The desert of my dreams

MANILA, Philippines – The desert of childhood imaginings is a vast expanse of barren land as far as the eye can see, scorching hot and perhaps the loneliest place on earth.

But I still wouldn’t miss a chance to see one, if only to prove or disprove what I had long imagined in dreams or nightmares.

Never mind that our guide, in her pungent Chinese accent, gave us a stern warning that the heat would be relentless and the air as dry as a blast from a giant furnace. A scarf to cover one’s head is a must before taking the trip, she said.

If one doesn’t have a scarf, anything will do – an umbrella, a hat, a jacket or even a piece of carton. Without that, we might collapse in the heat of the desert sun.

I dismissed her warning: She must be exaggerating, I thought.  After all, she was the one who said that traffic in China is so bad you can be late by five minutes.

I knew then that my guide’s sense of reality was different from mine. Traffic in the Philippines, after all, delays you by hours and if you are late by just five minutes, you can heave a big sigh of relief.

I thought her take on the desert heat would be just as exaggerated, at least for a Manila girl like me so used to unbearably high temperatures, especially in the summer. 

Together with other journalists from Manila, I arrived in Ningxia, an autonomous region in northwest China, in the last days of July to witness the signing of its sisterhood agreement between Ningxia and the province of Palawan, facilitated by special envoy and businessman Carlos Chan.

Before the signing, the Ningxia Foreign Affairs Office made sure we would get a glimpse of the beauty of the region.

Topping the list of places to see was the Maowusu Desert of Inner Mongolia. And so on our second day in Ningxia, we took a long bus ride to the outskirts of Yinchuan City and boarded a ferryboat that would take us to that massive patch of land they call the Maowusu Desert. 

Arriving at the docking station, I realized instantly that our guide wasn’t kidding. The heat indeed was already blinding and I couldn’t even see the desert yet.

And so at the station, I was the first to run to a makeshift tent selling an assortment of scarves, umbrellas, hats and what-have-you for around 30 Chinese yuan or around $4. They had everything we needed to cover our heads – from lipstick red scarves to umbrellas that twirl like floral skirts. 

The Maowusu Desert is the eighth largest desert in China. Also known as the Mu Us Sandy Land, it is crossed by the Great Wall of China in the southeast part of the desert and forms the southern portion of the Ordos Desert in Inner Mongolia.

After a 15-minute ferry ride, we finally reached the desert, my very first time to come up close to one.

Right in front of me was a massive mountain of sand and waves and waves of dunes that stretched far into the horizon. 

There were travelers scattered all over and herds of camels everywhere. These desert beasts were a sight to behold, all dressed up in colorful clothing that covered their huge humps. Some walked aimlessly across the sand; others lined up as if in a procession. 

Walking on the sand dunes was quite an experience. It’s so soft it’s as if you’re walking on a giant waterbed. That’s the irony, which you soon forget when you spend too much time on one spot because the heat will creep up and burn your feet after a few minutes. It’s a long trek to conquer even just a portion of the desert but a visual feast of camels and children playing in the sand makes for a great accompaniment.

There are hot air balloons, too, in bright rainbow colors although not as many as in Cappadocia, Turkey.

There’s a lot to do in the desert. One favorite activity is to ride a camel at $45 to $95 for 30 minutes to one hour. There’s a long queue but there are a lot of camels so the line is bearable. 

Riding a camel, said one journalist who tried it during the time of our visit, was quite an experience. But he said one must be ready to get his clothes dirty. 

The guide said the best thing to wear when riding a camel is long pants and long socks. One should also have a long scarf to protect the whole face in case of a dust storm, as well as dust goggles.

Also, it is different from riding a horse because a camel’s walk is odd, irregular and jerky. ?The key is to go with the camel and let one’s body swing back and forth, but make sure to hold on to the saddle for support. 

Not to worry though, because the Chinese guides will provide instructions and will be nearby during the ride. 

For the children, the highlight is playing in the sand. There were many children making sand castles or at least attempting to build one. However, unlike in the beach where the sand is wet, the sand in the desert is loose and dry. It’s not easy to actually form sand castles and I guess that is where the challenge and fun comes from. 

Others just slide on the sand, having the adventure of their lives. I tried to lie on my back but it was too hot for the thin clothes that I was wearing. 

After spending hours in the desert and the heat becomes unbearable, one can then retreat to a row of stores selling ice cold drinks, ice cream and other snacks. 

There’s also a souvenir store selling trinkets, key chains and other curios and a huge bronze statue of Chairman Mao Zedong right outside the store. 

Eating ice cream after hours of walking under the scorching heat is a good way to cap one’s visit.

I didn’t ride the camel because I thought the heat might be unbearable. I saw how slow the camels walk, just taking their sweet time. But I spent a lot of time watching them. It was my first time to see these desert beauties. 

I also enjoyed walking up and down the sloping sand dunes.

I took photographs of children playing in the sand and watched people capture their own sweet moments in the barren land.

It’s like being inside a postcard, except that everyone is moving and just having a good time. It’s really all about seeing nature’s wonder.  

Despite the sweltering heat – 35 degrees Celsius, or maybe more – visiting the Maowusu Desert was quite an experience.

The sight of earth’s natural architecture is such a wonder.

And the view of the serene sky that seemed to turn into a shade of pink also took my breath away. Could this be real or a mirage had appeared before my eyes as light rays bend in the heat haze?

Whatever it was, the desert is as I had imagined from my childhood dreams – but it’s also so much more. 

It’s not an enclave of solitude as I had thought it to be. It wasn’t empty and barren at all. It is, on the contrary, a surplus of nature’s beauty.

When one is in the desert region of far-away Ningxia, there is a chance to finally experience the desert of one’s childhood dreams – stifling heat, muggy dust, the driest air and the long hike notwithstanding.