Review: Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia

These quick city reviews are meant to give a brief overview of our impressions. In many cases we will not have had enough time to see or do everything, but from our limited experiences, we will give each location ratings and reviews:

Lodging: 7
We stayed at the Binyue International Hostel in decent four-bed "dorms" that were old hotel rooms. It was nice and we had the room all to ourselves for 50 RMB per person.
Food: 8
In order to taste a bit of Mongolian culture we tucked into a mutton and milk tea type hot pot pairing... It was good but pricey. We thoroughly enjoyed a small shop with fantastic baozi (steamed dumplings).
People: 9
As Oli said in the last post, we made a Mongolian friend. He was a singer! Although his hospitality was superb and seemed completely genuine, we were sometimes overwhelmed by the attentions he paid to us. But he certainly was the best part of Huhehaote (closely followed by the baozi).
Generally: 6
We thought we would love Hohhot and assumed it would be more charming without tourists (who come in the summer to see the beautiful grasslands). What we found was a coldish, crowded and typical city with no beautiful grasslands (yet).

Now we're in Yulin, Shaanxi, a relatively small town on the line of desertification. It is quaint and surrounded by a massive, crumbling, yellow earthen wall. Tourists must not frequent Yulin much in the winter (or ever?) and we made quite a stir on the street. After a family photo shot with big, tall, and strong Oli holding the baker's young boy-child, we scored some freeee baked goods and two cones of frozen yogurt.

Yellow Earth vs. Desert? Tomorrow we will observe this match with experts from Yulin University.