Travel Guides & Tips in this video
Itchy Boots rides north with Bing and Xiao Yue toward Arxan, a small Inner Mongolian town near the Mongolian border. Along the route she checks oil on her vintage Yamaha Frankie, rides through a pollen storm and stops for lunch at a truck stop where WeChat is needed to pay. Police and military checkpoints require passport registration and a helmet check. In Arxan she sees low houses by a river, Japanese, Russian and European architectural influences, a railway station built in 1937, and a shop with jade floors and mammoth tusks imported from Siberia. The day ends with roasted bread, sugar and mushroom tea.
Next travel video:
More about the current video:()
A long ride toward Arxan
On a crisp morning in Linxi, Itchy Boots rides north with Bing and Xiao Yue toward Arxan in Inner Mongolia. The route covers more than 300 kilometers of muddy roads and mountain climbs near the Mongolian border. After negotiating city traffic, Xiao Yue takes over riding. Before leaving the grasslands, Itchy removes the side panel on Frankie, her nearly 40-year-old Yamaha, and tops up the oil. She explains that older engines naturally consume oil and that checking the level is awkward without a glass window. The bike has been running well since a piston replacement, but still needs attention on a long daily ride.
A pollen storm crosses the road and aggravates Itchy's hay fever. They continue past wildflower fields and young horses, with open landscapes leading north. At a local truck stop, workers lift out truck engines and a guard kitten watches nearby. Itchy and her companions eat chicken balls, rice and dishes they cannot identify. Alipay does not work for the meal, so Bing helps by paying through WeChat.
Checkpoints and the town
Police stop the group at several checkpoints near Mongolia. Bing helps by phone while officials register Itchy's passport; at one military stop she is asked to remove her helmet for an identity check. The checks feel tense but routine, and the group continues to Arxan.
The town has small houses beside a river under forested mountains, without high-rise apartment blocks. Itchy describes an architectural mix of Japanese, Russian or Siberian, and European influences. She explains that Japan occupied northeastern China in the 1930s and called it Manchuria, making Arxan a strategic base. Its railway station, built in 1937 and still active, is said to be China's smallest. With fewer than 3,000 residents, the town feels alpine compared with the route they have just traveled.
At a handcrafted shop, Itchy sees jade floors and stairs, gemstone jewelry and mammoth tusks imported from Siberia. She counts at least eight complete sets, and one pair is priced at nearly two million yuan. A cat wearing a university T-shirt adds a lighter moment. As the weather turns, she ends the ride and tries roasted bread with sugar and mushroom tea made from tree fungus. Locals say the tea is good for the stomach, while another medicinal mushroom is said to bring longevity. The stop gives the travelers a final taste of local food and a chance to reflect on the day's changes, from grassland roads and checkpoints to Arxan's distinctive buildings and unusual shop.
FAQs (From the traveler's perspective)
- Q: What was it like riding through the border checkpoints near Mongolia?
- A: I got stopped a few times. At one military checkpoint they asked me to take off my helmet and register my passport. Bing helped by phone, and once the paperwork was done I could keep going.
- Q: What makes Arxan look so different from the rest of China?
- A: There are no high-rise apartment blocks, just small houses beside a river in the mountains. The architecture mixes Japanese, Russian and European styles because of the Japanese occupation and Soviet presence during World War II.
- Q: What was the most surprising thing you saw in Arxan?
- A: The shop with jade floors and mammoth tusks. They had several complete sets imported from Siberia, and one pair was priced at nearly two million yuan. I still wonder if it was all real.
- Q: What did you think of the local mushroom tea?
- A: We made tea from a mushroom that grows on trees, and it looked like wood. Locals said it was good for the stomach; another medical mushroom was said to give you longevity. I had never seen anything like it.
