Be a Shepherd and Seek the White Reindeer in the Forest

🦌 A Few Notes Before We Start 🦌

Before this trip, the northernmost place I had been to in China was Kanas in Xinjiang. After this trip, that record moved again to Moerdaoga, and the straight-line distance from China’s northern border was not far at all. In early autumn 2022, we flew about 2,500 kilometers from Shanghai via Beijing and arrived at the Hulun Buir grassland, which turned out to be far better than I expected.

🚙 The Easiest Self-Drive I Have Ever Done 🚙

Compared with the self-driving trips we did in New Zealand and Xinjiang years ago, this route in Inner Mongolia felt almost completely relaxed. The roads were mostly highways, with no dangerous mountain sections to keep you tense the whole time. It was probably the easiest and most comfortable self-drive I have ever taken.

• D1 Shanghai - Beijing - Hulunbuir
• D2 Hulunbuir - Morigele River - Erguna Wetland Scenic Spot
• D3 Erguna - Deerbuxing Anshen Deer Park - Mordaoga National Forest Park
• D4 Mordaoga - China Shiwei Port - Erguna River Wulan Mountain Scenic Area - Heishantou
• D5 Heishantou - Huhe Nuoer - Hulunbuir
• D6 Hulunbuir - Beijing - Shanghai

🍁 Autumn on the Grassland 🍁

Once we left Hailar, the grassland appeared very quickly. The first thing that struck me was how fresh everything looked, even the cows working in the fields.

Soon, the landscape made its point without any help from me. Early autumn on the prairie really did look like a painting: the sky was high, the clouds were clear, the grass was turning green and yellow, and the herders were rolling up hay to prepare feed for the cattle and sheep.

Rolled haystacks like these are everywhere, and tourists obviously love them.

Of course, there was also the mandatory grassland jump photo.

One of the best viewpoints along the winding Morigele River is the top of Muyun Mountain. It is private land, so the ticket is not cheap at ¥468 / $66 per person, but the scenery and the unlimited beef and mutton hot pot made it just about worth it.

At the top of the mountain, there is a metal sheep looking out over the Morigele River. I liked it a lot. It had a strange, quiet loneliness to it.

The photo below is from the Erguna Wetland. I had seen many similar pictures online and assumed some of them were heavily edited. When I got there in person, I realized the scenery really was that good, and a phone was enough.

Scenic spots or places mentioned (Sorry, for some links I can not found the English version)

📍 Erguna Wetland
📍 The top of Muyun Mountain

🐫 Small Creatures 🐫

By autumn, Inner Mongolia already feels a little quiet, and most of the small animals are hiding. Along the way, apart from a fox I missed, a few very alert hares, and some "prairie camels," most of what we saw were herds of cattle and sheep.

The place where I saw the most animals was the Deerbuer Xing'an Shen Deer Park. The animals here are raised, but they still satisfied the curiosity of us city people.

You can see some well-made wooden figures on the farm, adding extra fun.

Most of the goats, reindeer, and sika deer were very calm. After feeding them, they did not mind us standing close or taking photos.

There was also a small donkey whose face was genuinely longer than mine.

On the last day at the Huhe Nuoer grassland, we actually saw camels. That was enough to break my old idea that camels only belong to deserts.

These camels were tall and a little aloof. Every time I reached out a hand, they would stop chewing and stare at me, so I eventually gave up and took the photo from a distance.

Scenic spots or places mentioned

📍Deerbuer Xing An Shen Deer Park - 得耳布尓兴安神鹿园
📍Huhe Nuoer Grassland Tourist Area - 呼和诺尔草原旅游区

🚂 The Forest 🚂

In the Daxing'anling area, there is an isolated national forest park called Moerdaoga National Forest Park. It is one of the largest forest parks in China, with forest coverage of about 93.3%.

Here, you can take the tourist train into the depths of the forest, or drive in yourself with a ticket. Since we had already seen a lot of scenery on the road, we chose the train. It stopped at four stations and took about an hour.

The best way to see this forest is to move through it slowly.

Every stop has a slightly different feeling. Besides the virgin forest, you can also see traces of older human activity from time to time.

Along the way, you can also see the remains of Ewenki tents. No one lives there now, but passing by those ruins still gives you the sense that you have stepped back into another time.

Scenic spots or places mentioned

📍Moerdaoga National Forest Park - 莫尔道嘎国家森林公园

🕌 The Border 🕌

From Shiwei Port, we drove along the border. Russia is only separated by a river here. While we were looking at the other side, I kept thinking that maybe someone over there was looking back at us too.

Shiwei itself already feels a little unusual.

And the other side is Russia.

Along the border, you can drive all the way to the Ergun River Wulan Mountain Scenic Spot, where even a phone camera is enough to take surprisingly good pictures.

Scenic spots or places mentioned

📍Shiwei Port - 室韦口岸
📍Wulan Mountain Scenic Area - 乌兰山景区

👨‍🌾 I Am a Shepherd

"From tomorrow, be a happy person. Feed horses, chop wood, travel around the world." It is one of my favorite lines of poetry.

Heishantou came close to making that feel real. The day we were there, we actually fed horses, herded sheep, milked cows, and rode around in a cart. The milk was warm when it came out. The sheep were not very cooperative. None of it was elegant, but it was the most ordinary and satisfying part of the whole trip.

Most of the trip involved scenery you could photograph. Heishantou was not like that. You just did things with your hands and felt a little grateful that this kind of life still exists somewhere.

📍Heishantou Nomad's Home - 黑山头游牧人之家