0:02 Ah yes, we are finally in that part of
0:03 China where you can just be in a random
0:06 village and then suddenly there is a
0:14 >> Y'all, how extra can you get? Hiring a
0:22 >> Even these villagers in a random market
0:25 in Inner Mongolia know about Charlie
0:27 Kirk. I'm Catherine from the US and this
0:29 is my husband Asadon from the farthest
0:31 west of the farthest west of China. For
0:32 the past 2 months, we've been biking
0:34 across North China. From the Russian
0:36 border in Halong Jang to the North
0:38 Korean border in Telin to the scenic
0:40 coasts of the Leaing Peninsula, we've
0:43 already covered over 1,500 km. Today, we
0:45 are finally saying goodbye to the coast
0:47 and heading to the quiet countryside of
0:49 Inner Mongolia. From weddings to funerals.
0:56 From wholesome happy moments to outright
0:58 tragedies. This is my consolation prize
1:01 to look at the confetti on the ground.
1:04 This is our journey to Inner Mongolia. [Music]
1:11 [Music]
1:13 Today's vlog begins in an obscure little
1:14 village on the outskirts of the Red
1:17 Wetland Park. We spent hours yesterday
1:19 afternoon biking for miles and miles
1:21 through its otherworldly red landscapes.
1:23 After our foray through the wetland, we
1:24 spent the night at this cute little
1:27 village in. This is our room. It is
1:31 Cristiano Ronaldo meets Log Cabin.
1:33 An aesthetic I've never seen anywhere in
1:35 the world, let alone China. But
1:37 apparently the owner of this inn's
1:39 husband loves Cristiano Ronaldo. So I
1:43 present to you Cristiano Ronaldo core
1:45 log cabin style room. It was a lovely
1:48 inn with friendly owners, interesting
1:50 local produce, and of course, the room
1:52 decor had a lot of character. We've had
1:53 a nice time in this region, but it's
1:55 time to head west, away from the
1:57 coastline, and away from the singledigit
1:58 number elevation. It's been nice to be
2:01 able to bike 100 km in a day, feeling as
2:02 though we're being carried by the breeze
2:04 because the ground is so flat. But I'm
2:05 not going to lie, I'm really looking
2:07 forward to the craggy topography we'll
2:20 [Music] [Applause]
2:20 [Applause] [Music]
2:57 What do you say? [Music]
3:15 First time I've ever seen a cow with a
3:16 muzzle on. I don't think it's cuz
3:18 they're like vicious cows that are
3:19 biting people. I'm pretty sure it's cuz
3:30 By the time the morning fog lifted, we
3:33 had already reached the city of Dingo.
3:35 This place marks the final frontier of
3:37 the flat coastal landscape. Now we are
3:39 going to be heading into completely
3:41 different territory. Inner Mongolia,
4:02 >> All the rural China mascots are coming
4:03 out right now. [Music]
4:06 [Music] [Laughter]
4:56 This route we're following is not only
4:57 bringing us beautiful craggy mountain
4:59 scenery and super friendly villagers,
5:01 it's also full of cool architecture.
5:03 This beautiful specimen right here is
5:05 the Tuenshan Temple. A temple was first
5:07 built in this spot during the Han
5:08 Dynasty about 2,000 years ago, but
5:10 several rebuilds have happened over the
5:12 centuries because it's hard for anything
5:13 to last that long except the rocks
5:15 themselves. Another thing we love about
5:16 this route is that it is bringing us
5:18 more and more sheep sightings, which
5:21 means a lower ratio of pork in the local
5:22 restaurants. This is good news for
5:24 Acedon since the vast majority of
5:26 weaguers do not eat pork. And being
5:39 really.
5:41 >> The sheep in his hometown, Kashkar, are
5:44 known for having gigantic, bouncy butts,
5:45 and the sheep here don't have that, but
6:40 Turns out it's actually a play on words
6:42 because the characters for stupid and
6:45 local are super similar. Home-raised
6:46 livestock grows more slowly than
6:48 industrially farmed ones. So, it is
6:50 affectionately referred to as being
6:52 stupid, although everyone knows the
7:18 sit down.
7:20 >> Whenever you hear music like that in
7:22 rural China and then there's like a
7:24 bunch of chairs and tables set up, it's
7:26 almost always a funeral. You never know though.
