Hohhot. Cold, dark, miserable and wet. It is about 7°C when my train arrives around midnight and as I get off at the station it starts raining. What joy. In the dark I scramble from hotel to hotel to find a place to sleep. Most are full as 1.38bln Chinese are travelling this week, others are way too expensive and the places listed in the guide book either don't exist anymore or are unfindable. Finally a helpful local points me to a place a bit further down the road. Wet(tish), cold, tired and with my umbrella broken I end up paying Y100 for the night.

The next day is equally miserable. Rain. Rain. Rain.

All my plans of visiting the endless grass plains of Inner Mongolia are useless like this, so I decide to take the bus onwards to Bãotóu and just skip this. The bus station is chuck full... with Chinese. I wade my way through the throngs and manage to find a place on the third bus. Thank god they leave half-hourly. Whatever you do, do NOT travel during Chinese holidays. Definitely not with a suitcase! Once on the bus it's okay though as at least everyone has a seat not like on the train. Even the rain lets down and a little bit of sun comes through. I was just about to get my hopes up when the miserable rain starts off again. Great!

Plains are off to the south, and just a few kilometres to the north the horizon is filled with rocky outcrops. Were it not for the ore under the ground this would be a most scenic ride. However, as it is... factories everywhere, mass construction and one grim industrial housing after the other. Not my cup of tea. I strike up a pretty laborious conversation with the girl next to me. Using my diary as a sketch-book I ask her about the weather, the many people travelling, her work; which places I want to visit, my plans, etc. It's funny. Like going back to kindergarten, drawing for fun. Her name is Yáng Xuě Qín, meaning Musical Snow. I like it :)

I arrive in Bãotóu. The rain has stopped. It's damn cold though and the wind just cuts through my sweater. Damn. Definitely not prepared for this. Just to be on the safe side, I buy my onward ticket to Dàtóng the moment I arrive. Again drawing, and dictionary at hand. There are no more seater places available I have to take the sleeper coach at 07:50 the Sunday morning. Aaarggh. Mondtam már, hogy ne utazzon senki se kínában az ünnepek alatt?