Baotou

Baotou (Chinese: 包头 Bāotóu, Mongolian: Buɣutu qota) is a city on the Yellow River (Huáng Hé) in Inner Mongolia. The metropolitan area has a population of over two million.

Understand
The largest city in Inner Mongolia, Baotou used to be an arid region inhabited by Mongolian herders and their sheep. The town that has since grown up has four main parts
 * Donghe &mdash; the old part of town and lies to the east
 * Qingshan &mdash; part of the new city
 * Jiuyuan
 * Kunqu (Kandulun) &mdash; major part of the new city and is the main shopping and entertainment area with all the western restaurants near Baobaidalou (a large walking street and shopping area)

The new city is bisected by Gangtie St, a large road that goes from the east in Qingshan to the west in Kunqu.

By train
There are two main train stations. There is high-speed rail but only inside Inner Mongolia (1hr to Hohhot). A night train to Beijing takes about 12 hours and ¥110-150 (seat) or ¥300-450 (soft sleeper).



Eat
Try Mongolian hot pot with mutton, especially in the winter. Any mutton dish is worth trying as they raise sheep up in the mountains.



Go next

 * Desert resorts and whistling sand dunes are about 50 km south of the city in Dalad Banner, part of Ordos City