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29 August: Hohhot

We woke around 07h30, due to the shades being pulled open allowing a sharp unwelcome sun to shine through. We tried to sleep a little longer, but with no success, so we got up and made turns going to the bathroom in order to keep our beds from becoming the seats of our guests still sleeping above. By the time I returned from the bathroom after putting in my contacts the woman was sharing my bed with me. We made peace with the fact that our beds for which we had paid more were now becoming seats and we weren't even able to utilize them if we wanted to lie down. A little later I went in search of hot water to prepare our 5 minute noodles, I found the tap which looked more like a tap nozzle connected to a geyser three carriages down. By now the man had also clambered down from aloft and was sitting next to Leanne. We placed our noodles on the table and read our newly acquired books while waiting for the noodles to be edible.

I had planned to write a little on the laptop seeing as I was incredibly far behind and it took so long to catch up, but we realized we may have to get off earlier than expected. Our tickets were for Baotou, which we had though was the first stop from where we would have to travel to Hohhot, the capital of inner mongolia, by bus. Turns out Hohhot was the first stop and it was here that we would need to get our visa's for Mongolia. It was a quick decision and by the time we had discussed half of it the train came to a standstill at the station. We grabbed our bags without thinking twice and made our way off the train. The conductor still had our paper tickets and we had his plastic ones, but I couldn't find him to return them.

Another huge station with thousands of people gathering outside, we made our way to the road and started looking for the guest house, this would turn out to be an ordeal in its own right. Few of the people along the way could point us in the right direction. Our packs had grown considerably in weight due to the silverware and sword, almost 5kg each we were hauling, our bags were now at least 20kg to 25kg front and rear bags. We decided that Leanne would wait with the bags outside a pharmacy while I go in search of the guest house advised by the Lonely Planet. I asked almost everywhere but rarely found a reasonable place. The first place I found almost looked like a brothel and when the woman to whom I was speaking started whispering it confirmed my suspicions, that and the pictures of naked girls on the walls. The room really wasn't at all nice and the bathroom was a mess, so the decision not to stay there wasn't a difficult one.

I continued down the street, I found another hotel but the woman there wouldn't let me stay there and I was shown the door. One of the places I stopped to ask for directions turned out to be a sex shop, I was first thrown off guard by the pictures of naked woman on boxes I thought were condom boxes. I was wrong and didn't even wait for an answer before taking my leave. All along the streets were vendors selling either sex/pornographic magazines or DVD, this was the first time I had noticed it in the month we had been in China. I returned to Leanne unsuccessful, she had however recruited two young girls who were more than willing to help us look for accommodation. They however advised we not stay at any hotels in our current vicinity due to the shakiness of the part of town.

We followed them for some time going into at least 3 hotels, none of which would allow us to stay there, something about a policy that foreigners needed to stay in larger hotels. One allowed us in, we even gave them our passports and settled into the room, before being asked to leave. The man had contacted the police just to make sure we could stay, he hadn't gotten their permission and we had to leave. The man clearly felt bad and asked the girls with us what the English word for "I am sorry" was, saying it over and over again and shaking our hands. Another hotel owner just waved us past and explained to the girls that we couldn't stay. All this is actually very unsettling and did not make us feel at all welcome in the city!

We returned to the first hotel, a large one where our room was Y80 without a bathroom! We had no choice, no one else would take us and we were feeling bad for the girls who had spent two hours walking from hotel to hotel and negotiating to try and let us stay there. At least the beds at this hotel were the best of any other place. Having no shower in our room and only a toilet three doors down (apparently no public shower in the hotel????), the girls took us about a kilometer away to a business that had a communal/public shower, much like at varsity or in a gym. For Y5 each you could enjoy a shower with about 20 others, all in the same big shower... We went down to have a look, but it was obvious that in these showers nothing would be sacred. We had already experienced the stares of the Chinese (almost as bad as the Indians) just walking past in the streets. In a shower room it would feel like being on display in a art museum with critics gathering in a crowd around you to discuss all your facets, except you wouldn't understand a thing, not our cup of tea!!!!!! In the end it didn't really mattered anyway because when one of the girls went back in to find out what time they opened, they told her that on second thoughts we could not shower there because they can't understand us...mmm the unwelcoming feeling just kept on growing!

We thanked them and offered to purchase them, now 4 youngsters (late teens or early twenties) a cooldrink or ice cream, but they insisted it wasn't necessary. We thanked them and greeted heading back to the hotel where we relaxed after the mornings ordeal. Another unfortunate turn of circumstances was that today was a Saturday and the consulate would be closed today and tomorrow, not knowing or caring during this tour what day it is really does have its drawbacks! We decided to view the circumstances in the best way possible, we had three days in a city which according to the book had no reason to visit other than being a stopover. We were far behind in our diaries and it would take almost two days of constant writing just to catch up on the 10 days each of us were behind. At least we had made a summary each day of what had happened, but adding the detail and describing what had happened always takes longer than one would think.

We decided to relax for some time and watched a movie we had copied at Sim's guest house, after which we started with the onerous task of catching up on past events. The evening we walked around the city which at first glance appeared nothing more than a dusty town. Turns out we were wrong, the dusty town transformed into a pulsating metropolis with skyscrapers decorated with lights from the street level to the upper most point, this was almost some sort of theme as all the skyscraper had them. And not only lights, they would change into different colours then start with movements from side to side or up and down, changing from one colour to another - almost as though there was some form of intelligence in the chameleon buildings. Walking up we found a shop selling cheap water and coffee, sugar and creamer sashes, we needed a treat after our day!

We walked further down the streets filled with vendors selling watches, souvenirs or food, while looking for a restaurant where we could enjoy a meal. We found one a little further down, we had learnt to always look for a restaurant where there were many people, an empty restaurant means the food generally isn't that good, then again with so many people its not difficult to fill every restaurant. We opted for a basket of steamed dumplings, thereafter a basket of steamed wantons. Both together cost us only Y7.5 and it was enough of a meal to sustain us. Some grapes along the way was a nice juicy addition and lastly a pancake with egg and vegetables. Unfortunately the man misunderstood us when we asked the price and proceeded in making 5 while we only wanted 1, we ended up buying 2 just to compensate him somewhat, it really was nice. Just before reaching the hotel we made one more stop, a roadside DVD shop selling 12 movies incorporated into 2 DVD's for Y10! We decided to take the evening off watching Tristan and Isolde, before hitting the sack just after 12h00.