Wednesday, July 26 A Day in Hulunbuir

 I woke up earlier than usual – from the noise from the kids playing at the school across from my window. The school's speakers played a Young Pioneer's song. The crowd of kids were playing and yelling by the school building. Later, teachers announced something in the megaphone and all the kids went inside the building; they turned off the Pioneer's song. It all got quite.

Somehow, this town just looked nicer to my eye compared to Hohhot. Wealthier? The town surely looked wealthy, but nicer not exactly in this way. Hohhot, the regional capital, has lots of money to spend to the public service, for people to show off the government machine working and efficient, with all the shrubs groomed and the streets cleaned, keeping the society happy. There was some personal touch in Hulunbuir that made it a nicer town to my eye; more to the artistic side. Perhaps, the local city planers were less exposed to the scrutiny of the regional capital, and able to work more creatively? Or, maybe I was just getting into their local mindset?

School in Hulunbuir.

I went for a walk outside. It was sunny and hot; I could hardly believe the climate is harsh here: the summers are short, with first snow falling as early as in the late September, and winters are long and cold. But it was a hot summer day, middle of the week: the city workers swept the streets and groomed the shrubs, kids played at school, construction workers built the roads, fighter jets were flying in the sky. People drove a dozen or so various brands of Chinese cars that I have never heard about before; they watched Chinese TVs; they used Chinese branded phones. The society is in order. Everyone doing their thing. Everyone has a thing to do. Good. I could feel the satisfaction. 

I went to grab a coffee at Luckin, a "local starbucks". There was another white guy waiting for coffee: just standing there, waiting for coffee, not a big deal, like it was so normal for a white guy to go grab a coffee in Hulunbuir. By then I had not seen a white person for three weeks (except for the Russians on the border, but those were as decorative to that border town as all the matryoshkas and the comical Orthodox domes around there). Where is he from? What is he even doing here? I was as curious as some of the Chinese kids on the street curious about me. I was becoming Chinese. But, no; I'm from New York. I mind my own business. Let me spend a year here, and I will yell "hello, laowai!" pointing at the tourist; not yet. I was only becoming Chinese.

GQ was leaving in the afternoon. We dropped her off at the airport only to find out that all flights were delayed: there was an ongoing military exercise. That explained why I saw the fighter jets flying around the city all day. They would fly low and loud. I would stop doing what I was doing at look at the fighter jets passing by; thinking of the sky. Can they see Russian land from up there? Mongolia? Gobi desert is too far away. It is not exactly a border town, still a major city close to the border, Hulunbuir is an important military outpost. Locals complained that they often schedule an military exercise and cancel all civilian flights without advanced notice. GQ's flight was delayed untill late night.

Science themed park: the lights are various planets and stars.

I slept by about 1am, checking the phone for no reason before bed.

(Written in February)