Inner Mongolia

The third largest subdivision in China, the "autonomous province" of Inner Mongolia stretches along the majority of northern China's border with the country of Mongolia. Housing less than 2% of China's total population, this is a region of vast open spaces, green grasslands, and blue skies. It has also been the subject of numerous documentaries about its "ghost cities," vast urban sprawls that were built at a time when the government was awash with money but short on residents. It was hoped that building fantastical new cities of the future would bring people in. So far, those efforts have failed.

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View from the window as my plane descends to Ordos Airport. First glimpse of some of the massive unoccupied housing blocks in the region. A look at the completely empty roads below shows virtually no human presence.

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Is Chinglish funny if there is no one there to see it?

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Ordos city limits. Unfinished construction sites are one of the early impressions.

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Checking out one of the region's many abandoned housing subdivisions. Halfway built, then left to decay. The whole area has a very creepy The Walking Dead vibe to it. The only thing missing here was the horde of zombies.

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One of China's largest mosques, despite there being almost no Muslims in the area. The mystery continues...

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Neo-modern and yet entirely deserted and unoccupied Ordos Dongsheng Hospital.

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Several gorgeous new sports stadiums were built here for the Chinese Ethnic Minorities Olympics in 2015. Now they sit in the middle of nowhere, completed deserted.

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Beautiful flowerpot highway dividers in New Ordos / Kangbashi.

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Massive larger-than-life Genghis Khan statues decorate the main public square area in front of government buildings in Kangbashi. The horses are so incredibly lifelike that they seem on the verge of breaking free from the artwork.

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One of the largest public squares in the world, yet completely empty of people.

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Ordos Museum. The exterior is shaped like a traditional Mongolian hat.

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Library built in the shape of stacked books.

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Mongolian cuisine is heavily meat-centric, no room for vegetarians here! "Our animals eat grass," they're liable to say, "and we eat our animals." My kind of place!

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Outskirts of New Ordos / Kangbashi, where encroaching sand dunes hint that you're on the very outer edge of the civilized world.

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A couple more shots of this eerily-empty city, the perfect place to soak in the post-zombie apocalyptic vibe.

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What looks to be ancient Mongol fortifications is actually an elaborate movie set.

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Statue at the entrance to the Genghis Khan mausoleum.

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Genghis Khan mausoleum. Holy horses said to be direct descendents of Khan's herd roam the grounds freely.

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It was nice to see these periodic reminders for Chinese tourists to behave more civilly. This one references the spoiled Chinese brat who defaced an ancient Egyptian temple by carving his initials into its walls.

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Ordos' futuristic airport, built in the circular shape of a traditional Mongolian ger.

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In what borders on the sacrilegious, a giant mural of Genghis Khan towers over the McDonald's store in Ordos Airport.

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More evidence of the absurd in this part of China: Inner Mongolia's capital city of Hohhot is "Muslim themed" despite there being almost no Muslims in the area. Most of the ornate buildings pictured below, with the exception of the two vertical shots, are shopping centers. Despite the obvious tacky first impression, it was a dream to photograph.

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Winters are long and harsh in this part of the country, and even spring can be chilly as is evidenced by the thick coat and hat worn by this local guy. Scooter riders have mittens and extra protection against the cold attached directly to their bikes, which leaves these strange scenes outside of buildings.

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Hohhot's gorgeous Five Pagoda Temple and its thousands of elaborately-carved tiny Buddhas.

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Grounds of the largest temple in the city, the Dazhao Temple, built in 1579.

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Aside from Pyongyang in North Korea, Hohhot is the only other city I have seen female traffic cops directing traffic at intersections.