The Land Of The Hui And The Mongol

As you might have known by now, one of my favourite pastimes was browsing the globe. When I looked at China, it occurred to me that I had only visited the coastal cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai. The farthest I'd been to was Guilin and Nanjing. But the Middle Kingdom is such a big country and I was merely touching the tip of the iceberg. There are inland areas that I wish to visit one day, exotic places like Yunnan, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. Then, as I went through the map, I suddenly noticed a small, landlocked region called Ningxia.

I never heard of this place before, but apart from being amused by the name that reminded me of a product from Young Living, I didn't find it interesting. I skipped reading about Ningxia at that time, but little did I know that Ningxia refused to be skipped.

Ningxia.

On a separate occasion, I happened to see Susan's photos on Facebook. I was under impression that she visited Inner Mongolia, but it turned out that I was only partly correct. When I asked about her holiday, she told me that the first batch of her pictures were taken in a place called Ningxia. I was astounded. Sometimes life took its time to surprise me in a rather funny way!

It's not easy to visit the little known Ningxia. According to Susan, she had to transit in Xi'an before hopping onto another plane to Ningxia. It took her 10 hours from Jakarta to get there. By the way, Ningxia is an autonomous region, which means apart from the Han Chinese, there are other major tribes, too. In this case, they are Hui people that practice Islam.

The halal restaurant.

When Susan reached there, she was surprised by how clean the city was. I could relate with that, because there was this misconception that China cities were dirty. The truth is, they are much cleaner than cities in Indonesia and Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia, was no exception. 

What made Yinchuan different than other China cities was the Islamic atmosphere. The shops there had a mosque-like dome as their roof and Arabic words were found everywhere. Halal food and mutton were common whereas pork was almost non-existent. Cuisines were edible, although Susan would prefer more varieties instead of having too much mutton on daily basis. The city was developed and neon lights were shining bright at night.

When Susan hit the road.

From Ningxia, Susan went to the border of Inner Mongolia just to have a glimpse of the Mongol people. It was a two-hour ride and based on the map, it was likely that the small town she visited was Wuhai. As Susan and Mum were invited by the bosses from Mainland, they were in for a grand dinner that came with authentic Mongolian dance and performance. The cuisines were mainly mutton-based. Báijiǔ, the famous Chinese liquor, was served all the time. Susan quickly learnt that the waiter would continue refilling the empty cups, so it was wiser to drink very slowly, haha. Later that night, they gathered around the bonfire to dance. The Mongols were surely a lively bunch, eh?

And that ended the story from Susan. I felt that the trip was kind of too short for places as exotic as Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, especially when there were many things that she could have explored there! But that's alright, I'd probably go there myself one day, since I ever planned for it before. Yeah, the trip to Beijing, Erenhot and Ulaanbaatar! Anybody keen?

A ger in Inner Mongolia.

Negeri Orang Hui Dan Mongol

Kalau anda sudah mengikuti Roadblog101 dari sejak awal, anda pasti tahu bahwa salah satu hobi saya adalah menelusuri peta dunia. Ketika saya melihat Cina, saya menyadari bahwa selama ini saya hanya mengunjungi kota-kota yang berada di pesisir seperti Guangzhou dan Shanghai. Kota terjauh dari laut yang pernah saya kunjungi adalah Guilin dan Nanjing. Cina adalah negara yang besar dan kalau diibaratkan sebagai bongkahan es di laut, sejauh ini saya hanya menjangkau permukaannya saja. Sebagai besar daerah di Cina jauh dari laut dan saya berharap bisa mengunjungi Yunnan, Xinjiang dan Inner Mongolia suatu hari nanti. Kemudian, selagi saya menyusuri peta, tiba-tiba saya melihat Ningxia, sebuah kawasan kecil yang diapit provinsi lainnya. 

Saya tidak pernah mendengar tentang tempat ini sebelumnya. Akan tetapi, selain namanya yang mengingatkan saya pada produk Young Living, saya tidak merasa tertarik dengan kawasan ini. Saya pun melewatinya. Tidak pernah terlintas di benak saya bahwa saya akan segera mengenalnya lebih jauh lagi.

Aneka masakan Ningxia.

Suatu ketika, saya melihat foto-foto Susan di Facebook. Saya lantas mengira bahwa tempat yang dikunjunginya adalah Inner Mongolia. Dugaan saya tidak keliru, tapi hanya separuh benar. Ketika saya bertanya padanya, ternyata sebagian dari fotonya dipotret di tempat bernama Ningxia. Saya pun tertegun karena tidak menyangka akan mendengar tentang Ningxia lagi. Terkadang hidup ini memang lucu dan mengejutkan. 

Tidak gampang bagi turis untuk mencapai Ningxia yang jarang terdengar ini. Menurut Susan, dia harus transit dulu di Xi'an untuk berganti pesawat yang menuju ke Ningxia. Butuh waktu 10 jam dari Jakarta untuk tiba di sana. Oh ya, sebagai informasi, Ningxia adalah daerah otonomi. Ini berarti selain etnis Han, masih ada lagi etnis mayoritas lainnya. Di Ningxia, etnis lain yang dominan adalah suku Hui yang rata-rata menganut agama Islam.

Pemandangan di Ningxia.

Ketika Susan tiba di sana, dia terperanjat melihat bersihnya kota yang dikunjunginya. Saya bisa memahaminya, sebab kita seringkali mendengar kabar bahwa kota di Cina itu kotor. Kenyataannya, kota-kota di sana, termasuk juga Yinchuan yang merupakan ibukota Ningxia, bahkan lebih bersih dari kota-kota di Indonesia. 

Apa yang membuat Ningxia berbeda dengan kota lain di Cina adalah suasananya yang Islami. Toko-tokonya memiliki atap kubah yang mirip seperti mesjid dan bertulisan Arab. Makanan di sana halal dan daging babi sangat sulit dijumpai. Rasanya masih cocok, walaupun Susan merasa bosan menyantap daging kambing setiap hari. Kotanya maju dan lampu neon menyala terang di malam hari, menambah keindahan kota.

Di luar kota.

Dari Ningxia, Susan pergi ke perbatasan Inner Mongolia untuk melihat budaya Mongol. Perjalanan dengan mobil itu berkisar dua jam dan berdasarkan peta, nampaknya kota yang dikunjungi Susan adalah Wuhai. Karena Susan dan ibunya berkunjung dalam rangka memenuhi undangan bos Cina, mereka disambut dengan makan malam dan pertunjukan khas Mongol. Makanannya cenderung berbasis daging kambing. Báijiǔ, arak putih Cina, disuguhkan tanpa henti. Susan langsung menyadari bahwa pelayan akan selalu mengisi kembali cawan yang kosong, jadi lebih bijak untuk minum secara perlahan, haha. Usai pertemuan, mereka pun berkumpul di sekeliling api unggun dan menari. Orang Mongolia memang menikmati hidup! 

Dan cerita singkat dari Susan pun berakhir. Saya merasa bahwa liburan Susan terlalu pendek untuk tempat yang eksotis seperti Ningxia dan Inner Mongolia. Seharusnya dia tinggal lebih lama karena masih banyak yang bisa dijelajahi. Namun tidak apa, saya sendiri mungkin akan ke sana, terlebih lagi karena saya sudah pernah merencanakan rute Beijing, Erenhot dan Ulanbator. Jadi? Ada yang berminat?

Pertunjukan nyanyi oleh para artis Mongol.