Saturday June 20 - Yin Chuen to BaoTou (624 km)

Up early today for a big drive through the Inner Mongolian Grasslands to BaoTou. Scenery-wise it has truly been one of the most dreary days. We started with flat fertile lands which changed into rocky-hills and lots of mining (including smelly old coal) and industry. At one point we could barely see any distance because of the mushroom pollution-haze over the large factories, mines and other industrial sites. Even the atmosphre had an acrid industrialized smell about it. As we entered the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (established in 1947) we entered the rolling steppes. Apparently only about 15% of the population is Mongolian, the rest mainly Han Chinese (85%), and a smattering of Hui, Manchu, Daur, and Ewenki. The traditional nomadic life where the Mongol herders move with the seasons in search of pasture for their herds, and life in circular tents called "yurts", is fading out fast and is mainly retained for tourist purposes. We stopped for lunch in a small non-descript town called Linhe. I had an egg and tomoato rice dish which once loaded with soy and hot chilli sauce was delicious for Y7. Ray had a lamb and rice dish which was apparently very good too. Since this was a Musim area, we were happy to eat lamb. Outside the restaurant, in a tractor-drawn cart, we saw a poor sheep standing in the cart probably awaiting its fate. BaTou is the largest city in Inner Mongolia (population 2.08 million). It is very industrialized and rather grim. Other than that, I don't think it has much claim to fame. Apparently one of the traditional Mongolian instruments is a "matouqin" which today has its 2 strings made of horsehair and the top is carved into the shape of a horse's head. I am hoping somewhere in our travels to see this. After we arrived we went wandering around BaoTou. It really is quite dirty, and not as nice as the other towns we have ben in. We all went for dinner in a typical restaurant. It was full, very noisy, and loads of fun. The food was good too! Then Ray and I went to the Internet to try and phone Alanna but we couldn't get Skype to work. We eventually found the Internet on the 4th floor of a building which we reached by way of a glass elevator on the outside of the building. We'll try again tomorrow in another city for Skype. On the way back to the hotel we sat and had a quiet beer at a little street vendor. It is amazing the number of people who spoke to us. One young chap said "Welcome to China" in his best English. Westerners are really greeted very welcomingly. Today I finished reading Huruki Murakami "What I talk about when I talk about running". A neat little book, less than 200 pages, that talks about the author's "recreational" running career and his philosophy on how running has inspired his writing. Just lots of little comments that I can certainly relate to about why we run, and what our achivement means in the big scheme of things. I am now inspired to read more of his books.