Xilinhot

Introduction

Xilinhot is an industrial city about an hours flight due north from Beijing up and over the mountains. It's main industry is coal and there is a large coal mine just outside of town with trains and trucks loaded with coal departing every few minutes. Most of the city population is Han Chinese, but once you leave the city and start exploring the surrounding grasslands, the people are Mongolian.

The central city in dominated by a Buddhist temple high on a hill with colorful prayer flags flying. The older sections of town, mostly made of brick, are being torn down wholesale and being replaced with modern high-rise apartment buildings. The whole western section of the city is brand new municipal buildings, train station, and an enormous cultural center with multiple theater spaces and a central plaza. There are many parks, playground, and sport centers for folks to recreate in. Genghis Khan is everywhere in statuary, tapestry, and paintings. Xilinhot is an excellent base camp for exploring eastern Inner Mongolia.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

Yurt/Ger Resorts

In the hills surrounding Xilinhot there are yurt, or ger in Mongolian, resorts where one can stay in a yurt much like a motel. There are yurt banquet halls associated with the resorts as well. Expect lots of mutton on the menu as well as spicy fish, beef, lots of different forms of cabbage, and milk tea. The Mongolian Hot Pot is not to be missed.

Upon visiting a Mongolian farm, one finds brick homesteads and farm buildings and, in the summer, they live in yurts. They have horses, sheep, goats and a few cattle. And although there is no centrally provided power, each has a small wind generator that powers the TV and satellite dish. Everyone has a cellphone.

Wind Power Farm

One unexpected find was an enormous wind generating farm located 15-30 kilometres south of Xilinhot. There are currently 200 wind generators 30 metres tall with another 200 to be completed by 2010. All of the electricity generated by the farm goes directly to Beijing. This farm is part of the larger scheme to make China greener.

Events and Festivals

• Naadam is the annual summer festival, which is full of color in the form of costume, banners, flags, and tents. There is wrestling, dance, song, horse racing, and men's and women's competition. Look for Naadam on the grasslands far from the city.

Weather

Getting There

By Plane

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

China Post (中国邮政) is the official postal service of the People's Republic of China, operated by the State Postal Bureau of the People's Republic of China (website in Chinese only), and has more details about price to send letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally. The Chinese postal service is very good. Remember that in more remote places usually only one post office in a city can handle sending international boxes or letters. Also many times it might be worth having the name of the country you are trying to send to in Chinese characters. Post offices have a striking green logo and can easily be found everywhere in the cities. They are mostly open every day (including weekends!) from 8:00am to 6:00pm, though small offices might have shorter opening times, while the bigger ones in central and touristic areas are sometimes open during evenings as well.