Majestic skies and indifferent cows

Photo By Tang Yue / China Daily

Getting to Enhe is not that easy, said Gosavi, who like us traveled there by coach.

"But people are very friendly and I can always talk with other tourists in English. It is a totally different world from big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. It is definitely worth traveling to."

It took Gosavi seven hours to get to Enhe from Beijing, the first three being on an aircraft, but the seven-hour trip was short compared with what a couple from Taiwan, Xiaozong and Wanyu, had to endure, more than 24 hours by air and road.

It turned out that this was their first trip to the mainland.

"We just love nature and want to see something we don't have in Taiwan," said Xiaozong, 25. They were spending 10 days in Hulun Buir.

In the afternoon I lay down outside again, this time on a prairie and surrounded by cows, horses and dogs. If they had any interest in one another they barely showed it and seemed even less interested in us of the two-footed species. The couldn't-care-less expression on their faces seemed to say: "If it's selfies you want, leave us out", or "Please take your damned photos and leave us alone."

The unexpected highlight of the tour came that night when Gosavi knocked on my door as I was about to take a shower and asked us to join the others to do some star gazing.

This had not been on the to-do list, and I did not expect it to be anywhere as good as what I had experienced in Tekapo in the South Island of New Zealand last year, an overpowering display of the majesty of the heavens with its millions upon millions of stars.