Our Trip to the Resonant Sand Gorge in Baotou
From Gegentala Grassland to the Resonant Sand Gorge in Baotou
Too tired to get up for the sunrise. But I do get up at 6:30am to have a walk around the living place. The air is refreshing, and the temperature is comfortable. I take a walk to the deluxe yurt and traditional yurt area. We stay in war chariot yurts. The view near these yurt area is fantastic - lake, green grassland, freh air and more. After simple breakfast, we start for the Resonant Sand Gorge, a romantic site for people's thinking. We first have to return to Hohhot, then go along the highway to Baotou. The drive from the grassland to the Resonant Sand Gorge takes about 4 hours. We have lunch at Baotou. The highway from Hohhot to Baotou is about 10 km. After lunch, we drive to the Resonant Sand Gorge about 65km away from Baotou. Baotou is the second largest city in Inner Mongolia. It is said the city construction planing was made by former Russian experts with a prespect of 100 years. So Baotou city is well organized now. It is a green city, dotted with parks and lakes. It is one of the cleanest cities in China. Baotou is a narrow and long city along the Yingshan Mountain. It is divided into two parts - east and west. The east part is the tradtitional part of the city while the west part is the new development zone.
On the highway from Hohhot to Baotou
The toll gate at the east part of Baotou
Lunch at Tianfeng Restaurant at Baotou
It seems they are enjouying their lunch
We pass the Yellow River on the way from Baotou to the desert
The Resonant Sand Gorge
The Resonant Sand Gorge is the spiced up name for a desert about 18000 sq km. The popularity of the desert started only a few years ago. maybe the completion of the Hohhot-Baotou highway speeds up the publicity of the tourist attraction. It is an isolated desert as mentioned with about an area 18000qsq. I don't know how it becomes. It is a fun to frolic on the sand. But I don't hope the sand will expand to damage the environment and the local ecosystem. After we arrive at the sand, we take a 3-minute bus to the chairlift station, where we connect the chairlift to get to the top of the sand hill. On the hill, there are some sand activities like camel riding, sand sliding, parasailing, motocars and more. Our tour package includes one hour's camel riding and two-time sand sliding. We first choose camel riding. For most of us, it is frst time for us to experience the camel riding. So all the students are excited and very much enjoy the camel riding. We line up camel by camel, a team of about 10 camels walking together. Camel riding is more comfortable and safer than ridng a horse. The one hour camel riding takes us to another sand hill top, then return where we start. Near the top, it rains, or later it pours down. We all experience the changeable weather on the sand. It suddenly becomes very cold! The local staff come to help us by driving the jeeps to take us away and send to the starting pointing. When we arrive at the area below, the rain stops. Wet through, we are happy to see the raining on the sand never seen before. The wet sand after the rain makes the sand sliding a little difficult and blunt. When people slide down, the wet sand slows down the speed and sometimes change the course and even capsize the slide. All this never stops us.
The price list for all the acivities on the sand
Take the bus to the chairlift station
The chailift station and sketch map of the Resonant Sand Gorge
Over the valley and towards the sand hill platform
On the sand hill platform with sand-proof socks
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