"All the places left behind..........." Top 5 Page for this destination Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region by sugarpuff

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Travel Guide: 163 reviews and 376 photos

Camel silhouette - Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Dreadful DREADFUL news flash! My computer crashed last night due to a worm rummaging itself around it, so therefore all 200 photos I had taken in the desert as somewhere in recycle heaven, never to come back!!!! Im so upset as they were so good and I had so much fun taking them and waitiong to put them on VT, but alas, it wasn't to be. I will still be writing as mnay tips as possible so please come by now and then. Hope you are enjoying my pages so far.

This page is for the place that are not mentioned in VT as cities to talk about....poor little towns and cities which have been left out maybe because VT doesn't know of them or because they think no-one will ever go there!!!Either way..Im making a place for them so they don't feel left out and hopefully VT will do the same for them one day soon!

At present in this autonomous region, they are:

Eerguna

Engebei

Kubuqi Desert

Camels in the distance

Ive just returned from a 5 day journey to the desert in Inner Mongolia and it was absolutely fantastic! I have a million photos just ready to put on VT but only four days to do it in because Im off on my next work trip on Thursday! So cross your fingers for me that I'll make it in time!!! I had such a great trip and did and saw things Ive never done or seen before. Had some different food and met all kinds of different people. As always, the many great things about travelling! I went to a part of the desert in Inner Mongolia called the Kubuqi Desert and touched the soft sand under the scorching heat. Itruely felt like I was in another world. It was so quiet and in the eveing got quite chilly. Any worries you may have had would certainly have been the last thing on your mind as you stumbled along this uneven land. I was just picturing people walking through the desert in search of water and food dying from heat and imagining how dreadful it would feel. I went to a small oasis called Engebei which was a lovely part, with a river going through the middle of the desert in which you could take a speedboat ride. I didn't realise how hard it would be to walk up sand dunes or even on flat desert land?! It looks so soft and welcoming but in fact is a harsh and cruel working and living environment.

If youre wondering why I went to this area or why YOU would want to go to this place, this is why..... Iwent for a work programme about 'Hope in the Desert'. The guide books probably talk about the main places of tourist interest to go, and not some of the places I went to. This is mainly because a few of the places I went are hard to go to unless you
have youre own transport. This is a great shame because they were truely magnificent. We flew into Baotu, and then went staright to Engebei, where many Japanese people go to regularly to plant trees in the Kubuqi Desert. This was started by a Japanese man called Mr Toyoma over twenty years ago. I will explain more about him in my tips pages. From there we went to Dalate County to see new projects of trees being planted to stop the spreading of the desert.

Ostriches Galore

He was very cute..and so interested in my camera!

Apart from camels, this area is rife in Ostriches. They were mostly small ones but I did see one which they said was Africa and it was LARGE!!!! It got close to our cameraman and then got frightened and opened its wings to run away!Well, the span of its wings was incredible!!! An absolutely HUGE bird!!! I am not quite sure what they do with them though. They are in a safari kind of park free to run around but it doesn't look like that place gets very many visitors! All my meals in Engebei consisted of ostrich, which was a little unbearable once I'd seen them face to face. I stopped eating it..it felt too cruel. But the Chinese don't mind..it's food..as simple as that...you can't start getting feelings for the animals..they are there to be eaten!!!! Hhhhmmm.....

Last visit to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: Aug 2004
Intro Updated Sep 14, 2004
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Reviews (5)

Desert dragon - Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Swoosh round on a speedboat! Things to Do (2)

The Engebei Lake scenic spot is situated in the Kubuqi Great Desert, and its natural scenery makes up the main part.... more travel advice

A statue of the late Mr Toyoma in Engebei. - Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Cloudless skies and endless sand... Favorites (1)

Engebei Desert Tourist Spot is situated in Wulan Township, Dalate Banner on the bank of the Huanghe (Yellow River). It... more travel advice

The leader of the pack! - Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Take a camel ride!!!! Things to Do (2)

This was at the Resonant Sand Gorge, a very cool touristy place to go! It was as if I was there as a tourist myself... more travel advice

A wonderful hotel Hotels (2)

This hotel was the last one I stayed in the city of Eerduosi. It was in a bigger district called Dongsheng, so many more... more travel advice

Comments (16)

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sourbugger Dec 24, 2008 at 3:21 AM

excellent stuff. festive greetings, btw.
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mke1963 Feb 19, 2006 at 3:11 AM

Eerguna is in the VT database as Ergun ; ) Engebei is a recent 'made up name' so that's why it doesn't exist in *any* geographic database! - Mark
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iwys Feb 17, 2006 at 12:36 AM

Nice page. I worked on the other side of the border, in Outer Mongolia, for a year. When I travelled across Inner Mongolia, on the train, the Mongolians found it great fun to chat with me in Mongolian, so the Han Chinese couldn't understand.
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chbuchie Nov 18, 2005 at 4:14 AM

feeling sorry for your lost photos, must feel bad, anyway greetz from antwerp , C
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kenHuocj Jun 10, 2005 at 10:42 AM

Ouch - compouter crash - a good excuseto visit again ;-)))
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Ben-UK Mar 27, 2005 at 11:18 AM

Definitely off the beaten track! -- and I agree with your decision about the ostrich meat! -- fascinating page -- thank you.
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easyoar Jan 14, 2005 at 6:49 PM

I like those boots you're wearing on that camel! Hope you managed to retrieve your photos, did you manage to get rid of that worm without too much damage?
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850prc Jan 14, 2005 at 6:41 PM

Interesting look at a place that's always fascinated me, Victoria. Greetings from Florida.
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grishaV1 Nov 28, 2004 at 10:47 AM

sorry about the computer crash :-( it happen to us as well and we lost over 1000 pics. but you still made a nice page, must have been a great adventure :-))))))))
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urban4est Nov 14, 2004 at 8:53 AM

A very interesting story about the Japanese tree planters and Mr. Toyama. In the U.S. farmers tried to introduce Ostrich. It failed after China got into it because the U.S. growers were unable to profit from the leather in competition with China.