Tuesday, June 4th-Independent Gegentala Grasslands Tour

• Decided to not do Anda Guesthouse Grassland Tour
• After spending 2.5 hours in the desert and 7 hours on a bus, it wasn’t worth the 590 RMB to do the desert tour if you’ve seen the desert before but if you haven’t (like me) then it’s kind of worth it
• This led to the group decision to take a bus from Hohhot to Zhaohe to see the grasslands instead of paying almost another 600 RMB to spend the night in a yurt through Anda Guesthouse (the hostel we were all sleeping in)
• They warned us that we wouldn’t get the “authentic” Mongolian experience but I took into consideration that this is the employees of the guesthouse talking and plus all I want to do is see the grasslands, riding on a horse for 150 RMB for an hour isn’t something that I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little boy
• Lost trying to find people in the grocery store
• So we (2 out of 4) decided that instead of buying food there it would be a good idea to buy a lunch in order to go out there and not get hungry
• I just took my usual way of pigging out on carbohydrates so that I stayed full the entire day but I’m passive-aggressive so I said sure
• Of course I got lost from the group 
• “Oh guys look at how cool this fruit is…guys….where did they go?”
• So of course I started to panic but then I settled down once I remembered that what they probably thought was, “Oh no Bruce is lost, but this will be easy because all we have to do  wait find the white guy”
• Sure enough I just looked for a girl with red curly hair and I found them pretty easy-hooray for diversity!
• If you're ever in China, get one of these street food items
• It's a pancake that has a lightly scrambled egg on top, then a piece of fried bread is put on top of that, it's wrapped up, and then it's sprinkled with spices and bits of heaven

• Got a good deal on transporting group to grasslands
• So we wanted to do this independent trip to Gegentala grasslands instead of the Anda Guesthouse trip to Xilaturmen because we thought it would be cheaper, but one guy by the Hohhot train station said he wanted 800 RMB to take us all there and back which would have in the end saved us money but we wanted a better deal
• James and his excellent Mandarin skills saved the day because he knew how to bargain in China so he said he wouldn’t take anything less than 350 RMB
• The guy acted like he was all pissed and stormed off, shouting random Chinese things in the air, then he came back after 3 minutes and said, “Alright I’ll take it”
• Lost trying to find shuttle
• So after we agreed, me and a girl had to use the restroom and James and another girl went to go walk to the car
• Well of course me and Anna got lost trying to find the car James got for us so we walked around for half an hour trying to find them
• I was still in my American mindset so I thought, “Oh, I’ll just look for the Asian guy in the yellow shirt”
• It took me 3 seconds to realize that doesn’t work anymore but eventually he found us because me and the girl stuck out like sore thumbs and we took the 2 hour ride to Gegentala with me in the middle of the back seat and the ride there was pretty cool

•  I just loved how oversized this truck was

• Never saw what a sandstorm looked like

• Grasslands
• Awesome-if you ever go, bring a cooler of beer, lawnchairs, and a garbage can because this is the perfect place to sit back, crack open a beer and look at the sky

• There's a picture of me out there for scale

• Missed bus
• So after we got back we tried to find a taxi to take us back to the hostel but no one wanted to pick us up so we decided to take a bus
• We were sitting there waiting and one of the girls with us said, “OH MY GOD, THERE’S A GUY JACKING OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET!”
• I looked down because I didn’t want to see it so I asked where was he and the girl said, “Bruce he’s right next to you”
• I jumped about 3 feet in the air because I was wearing nice khakis and I didn’t want anything on them
• Turns out the guy was 10 ft. away from me, on his motorcycle in front of a group of girls, just going to town on himself having the time of his life
• I didn’t see anything disgusting but I saw his hand because after I landed from my jump I looked on my shirt to make sure nothing got on it
• We sat there laughing for 30 seconds and the entire time our bus was right there and we didn’t even see it thanks to captain spank the monkey
• When we finally realized that our bus was right there it was too late and I almost jumped on the back of it but it pulled away too quickly
• We all eventually got on a different bus that only cost 1 RMB to take and now we have a good story to tell at least
• Restaurant Hopping
• So I’m not cool enough to go bar hopping so instead I just went restaurant hopping with my 3 new friends and ate a lot of awesome Chinese food
• And then we downed it with really low alcohol content beers like all major ragers do

• • Of course this beer was enough to get some Chinese people drunk on a Monday night
  • This is a picture of a man and a woman having fallen asleep at a table in a restaurant with a woman holding a pillow

• The highlight of the night came from the bad English at the dumpling place's menu

• We tried to go bar hopping
• I think it’s just the power of my morning prayers that keep me out of trouble because we couldn’t find this “Yesterday Bar” that the French version of the Lonely Planet guide recommended in Hohhot for the life of us
• We gave up and just went back to the hostel after an hour of fruitless searching-Hooray Jesus Power!
• Hohhot is at least pretty at night

• Finally got my travel dispensation from the bishop of Nashville!
• I asked for it two months ago but I finally got one!

Dear Mr. Spencer,

In response to your request for a dispensation from the duty to be present at Mass while you are in rural China, you have my permission to do so.

However, if you find yourself in a situation where you can be present at a Eucharistic Celebration by a priest in communion with the Church, please do so. 

I wish you well in your work in China.

Wishing you every blessing, I am

Sincerely in Christ,

 

Most Reverend David R. Choby