Get up very early today - and boy did i need to - pack up, hike back to the road, and am on my way again. Turns out to be the hardest and most frustrating day to date. A direct headwind, also throwing up bits of sand and rock, makes the going very slow. It turns out my average speed for the day would be 13 km/hour. at one stage i was pedalling downhill, in my granny gear, going an amazing 8 km/h.
 
The day turned out very long indeed, and eventually limped into a small town, Wu Da i think it was, right on the Inner Mongolia/Ningxia border (foreigner characteristics causing quite a stir). I had my standard escort guide me into town, but instead of taking me to a place to stay he took me to a restaurant first. These good kids then took me to a hotel where I got a great deal. unpacked, showered, etc when suddenly theres a knock at the door. The hotel owner's son makes up a ridiculous story about the hotel being not 'clean' enough, but after some probing I discover that the police had phoned every hotel in town asking where the 'foreigner' was staying and instructing them to send the 'foreigner' to the most expensive hotel in town or face a fine. Not arguing my way out of this one, I tell the kid to take me to this hotel. this was a bad mistake as the little shit wouldn't stop talking. Get to the hotel not a moment too soon, but get a very bad vibe from them, and refuse to stay there (for more than a number of reasons...). The hotel owner's son, in a panic now, reckons I'm not gonna last the night by myself, so I give him a little kick in the bum and send him home to food and a warm bed. Cross the road to another hotel, smile at the very cute receptionists, and check in for the night, at last! I reckon...
 
Get some dinner in the area, but on entering the hotel again the police are waiting in force amongst some very scared receptionists. I'm told to get my passport, which I do. Get placed in the police car and head off to the police station. Arrive at the police station and have my passport taken away, I'm left to entertain the police superintendent who is busy watching a Chinese horror flick (something about a headless chinese person). After some idle chit chat about what I do, he asks me, directing to the horror flick, if I'm scared... my broken chinese response of "I'm not afraid of anything other than big Mongolian women" sends this guy into raptures. Needless to say, my passport came back very quickly, had just been been photocopied, was put back in the paddy wagon in a flash and sent to hotel to go to bed in a huff... What a day...