At the Buddhist temple
为了去我女朋友的故乡内蒙古过年，二月二十一号我和我女朋友坐了高铁从北京到呼和浩特。当时即使新型冠状病毒的疫情的严重性还没有进入大家的注意力，我们还是戴了口罩，因为我们从新闻上已经知道了关于这个病毒可能会人传人。在呼和浩特市我女朋友的姐姐接了我们，然后我们就开车去了牧区。我女朋友的妈妈住在牧区，她们家有很多羊和马。
在牧区过年很有意思，我学了很多蒙古族的习俗。除夕前夜，我们一起包了很多饺子，将近有四五百个饺子。这一大批饺子我们从除夕开始一直在吃，直到初五。我领略到了中国人为什么这么爱吃饺子。这一批饺子也有一个很重要的功能。因为从初一开始我女朋友的家庭有很多客人来拜年，每次招待客人的时候他们就会给客人蒸饺子。我自己也跟我女朋友一起去了一些她亲戚家和邻居家串门拜年，这是蒙古族的习俗，他们会相互串门拜年，致以新年的问候。串门的时候每家主人都会给你一碗奶茶和一些饭菜，当然还有一盘饺子，必须尝一尝他们的饺子和菜是礼节，也要把奶茶喝完，然后他们会请每位客人喝一杯白酒或马奶酒，他们管这个叫敬酒。因此，串完门回家时，有个又吃饱又有点儿喝醉的感觉是不可避免的。
初五我们回到了我女朋友的小镇。本来我打算在这天开始为期一个月的旅游，但是在这时候新型冠状病毒已经严重蔓延至全国各地，疫情把我所有的计划都弄坏了，初六这个小镇开始了封闭式管理。值得庆幸的是，初五我们去了一个很美丽的藏佛教寺庙参观，那里很美很神秘。那是我们最后一天的自由活动。。。
Wearing traditional Mongolian dress
Last month my girlfriend Sargai and I went to her hometown in Inner Mongolia to celebrate the Lunar New Year. On February 21st we took the high-speed train from Beijing to Hohhot. As that time most people were not aware of the seriousness of the Coronavirus epidemic, but we nevertheless wore face masks because even then we had read in the news that this virus had been detected in Wuhan and could be spread from person to person. In Hohhot, Sargai’s sister picked us up and drove us to the grassland were Sargai’s mum lives.
It was very interesting to spend the Lunar New Year in the grassland where I learnt many Mongolian customs. On the night before New Year’s Eve, we made a large number of dumplings – around 400 to 500. From New Year’s Eve onwards we were eating these dumplings at each meal. The dumplings also had another important role; from New Year’s Day onwards many guests came to Sargai’s house to give New Year’s greetings and every time we hosted guests they were given dumplings to eat. I also went with Sargai to give New Year’s greetings to several of her relatives and neighbours – a Mongolian custom. When visiting other peoples’ houses we were first given a bowl of milk tea and some dishes (including dumplings), which we were expected to eat and drink as a matter of etiquette. We were then invited to drink a shot of baijiu (a strong Chinese liquor). Hence, after returning home we couldn’t avoid feeling very full and a bit tipsy.
On the fifth day of New Year we returned from the grassland to Sargai’s hometown. Originally, I had planned on this day to start a month of travelling, but by this time the Coronavirus epidemic had already spread across the country, so the epidemic ruined all of my travel plans and I instead remained in the town. The next day the town enacted a ‘lockdown’ which meant that if we left the town we would not be allowed to re-enter. Luckily, the day before we had taken the opportunity to visit a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist temple out in the countryside. That was until now my last day of freely travelling in China…