10-21-2019

 Other trip pictures.

Above: the remnants of lunch. We ate at a hotel. We were 60+ people, I think, so we required A Lot Of Food.

 

Here is one of the dish name translations: Garlic babydish. 

Not to be confused with Garlic baby dish.

10-20-2019

 

Field trip day 2! Also the last day.

Sunrise in Ordos from the hotel window

First stop: Ordos Museum (鄂尔多斯博物馆)

 

Of the many spellings of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) that I've seen, never have I seen 'Jenghis Kehan' until today.

 

Traditional Mongolian clothing

 

In case you couldn't tell, Mongolians intensely revere horses.. 

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Second stop: Erdos Cashmere Group (鄂尔多斯羊绒集团)

in simple words: plant that manufactures cashmere

 

There were samples that we could touch 😀

 

Colors!

 

And of course there was an attached store where we could buy expensive cashmere products (who wants to buy a cashmere scarf for ¥900?)  

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Mountains near Hohhot from the bus window 😊

10-19-2019

I have been a little sick so I probably should have stayed behind and rested, but there was an out of town field trip this weekend, and I didn't want to miss out!

First stop: Yili Group - Milk Production Line (伊利集团液态奶生产线) 

in simple terms: a milk production plant

 

Learning about the cow's digestive system! Yum.

 

MILK

 

LOOK AT THE MILKS GOOOO

 

Moo.

 

Second stop: Baotou Rare Earth High-Tech Industrial Development Zone 

in simple terms: they [get? extract? acquire?] rare earth (I still don't really know what this means) to make things

 

 

 Got some pictures of some minerals and rocks and things. My terminology is probably wrong, and if my geology friend were to read my blog I think she would call me out. 

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Yellow River (黄河) as seen from the bus while we were crossing a bridge 😁 Also known as 'the mother river' of China due to its importance in the history of Chinese civilization.

Third stop: Ordos Institute of Technology (鄂尔多斯应用技术学院)

This was a 'cultural exchange' event where some international students (yes, always including me because I am the only American at my university) and some Chinese students spoke on stage. But not together. Personally, I think the way the event was run could have been amended a little to allow for a little more exchange.

I think most of the foreign students (me included) kind of viewed this as just 'another event/formality that we had to sit through', but a Mongolian student gave me a different perspective. 

Ordos is a small city with a population of about 2 million. I don't think Ordos has any universities, and most of the students at this particular school are from Ordos. So this is probably the first time that many of these students have seen foreigners in person. Not that foreigners are animals to be oogled at, but I think there is something to meeting people with different looks, beliefs, and ways of life in person. If you're not face to face with them, it's easy to judge, criticize. But seeing them in person, you can't forget that they are just people, too.