Lasting Impressions of Inner Mongolia…..now off to Beijing!

Well our time here in Xiang Sha Wan, Inner Mongolia has come to an end.  The past 6 or so days have been an exciting, but cold, whirlwind of activities and excursions.

Vera and I are now off to Beijing for a few days, before heading home to the States.  We are getting ready to board the bus that will take us to the airport, to catch our two hour flight into Beijing.  Hopefully we have a little better luck with internet connections in Beijing, but for the meantime, here are a few images and captions from our time here in Inner Mongolia.

First up, the hotel we stayed in…

and the view from our room overlooking the desert…

A camel stationed outside the Xiang Sha Wan Art Palace yurt.  The camels are very submissive here.  All the driver does to keep them from walking off is to push the end of the rope about 3″ under the sand.

Some of my framed art stationed on the sand, waiting to be hung.

Some other works by exhibiting photographers already hung for the exhibition.

A performance dance by Chinese women photographers, with tripods!

Chinese photographers photographing a Mongolian model in traditional dress.

One of my many pictures taken with a Chinese photographer.

This is a series of Chinese camel drivers and their camels.

Fellow American photographer and exhibitor Tom Alleman with a camel driver.

Here is a sand sledding hill that visitors usually visit and enjoy IN THE SUMMER!  Apparently, the sand “sings” when riding the sled down the hill……… guess we’ll have to come back when it’s warmer to try that one.

Here is Vera standing next to a “mini” van….

and photographer Walt Stricklin standing next to a similar van.

Tom Alleman and I hired this taxi driver for a half day to take us around Inner Mongolia to shoot.  Below are a few images from our stops.

The cars run on natural gas, here is our cab refueling.

View from inside our cab.

Tom riding shotgun, getting ready for a shot.

Beautiful swan street lamps.

View from a Buddhist temple in Erdos.

During our four hour photo excursion, we came across a few road side markets.

Ox parts!

and fish.

Most Mongolians travel this way in the 0 degree weather.

A Mongolian delivery man.

And a shoe repairman.

Open air market, candy merchant.

A few Christmas displays.

And a sign displayed in an Inner Mongolian restroom.

And last but not least a marker in an Mongolian graveyard.

~ by on January 5, 2011.