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Elton John on the Grasslands
Saturday, July 23, 2005-10:00 PM
I'm in a yurt in Inner Mongolia about 90 km north of Hohhot. Any stress from traveling has disappeared since I handed over all decision making responsibilities to a tour group.
Afer a lunch of hot pot, the group took us to the Shawan Desert where a host of activities were available, from camel riding to sand sledding to dune buggy driving to fourwheeling and ATV-ing.
I, of course, wasn't gonna pay extra to do any of it. I was content to just walk around.
Until a couple with a ten year old kid told me to take their kid on an ATV ride.
After the ATV ride and we got back in the bus, the adult passengers engaged in adult conversation while I sat in back with the ten year old kid. He quizzed me about the price of everything in the United States, from ballpoint pens to sports cars.
We even talked a little about music, specifically Michael Jackson, or, as the kid described him, "the guy who was originally black, then he got whiter, and now he can't go in the sun".
Later, noting the fact that Michael Jordan and I share the first same name, he let me know that I was a little like Michael Jordan, just a little whiter.
He insisted on giving me his phone number. He asked if I wanted it in English. Confused, I said yes.
He began writing, "t-w-o s-e-v-e-n...".
After a lot more driving around, a lot of it at speeds in excess of 100 mph, we ended up in a yurt town, drinking Mongolian liquor, and listening to Chinese guys dressed in Mongolian clothes play music like "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" on saxophone.
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