Desert Camping, A Cultural Experience Opposed to a Natural One

After a family hike through the ancient graveyard and barren stretch of desert behind our hostel and up the local dunes, we unanimously decided we liked the desert. After befriending our hotel staff, they set us up to go sand camping. Two words, that’s all the information we got. We forecasted that we would be driven to a spot nestled in the dunes where many other tourist were setteling into tents, maybe have a campfire and go to sleep. That’s not what Chinese camping is at all.
Our driver, who picked us up from our hostel, took us down the length of the oasis and through a residential neighborhood to a building with dance music blasting from a stereo loud enough to hear clearly from inside the car’s interior. We paid our fee to a middle aged guy behind a table and proceeded out back. There was a stage with neon lights, roughly 50 Chinese twenty somethings and no tents in sight. Ok. We were given sleds and instructed to sled down the well trodden sand dunes. This kinda worked but it was pretty slow going until we found some steeper slopes.

Nick and I hiked out into the dunes farther away and watched sunset from there. We observed that there were at least 5 other camps along the edge of the oasis identical to ours. Dune buggy tracks cut through the undisturbed sand and the rises were dotted with evidence of camels. It was nice but we won’t be a sand free family for a long time!

Maybe it’s just us but when we picture a camping dinner we visualize hot dogs or sausages over a camp fire. Maybe some salad or snacks to go with it. What we definitely didn’t expect was a covered dining pavilion with dance floor, tables and Chinese hotpot. For those of you who have never heard of it, hotpot is a big pot of broth, which you put meats, vegetables, and noodles into to cook before fishing them out and enjoying. It’s a social style of dining and we were assigned to a table with a English fluent girl from Chengdu and a University student from Switzerland. While we ate, an MC tried to get everyone in the party mood, but it was more funny than rousing because he was trying to make everyone feel spontaneous and free but it felt so structured. After witnessing competitions, trivia, alcoholic beverage chugging and Chinese karaoke we were Shepard’s over to the “bonfire” AKA three pieces of thin wood doused in lighter fluid. The lighting was accompanied by the usual ohhhhing and awwwwing. We participated in some odd fire dancing movements and ended the night by chanting in Chinese about friendship and watching everyone wave their cellphones.

When the MC got the rest of the group jumping up and down and yelling back over by the stage we relaxed and talked to some of the others who had decided to sit this one out. All the other camps we could see were doing the exact same thing and were on the same schedule. Then, just like that, it was time for bed. We could but our tents anywhere we wanted as long as it was between the fire and the stage, so approximately 100 square feet to share with 20 other tents. The night air was cold but we all slept well in our sleeping bags and were up early the next morning to watch the sunrise.