By Jordan Delp

Jordan Delp is a men’s basketball player at Augustana. He is blogging about the team’s trip to China. For more posts about the Vikings’ journey, click here.

Another early morning, and another flight for our team. This time we flew from Beijing, over the Great Wall, and into Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia. When we arrived in Hohhot, we were met with a nice surprise: no humidity. It was a welcome escape from the punch-in-the-gut humidity levels we experienced at the other stops on our trip, our first sunny and cool day in China.

After getting settled in our hotel, we headed to lunch to eat with our day’s opponent and a few of the other people associated with the event. This lunch was unlike any other experience we have ever been a part of. It started off normally, with some light dishes and drinks, but took a turn when about 20 Mongolian men and women, uniformed in some sort of kimonos were led into the room by two others pushing a fully intact ram (head-to tail — it was all there) into the middle of the room.

As they chanted and sang words that none of us understood, they asked Coach Giovanine to make the first cut into the meat of the animal, go through some traditional ritual and take a ceremonial drink. After a little bit more singing and chanting, things settled down, but their mark had been put on us. No one really knew what to say or think.

And oh yeah, did I mention all of this was in the dark?

After lunch, we were able to see a few of the sights of Hohhot, including two Buddhist temples and a mosque. Dr. Moline (the esteemed professor of geography at Augustana who has been so helpful as our tour guide) informed us that we were at a juncture few people would ever get to see. Looking left, we saw Western architecture and influence; looking right, we saw Eastern architecture and influence. It was an interesting dynamic that we all could appreciate.

As we approached the sight of our night’s game, we were reminded that we would be playing the first game ever played in Hohhot’s brand new, downtown 6,000 seat arena. Outside the arena, the Olympic rings were hanging above the entry way. As we walked into the gym we saw a banner that read something to the effect of “Chinese vs. USA basketball game” and knew that this would be an important matchup.

The game went well, an 83-70 win for us, making us 3-0 on the trip. As we have the entire trip, our team really defended and rebounded well, and our depth helped us to wear down the Zhejiang Lions from nearby Shanghai.

The game ended in Augie fashion, with a steal and fast break dunk by junior Chandlor Collins. After our win, we were awarded a trophy and then a melee broke loose: people looking for photos with our guys and autographs. It was a cool environment that I don’t think many of us could ever get sick of. So, we leave Hohhot tomorrow morning 3-0, with one more game left on our schedule.

We know we aren’t finished yet.