START: Hohhot
FINISH: Erenhot
DISTANCE: 436.21 km
Today we were lucky enough to have a start time of 09:22. Hello lie in! It was good because the lack of sleep leading up to the rally meant that an extra hour was greatly appreciated.
Last night we were too tired to realize that the hotel was actually in a skyscraper. Breakfast was served in a rotating restaurant on the 26th floor, which meant we were able to see Hohhot from all angles. It is one of many Chinese cities which has experienced a lot of development in recent years. Whilst many of the new buildings appear to currently be empty, it is obvious that there is a grand plan for the city.
Mario and I also made peace this morning and decided that it would probably be better if we worked together as a team. It would be a long 36 days otherwise.
Today, large stretches of the drive was on a new dual carriageway which meant there was little potential for messing up the navigating. We overtook the odd lory and every known and then were overtaken by a competitor, but other than that we had the road to ourselves. It must also be part of the grand plan the government appears to have for the area.
Erenhot is a town which most former P2P competitors will remember because of its large dinosaur statues. It is obvious that we are close to the Mongolian boarder because within a few hours of driving the landscape has changed from lush green to desert dry.
Our scheduled departure time for tomorrow is 08:22, but just as we were about to go to sleep some of the race marshals told us we would have to leave the hotel by 07:00. Apparently there has been severe flooding in Mongolia and it looks like the plans for the next few days are all about to change. We were lucky that we were still in the lobby, but it was past 23:00 and everyone else had to be woken up.