Chapter 1

I have written my Sunday letters from lots of strange places - from a rubber plantation in Java, from the ruins of Angkor, from a horrible Chinese inn - but this is the strangest of the lot.  I am the guest of His Highness Prince Teh Wang, the greatest man among all Mongols, whose forefather, Genghis Khan, formed the huge Mongol Empire which reached Hungary, nearly overran Europe and whose other forefather, Kublai Khan, Dada used to read about in school (Coleridge).  It has been the most colourful day I have ever had  - a Mongol feast in honour of the spirit of the mountain, just near, and I also had a good interview with Prince Teh Wang, who wants to set up an independent Mongol Empire, including the Mongols under Soviet rule in Outer Mongolia and the Mongols under Manchukuo.  The splash of colour, with bright silks and gorgeous head-dress, the fine horses, the Mongol tents, the spirit of worship and the wrestlers, riders, lamas and archers, has been magnificent.

Journey into Inner Mongolia.  On Thursday July 11th, I got up at 5.30 a.m., breakfasted and went by rickshaw from the Legation Quarter, Peking, to the station which is very close.  There, Baron von Plessen, who is the double of Tom Ellis, was waiting for me.  He had shorts and I also brought shorts.  We had a first class compartment and soon the train steamed off.  At the next station Dr Herbert Müller, a friend, entered and we formed a trio.  (Dr Müller and I are left.  The Baron had to return to Peking on Monday.)  Plessen and Müller were extreme opposites.