The Famous Water Lady of JaQi

The main road from WuLanHot (UlanHot) brings you into JahQi (JahQi) at a "circle" with a rust colored statue and a silver ball inside.

Your Landmark is a big TV tower essentially in the center of town.
A main street runs from the rust colored statue to the TV tower.

Walk on the main street due East two blocks from the big TV tower and you will be in the center of town. Here you will see the new movie theatre, the town square, and many vendors. Many people dance here every night during the summer. You will hear the music as you approach. It is worth a visit after dark. It is very safe.

This is    a Chinese town. Inner Mongolia, as a whole, is 92% Chinese and 8% Mongolian. Here, the Chinese percentage  is much higher. There is a reason.

As I told you (see WuLanHot), until "about" 1990, the area was in Jilian Province, not the "Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region". Many Chinese farmers poured in. Mongolian culture just about died by 1990.  In 1980 you could see Mongolian tents here, not now. There are many, many Mongolian tents in Hailar. Don't come here to see Mongolian tents. You won't.

Hailar has many "Naadam" festivals, here no. There is a famous Nadaam Festival near Ulan Bator in Outer Mongolia, but it is swarming with tourists and prices very high. In Hailar at the Naadam Festival, you will likely be the only foreigner. The only problem is the date. People sometimes don't know. They will say "In July or August", not knowing the exact date. I had to have a friend make numerous calls to find the date. Even then, the date was only 70% to 90%  sure.

The area is beautiful, but not the Mongolia you think. The area is very poor. Many people cannot afford the Rmb 15 ticket to see movies.

When I went to the grasslands, I did not see one Mongolian tent. The population of the city proper is 30,000 to 40,000. Outlying farm areas brings it to about 300,000 people.

Continue more East on the same road and you will come to a circle, rust colored, with a silver ball. Catty corner to here is a great hotpot restaurant. (FeiNiu HuoGuoCheng). This is one of the best hotpot restaurants I have eaten in.

I got a new cell phone with a GPS. I took the first location at the best hotel here. Lots of hot water when sunny, but when cloudy, none. It is solar. The GPS coordinates are:
N 46 deg., 43 min., 10.66 sec.
E 122 deg., 53 min., 59.68 sec.

If you have a GPS, you can easily find the best hotel in town.

There is not much to see in this town. If you want to see a Mongolian town, forget it. This is a real typical Chinese town.

The Mongolians live on the grassland, what is left of it.

However, it is great if you want to see a typical Chinese town. Typical. Small.

There is really very little to see here in terms of tourist sites. No tourists come here.

There is a temple a 1 1/2 hour drive away in WuLanHot.

The lake (reservoir) is nice and peaceful.

This is a place to come if you want to "get away from it all" for a week or so, but not a place to come as a destination.

There is a great, but small, market. Foreigners rarely, if ever, come here. You can get all the basics, and then some. This is, of course, our base. We know it well and have many friends here. So if you want to come, be our guest. It is easy.

The "Water Lady", The "Water Lady's Daughter", and the "Bone Lady" live here. They are my sisters.

This is my hometown.
I know it well.
Nothing to see, but lots to see!!!!!!!



Updated: December 26, 2010