It was great to arrive at our hostel in Hohhot (pronounced Huhehaote in Chinese), the capital of Inner Mongolia. After several days of dusty travel, I was pleased to discover that the shower here is not only the best I’ve experienced in China, but probably the best I’ve ever experienced, period! It is strong enough to be a sandblaster, which is exactly what I needed to blast the sand off me.

We needed to take care of some particulars, including booking the rest of our trip. We secured flights to Beijing leaving on Friday night, and booked an overnight tour of the grasslands starting tomorrow morning. I booked our hostel in Beijing too, near the Forbidden City.

All of that being done, we could enjoy a walk around the city. Hohhot is a modern and relatively affluent place. Because it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, it’s quieter here too, with less pollution. It was a pleasure to walk through a large park in the middle of the city.

Dinner tonight was Mongolian hot pot, which is served all over China, and in many places in Canada too. It seemed only fitting to have Mongolian hot pot while in Mongolia. The idea is that you get these different kinds of boiling hot soup at your table, and you dunk in various meats and vegetables until they’re cooked. Delicious.