Just three hours to the west of Hohhot by train or bus lies Inner Mongolia's biggest city,
BAOTOU . Its primary significance is as the chief iron- and steel-producing centre in China: if you're arriving at night from the direction of Yinchuan, your first glimpse of the city is likely to be of satanic fires burning in the great blast furnaces. The sky over the western half of Baotou is a more or less permanent yellow, orange and purple colour. For visitors, there can be something magnificent about ugliness on such a scale, but otherwise, apart from a few minor sights, including
Wudangzhao , an attractive Tibetan-style monastery outside the town, the city does not have much to offer. One further site of considerable romantic interest, if nothing else -
Genghis Khan's Mausoleum - lies well to the south of Baotou near the town of Dongsheng.
The City
Baotou is a colossal city stretching for miles in all directions. It comprises three main areas: Donghe, the oldest part of town, to the east, and Qingshan and Kundulun to the west. Qingshan is a nondescript shopping and residential area, while Kundulun includes the iron and steel works on its western edge. The three parts of the city are well connected by frequent buses (#5 and #10), which take thirty to forty minutes to travel between the Donghe and Kundulun districts.
The only area in the whole city that could be described as remotely attractive is Donghe north of Renmin Park, where the tangled old streets are quite interesting to wander around. You can see a lot of old mud-brick houses here, each opening on to fascinating little courtyards full of plants and bicycles. Kundulun , however, is mainly interesting as a monument to town-planning gone wrong - the streets and squares are wide and bleak beyond belief. Even the "sights" - the Iron and Steel Works and the Steam Locomotive Museum (hours variable) - are not especially easy or cheap to visit. The museum is located in a particularly remote area, 25km out to the northwest. You may be able to visit it by yourself in a taxi, but make enquiries first; CITS in the Baotou Hotel can arrange a day trip to the two sites, with a car and a guide, at ¥350 for a car (maximum three passengers), which is quite reasonable.
