So what everyone does in their last week in ALP, is travel. No matter what you do, TRAVEL. It’s the last chance to freely roam the vast lands of China.
Edit: Check out our abandoned city adventure here.
It was about 5am and Cyrus and I stayed up, decided to book tickets to as far up as Beijing. No, wait, even further. Inner Mongolia. By rail.
We left the same day at 5pm.
Our travels brought us through Beijing, Hohhot, Kangbashi New District, and Ordos Desert. Barely made it back to fly back to Singapore (had to make special arrangements, don’t do this kids (actually it’s okay if you do, just don’t do it on purpose)).
For any junior, or anyone for that matter, reading this and attempting this trip by rail, here were our plans:
- Rail from Hangzhou to Beijing, sleep on train
- Explore Beijing (mad rush, 1/2 day)
- Rail from Beijing to Hohhot, sleep on train
- Attempted to get motorcycles but China has literally phased them out
- Rail from Hohhot to Ordos (reached at 12mn)
- Taxi hitch from Ordos to Kangbashi New District
- Explore Kangbashi at midnight (this deserves a whole post)
- Rail back to Hohhot, check in at Anda’s for desert tour
- Explore Ordos desert, then minibus back to Hohhot
- Flight back to Hangzhou (barely made it)
Cool people we met along the way:
- Clive, from Sheffield, teaches English in Luoyang
- Belinda, from South Africa, studying in Tianjin
- Anda, from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, runs a guesthouse
- Random lawyer couple from Singapore
- Probably some more I’ve forgotten
