Wake up and its pouring. Set off nonetheless, after spending 30 min navigating my way out of the fandian which has been locked up for the night. Encounter rain, a vicious headwind, hill, hill, and then one big mountain. The top of the mountain however signifies the end of Herbei and the start of Inner Mongolia. Boy am i keen to get out of messsy herbei. I tackle the mountain and eventually reach the summit, it seems the mountain is more of an escarpment, however, as there was no downhill on the other side. Only beautiful, blue skyed, clear aired Inner Mongolia. Setting off through the new landscape can't help but mention the contrast of corn field enriched landscape of Herbei to the rolling green hilly landscape that is Inner Mogolia, and so lovely to breathe in some fresh air.
 
On the side, people seem a lot less friendly, with a slight feeling of aggression, maybe im just imagining it tho... Rock up to a village called Xinghe, and visit the only hotel in town, need to bargain down the price of the room intensely and afterwards still think im being ripped off... The girl at reception had never seen a passport before, and it took an hour just to check in as she stared at it in amazement, sweet girl. I afterwards queried whether there was a massage place in town where I could help my aching legs recover. She said there were but also said she could give me a massage herself. She is quite a big girl, and i kindly declined, I'm sure she could have done a great job but reckon she would've broken all the bones in my body with a single touch of her pinky finger. She's the product of some large Mongolian family breeding.

Grab some great bbq'ed lamb and chicken, and off to bed. Didnt get that massage.