7:31 [Music]
7:33 We are finally in that part of China
7:34 where you can just be in a random
7:36 village and then suddenly there is a
7:40 gigantic tower. This is Tingfong Pagota,
7:42 one of the dozens of beautiful Buddhist
7:43 structures built all around this region
7:45 during the Lao Dynasty over a thousand
7:47 years ago. Thanks to great restoration
7:49 and upkeep work, it is a magnificent
7:51 landmark on this landscape. We also saw
7:53 similar structures in the neighboring
7:55 cities of Jingo and Choyang, but I have
7:56 to say this one was definitely my
7:58 favorite. It looks so regal standing
8:00 amid all of the fields and mountains. It
8:02 really owns the landscape with no
8:04 skyscrapers around competing for
8:06 attention. A few hours later, we reach
8:08 Chyang, our last city in Leoning before
8:11 we enter Inner Mongolia. We paid a visit
8:13 to Ching Fong Pagod's brother and then
8:14 got on the road the next morning.
8:16 Unfortunately, it is another one of
8:18 those kind of days cuz what I thought
8:21 was going to be a twominute dirt road
8:24 ended up being a mud pit that led to
8:26 literally nothing. So, it's like so hot
8:28 outside. And like if it was July, then
8:30 okay. But there's something about it
8:31 being this hot in the middle of
8:33 September that just makes you angry.
8:35 This is from pushing my bike through a
8:38 muddy road for literally 30 seconds.
8:43 Literally 30 seconds. And this happened.
8:45 Today just sucks. Like I'm ready to get
8:46 to Inner Mongolia.
8:48 So now that we are on the doorstep of
8:50 Inner Mongolia, it is time to give you
8:53 my final review of the northeast three
8:56 provinces. The Tombbe Sang Halang
8:59 friendliest people. We were constantly
9:01 receiving fruit and cigarettes, which I
9:03 don't like condone smoking or something,
9:04 but it's just a way that the locals
9:07 would show their friendliness and warmth
9:08 to you is offering you a cigarette. That
9:10 was definitely a Halen Jong specialty.
9:11 We have not been offered any more
9:12 cigarettes since then. Halen Jong had
9:15 the friendliest people, I would say. But
9:17 Halen Jong had the worst infrastructure.
9:18 Come at me in the comments if you want.
9:20 I'm sorry. It's true. The roads there
9:22 were the main problem. Like if you were
9:23 on a main road like this, it was fine,
9:24 but if you went to the villages or
9:26 towns, a lot of the roads look like they
9:29 were paved when Jesus was born. So that
9:31 was kind of a negative strike for Halen
9:33 down. Other than that though, it was
9:34 lovely. Really nice scenery, rolling
9:36 hills. Dian definitely won in the
9:39 infrastructure department. Best roads,
9:41 most beautiful villages. We were only in
9:42 the Yambian region, so I don't know what
9:44 the rest of Jillian is like. But to be
9:45 fair, we did bike several hundred
9:47 kilometers through Jillian. And we're
9:48 consistently impressed with the quality
9:50 of the roads and how beautiful the
9:52 villages were, how cute they were, how
9:54 well-kemp they were. You could just
9:55 really tell there was a lot of effort
9:57 going in in Dillian to improve rural
9:59 living conditions. And the villages were
10:00 beautiful. There really wasn't anything
10:03 about Dane that we felt dissatisfied
10:06 with. And then Leoning, well, Leing gets
10:08 bonus points for being on the coast. I
10:09 really wanted coastal scenery to be a
10:11 part of this. And Leoning has been
10:13 interesting because of how much
10:15 diversity there is in this province in
10:17 terms of the quality of the
10:19 infrastructure and the natural
10:21 environment and just in general the way
10:23 that people live. It's just so different
10:24 as you go throughout the province.
10:26 There's so many different human biospheres
10:28 biospheres
10:30 coexisting in this one province. like we
10:32 have been through what feels like five
10:34 or six completely different worlds
10:36 passing from Thalian to the edge of
10:38 Inner Mongolia and we just didn't see
10:40 that kind of dramatic change in the
10:42 landscape or change in infrastructure in
10:45 the other two provinces. It's been very
10:46 interesting. Some of the most beautiful
10:48 scenery we've seen on this entire route
10:50 has been here like the cliffs in Talian
10:52 and the red wetlands in Panzian. But I
10:54 would say the top three ugliest scenery
10:57 we've seen has also been in aing. So I
10:59 guess it all evens out or whatever. But
11:02 alas, it is time to open up a new
11:04 chapter of this journey and see what is
11:23 [Music] >> Okay.
