What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

Thinking that we could escape the humid heat wave in Hong Kong, we headed for the northern China province of Inner Mongolia (內蒙古) to try to get a respite; we were half correct, the day time temperature was in excess of 35 degrees Celsius in the provincial capital, Hohhot, but thankfully the temperature dropped to about 19 C at night with a low humidity level throughout, phew !  We found Hohhot to be a.n.o.t.h.e.r. pleasant Chinese city to hang out in, this seemed to be a recurring phenomenon happening on our China travels of late, perhaps because there had been more well-planned urban development in China. For instance, although the day time heat was un-forgiving, there were loads of greenery and shady parks to enjoy a break and gave us time to have our lunches of juicy fruits of watermelons, pears and apples. Our experience was of course enhanced as we headed back home for an invigorating afternoon swim in the "club".
Apart from such civilized and sedate activities, we did venture afar and on one occasion we bumped into a welcoming party for distant guests at the Grand Mongolian Camp (蒙古大營) - we had absolutely no idea who the important guests were, but the Camp organisers decked out the full treatment of tens of Camp dudes playing in sync the horse-headed Mongolian guitars and the Camp ladies were dressed up in traditional colorful Mongolian dresses with their characteristic extra-tall head-gears. These wonderfully dressed ladies looked exactly like the princesses in Star Wars The Movie, take a look yourself in the photos below. We also spent a day at the Wusutu National Forest Park (烏素圖國家森林公園), enjoying ourselves on a gentle hike in the fragrant pine forests. This was where we came across a stunning massive statue/sculpture of an angry squirrel (see photo below), jutting out of a hill top - it was indeed menacing but good for a laugh and a great land mark to orientate ourselves in the vast open forests. Aside from these adventures, we visited the Tibetan temples of 大召寺, 席力圖召 and 五塔寺, we also spent time at the peaceful 青城公園,  the enormous 內蒙古風情園, and 塞上老街; as well as an informative day at the Inner Mongolian Museum and after all these ventures, we felt satisfied in having had such a peaceful yet eventful two weeks in this lovely province.