it at the eagle. When the eagle was far away, I quickly took 2 pictures. Unfortunately, it was still a little far away from me, so I took the photos. The eagle is a bit too small, and the sky is too single, without any background.

The car that picked us up came, a pickup truck. We had to throw all our bags in the car, and a few people crowded in the cab. I was still holding a camera equipped with a telephoto lens. The dirt road I saw when the pickup truck came turned to the south. The road was very uneven, shaking and bumping people back and forth. Protecting my camera was the most important thing for me. After passing 1 or 2 ridges across the hillside, the road began to go down. There were some scattered houses in the valleys. There were tall spruce trees growing on several nearby hills. It was like a paradise. There were also a few tourists. Strolling along the road, I guess this is where we will stay tonight.
The car did not stop. At the fork in the road not far ahead, I chose the road on the left and walked onto a gently sloping road. There were spruce trees on the right side of the slope and pastures on the left. The car stopped at the end of a row of houses, next to the spruce trees, and our accommodation arrived. The inn is at a relatively high point, with a large pasture to the south. The inn has a row of houses and eight or nine yurts. The doors all face south and the view is very good. The boss asked us whether we were staying in a Tongfang or a yurt. We asked what the difference was between the two. The boss said there was no difference. They were both Datongbu, but one was a room and the other was a yurt. The two ladies looked around the yurt and the room and said that they should stay in the yurt.
The diameter of the yurt is five or six meters. The front half is the ground. Except for an unlit stove, the back half is a wooden platform about 20 centimeters above the ground. It is covered with mattresses and 6 are placed against the wall. , 7 quilts, this is where we will stay tonight. Before we arrived, some friends had arrived and stayed in several other yurts.
Put down your bag, change out of your hiking shoes that have been covering your feet all day, put on easy cloth shoes, take nothing, take a look at the surrounding environment first, and at the same time make room for the ladies to tidy up their appearance. There is a wooden fence thirty or forty meters in front of the door, which separates the inn from the pasture. There are several entrances and exits on the fence, and a piece of wood is simply placed horizontally on it. It should be used to stop large livestock such as cattle and horses.
Just after taking a few steps, an eagle flew overhead. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a camera with me, and maybe it was too late to take a picture. I walked around the neighborhood and found a dry toilet. There was a diesel generator next to the dry toilet. There was a faucet for washing hands and faces in the center of the yurt-house-fence fence. I turned on the faucet and gave it a try. , the water is very cold. Then we walked around the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen is to the north of the dining room. The yurt, dining room, kitchen, and spruce trees surround a backyard. A three-square water tank is placed on a wooden frame in the middle of the backyard. The water should come from the hillside. After being pulled up by a vehicle from a certain place, it is then pumped into a water tank.
After a round, the lady had already changed her clothes. I also went into the yurt and put on a thin woolen sweater. Then I took the camera out and crossed the fence to the grass. The two ladies and Xiaoxia went to the kitchen to order a meal. went. It was already 9 o'clock, but the sun was still very high and would not reach the horizon for an hour. There are many flowers on the grass. Because there are fewer people here than in Wuhuahai, the quality of the flowers is better than that. I found an angle, lined up the flowers and the snow-capped mountains opposite in one shot, and then sat on the grass in a daze.
After ordering the meal, the two ladies also came out to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Xiaoxia went back to the yurt to rest. It took about an hour for the meal to be ready. Ms. C was walking along the grass slope, taking close-ups of the flowers with her camera and mobile phone. Ms. W was leaning on the fence and chatting with her. After a while, she couldn't resist the temptation and took out her mobile phone and entered the grassland. They took pictures for a while and felt very satisfied, especially the super macro shots taken by Ms. C. They came over to let me comment. I saw that they were indeed good, so I switched to telephoto and took some pictures. I found that there were flies on many flowers. There are as many as 4 or 5 in number.

Several other tourists who lived here also came out at this time, and everyone was spread out in the huge grassland, living in peace and harmony. CW went down along the grassy slope and took pictures. After I took a few pictures, I went to look for a place where I could take time-lapse photography and take a good picture of the sunset.
The light gradually softened and became slightly warmer. Looking from a distance, across the Kurdai River, the hillside over there was bathed in the setting sun. There was a large village, or even a town, on the hillside. There are about a hundred houses scattered on the first-level meadows. The ridges of hillside cast shadows like a symphony.
Down the slope to the west of the inn, there are two families, one far away and one close. They are both in a row of houses with 2 or 3 yurts. This is also where the smoke is curling up. Unfortunately, some of them are in the shadows, and the photos do not show them. Beauty expressed.
The sky slowly turned red. The plane flew over from high altitude and pulled out two track lines. The plane behind it pulled out two track lines that had not dispersed for a long time. The plane was still on the western horizon and turned around. . The snow-capped mountains are slowly turning red. Maybe the sun will shine on the golden mountains. That would be perfect.
On the top of the mountain in the west, clouds and mist slowly rose, the light became scattered, and the sun was finally covered by the clouds. The clouds were like burning red, with a golden edge set by the sun. The light on the snow-capped mountains dimmed, and finally the golden mountains of sunshine were no longer formed. The initial angle chosen for the time-lapse photography was that the sun was between two trees. Unexpectedly, when the sun set, it kept moving northward and finally landed in the woods.

In the twilight, the day's activities came to an end. The dinner was very sumptuous, with rice and 4 dishes, one of which was stewed mutton and a vegetable. The checkout was just over 200, which is very cheap.
During the meal, the weather got even colder. The two ladies talked about a friend of theirs who stayed here half a month ago. It was raining that day, and there was a fire in the yurt. She was still shivering from the cold even though she was wearing a big cotton coat. I said, I want to take pictures of the starry sky at night, and the two of them said in unison, "You go ahead, we don't."