11:31 >> Naughty baby. Getting
11:34 some new subscribers today. [Laughter]
11:59 Somebody's guard dog has not gone
12:01 through training yet. You're supposed to
12:05 bark at me. You're supposed to be angry.
12:07 You're supposed to be like,
12:18 >> Coz [Music]
12:20 [Music]
12:23 This guard dog can be bought with food.
12:35 So, according to the map, we were going
12:37 to have a really long winding route over
12:38 the top of this mountain, but actually
12:41 they just built a tunnel here. Like,
12:43 this thing is fresh out of the womb.
12:45 Cars aren't even allowed in it yet, but
12:47 bikes and motor scooters can go in. Look
12:49 at this.
12:52 Brand new fresh tunnel. We are one of
12:53 the first ones to experience this
12:55 beautiful thing. [Applause]
13:07 >> The Inner Mongolia sign. Yay.
13:17 I feel very intrigued by the funeral
13:19 customs around here. So, I recognize the
13:21 house that you burn for your ancestors.
13:23 I know that one. Give your ancestors a
13:57 You really can't have it all, guys. We
13:58 were so fascinated by these horses that
14:00 we stayed and chatted with the owner for
14:02 a while and missed out on another
14:03 interesting thing. happening right down
14:05 the street. Finally arrived in the
14:08 little town we are staying at tonight. [Music]
14:38 There was just a huge wedding parade 5
14:41 minutes ago and we missed it. We missed
14:44 it. I usually have such good luck when
14:45 it comes to running into this kind of
14:49 stuff, but it ran out today. I'm so
14:50 devastated right now. Will you look at
14:53 all the scraps? This must have been like
14:54 the most exciting thing ever. I remember
14:56 a few minutes ago seeing explosions in
14:57 the distance being like, "Oh yeah, there
14:59 must be like a wedding or funeral or
15:00 something." But I didn't know it was
15:02 like this big of a shindig and we missed it.
15:18 She's like, "Take a picture with my baby."
15:20 baby." [Laughter]
15:24 [Laughter]
15:37 >> Bye-bye. [Music]
15:54 [Music]
15:57 This is my consolation prize
15:59 to look at the confetti on the ground.
16:01 Ironically, the hotel we booked for that
16:03 night was literally right outside the
16:05 carnage from the parade, taunting us all
16:07 night and into the next day about our
16:10 failure to record this fascinating
16:12 community ceremony. But at least we did
16:26 y'all. How extra can you get? They hired
16:28 a crane for their wedding so they could
16:31 have a longer firecracker string. Love
16:32 that. It is believed that the loud noise
16:34 of firecrackers scares evil spirits
16:36 away. So, they are brought out at all
16:37 sorts of events from weddings to
16:40 funerals to holidays to opening a new
16:41 business. Literally anything that an
16:43 evil spirit could potentially ruin, roll
16:45 out the firecrackers. And for something
16:47 as important as a wedding, well, that
16:54 It's gone ran all the way over there.
16:55 That's right. The festivities are still
16:57 continuing. We managed to encounter the
16:59 groom and wish him a happy wedding. And
17:01 he even invited us to join the lunch
17:19 instead of showing our wedding pictures
17:23 to a new friend we met at the banquet.
17:24 >> It was so nice of the bride and groom to
17:26 invite two completely random strangers
17:28 to their banquet and we wish them a
17:30 happy future together. But I'd be lying
17:32 if I said I still wasn't sad about
17:34 missing the parade because I love
17:35 wedding parades. Ace done and I had one
17:37 at our wedding, too. And I just think
17:39 they're so wholesome and so cute. Maybe
17:40 we'll be lucky enough to stumble into
17:41 another one at some point. We have
17:43 thousands of kilometers left on this
17:45 bike tour after all. We are living that
17:48 small town life today.
17:50 There are ducks in the middle of the
18:10 try.
18:16 with an interesting addition that I've
18:19 never seen before. This
18:30 We got some rice noodles.
