Though I'm sure the building is built into the hill, it sure appears to be sitting primarily on sand.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

You can see the train off to upwards and left of the concrete ger motel overlooking the valley.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The train goes right under the mountain where the chairlift begins, right above the farm built in the flood plain.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This train is very long, but empty (I can't think of any other explination as to why it would only have one engine).
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I walked away from the crowds to try and enjoy the desert and trainwatch for a bit. Soon I was pretty well rewarded.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

We were all quite amused, though.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Tammy Byerly (of UC Santa Barbara) looks more thna a little distressed in this shot. The reason became clear when she got to the bottom of the hill...despite the man's assurances she was not strapped in properly.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Horse riding is also availible in the valley below, though it seems (by this point at least) to be much less popular than the camels.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I think this gorge is really quite spectacular and quite reminds me of the American Southwest.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Looking across the way at the road to the other side of the gorge.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I didn't do this. It didn't seem like a good idea.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Since Baotou is the coal mining capital of Inner Mongolia (and therefore its largest city in terms of population), all the trains I saw using this line were long coal trains.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

It took us three runs to get up this hill. At the time it was a disconcerting though that we might get stranded, but in retrospect it really wasn't all that far from the base camp.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

As usual, I though I was the one keeping people waiting, but in fact there were even slower folks behind me.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Our Russian military surplus sandmobile awaits.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This is one of my favorite shots in the desert. This one better go up on the EAP website, or something!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Professor Geng was really quite excited by the whole thing.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

But then it became clear. The characters are "Zhong Guo," directly translated as Middle Country, but also the most common Chinese name for China.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

At first I was confused, because I thought they would stop with EAP...
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Some of us were inspired by the sand writers pictured earlier, and set to it to make our own mark on the desert.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

And of course, boring me. I was pretty psyched at the time, though.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

And beyond! This UC Davis student was heading on to Japan for the fall (if you can't already). This very strongly reminds me of Strongbad's "Japanese Cartoon". If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask a friend to introduce you to http://www.homestarrunner.com/
EAP China! Robert Klein.

To infinity...
EAP China! Robert Klein.

And then Hero (pictured upper left) yelled, "Wait! Wait! I'm not in the picture yet!"
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I wonder how many times a day he just sits in the same spot, waiting for tourists to get their pictures done. With about 20 students each wanting a photo from their own camera (digital, people, digital!), I suspect he waited a bit longer than usual.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

A lot of students really go to know Geng Lao Shi on this trip, and it really helped open up the lines of communication academically later on. Or at least that's my perspective.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Trade cameras!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

But as we both took pictures of one another, a great idea took hold.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

At first our fellow sandmobiliers seemed very distresed by the company.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Picinicking on the grassy sand dunes.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Playin' in the sand, big girl style.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Playin' in the sand, little girl style.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Through a combination of coincidence and coercion, a good number of the EAP students ended up on this ride, including our illustrious director Geng Lao Shi, himself.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The view from the top of the hill really shows how heavily touristed this spot is. In fact, only about 3% of the Gobi is sand dunes, while the rest are mostly badlands. That makes the parts that are quite attractive to tourists, especially when they're on the Chinese side of the border.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

To the Russian surplus sandmobile!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I must say, this vehicle wouldn't look terribly out of place in LA.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Just look at the combination of pain and fun on Linh's face, and you'll understand the impact of camel riding on the body.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Waiting for new customers.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This guy takes the "looking funny on a camel" prize.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

As out of place as we may have looked,
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Looking out in the distance.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

One of the Qingdao lai de you ke (tourists from Qingdao) decided, seemingly randomly, to completely freak out and demand to be let off the camel, insisting she'd walk back.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Ksenia's camel wanted into the pictures, as well. The camels are pulled in short caravans by pins stuck through their nostrils. At first it seemed odd how the camels would go right up to the leg of the person riding the camel in front of them, and then it became clear they were just trying not to get their nose pulled off.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Linh Dao poses for the camera while we wait for our camels to drink and eat up. In the background are numerous screaming spoiled children from Qingdao. For a town famous for its beer (and in a country without a drinking age), they were shockingly high-strung.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Ksenia, my classmate and one of the two grad students on the summer Beijing program. She's a grad student in Asian Studies at UCLA.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

For once, I pulled off the self-portrait. I was quite proud of myself, I must admit.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Rachel, of UCLA, leads the way. She is in an obscene number of pictures in my collection from this trip (not all posted online) owing to her position directly in front of my camel.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Looking back on the ridge of sand.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

A busy intersection in the Gobi.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Still at work...
EAP China! Robert Klein.