18:34 Bean sprouts, lotus root, and my
18:37 favorite of all, broccoli. Load up that
18:39 broccoli. I can't resist. I got to try
18:59 [Music]
19:01 The inside of it is hollow. It's squishy
19:02 and it absorbs the flavor of the thing
19:06 you put it in.
19:08 >> The children are fighting.
19:10 >> One of them's like, "I get better grades
19:11 than you." And the other one's like,
19:13 "I'm better at PE than you." And the
19:14 other one's like, "Well, my family's
19:18 rich." And then the argument dies immediately.
19:37 The kids ask why he's so hairy and he's
19:52 >> We are on our way to the milk tea shop.
19:54 There is a milk tea shop in this tiny
20:25 Oh my gosh. I was like, "Wow, a kid
20:27 being friendly to a bug. That's so
20:30 wholesome." And then he's like, "Smash."
20:32 Seriously, all these mushrooms are everywhere.
20:34 everywhere.
20:37 >> Last activity of the evening. We're in
20:40 the grocery store to print out a group
20:42 photo of us with the boys because they
20:44 forgot their phone. So, the photos on my
20:46 phone, but they want to keep it forever
20:48 and ever and remember this beautiful
20:50 moment. So, just sitting here waiting
20:52 for our photos to print on the Gucci stool.
20:58 We have encounters with friendly kids
20:59 pretty often, but this was the first
21:00 time that they went through so much
21:02 trouble to keep a memory of the moment.
21:04 And I think that is so adorable.
21:06 >> Time to say goodbye to our local tour
21:08 guides. Sad moment.
21:08 >> See you.
21:10 >> Bye-bye. Bye-bye. >> Bye-bye.
21:11 >> Bye-bye. >> Bye-bye.
21:12 >> Bye-bye.
21:14 >> Night life is pretty quiet around here.
21:16 Maybe it's because summer breaks over.
21:17 Maybe it's because the weather's colder.
21:18 Maybe this place is just quiet in
21:20 general. But no matter how quiet the
21:22 town, you can almost always find a
21:24 dancing grandma brigade. and sometimes
21:43 The only trace of human civilization
21:46 we've seen in the past hour. This fast
21:48 food restaurant opened here on the side
21:50 of the road for the occasional truck
22:07 [Applause]
22:09 This is the ultimate rural China fall
22:11 aesthetic. Now that autumn is coming, it
22:13 is time to harvest the things that spent
22:15 all spring and summer growing. Around
22:16 every corner are mushrooms and grains
22:19 drying. Basketball courts, roads,
22:21 driveways, all sorts of flat spaces are
22:23 being used to sort grains back and
22:25 forth. It feels like being surrounded by
22:27 a bunch of those sand rake zen garden things.
23:47 Y'all, even these villagers in a random
23:50 market in Inner Mongolia know about
23:52 Charlie Kirk. I don't know. I guess I'm
23:54 kind of honored that in over 200
23:55 countries in this world, the one that
23:57 I'm from is the one that people are so
23:59 captivated by. The potential
24:02 conversation topics are never ending.
24:04 Anyway, now it's time to head to the
24:06 city of Chufang, the last city we'll be
24:08 staying in for the next three weeks. As
24:10 the final chapter of today's vlog, I
24:14 present to you Chuang Nightife. [Music]
24:21 [Music] [Applause]
24:22 [Applause] [Music]
24:30 [Music] [Applause]
24:33 [Applause] [Music]
24:40 Look, I know I am not the target
24:42 audience of these patriotic songs, but
24:44 I'd be lying if I said they are not a jam.
24:52 In the next vlog, we'll be departing
24:54 from this bustling city and heading
24:56 towards the forests and grasslands of
24:57 Inner Mongolia, as well as the
24:59 neighboring province of Kab. I'm so
25:00 excited to share our upcoming journey
25:02 with you in the next vlog. Not just the
25:04 beautiful scenery, but also the
25:05 continued encounters with friendly
25:07 locals. Chatting with strangers helps
25:08 keep this journey even more interesting,
25:10 and we are grateful to everyone who
25:11 takes the time out of their day to talk
25:14 to us, even if they say something weird.
25:15 Thanks everyone for joining us on our
25:17 journey to Inner Mongolia. But we love
25:19 sharing all these random little unseen
25:20 corners of rural China with you. And
25:22 even more are coming up in the next
25:23 video. So make sure to subscribe so you
