I reached Hohhot at about 3pm. According to the hotel, the nearest subway station is about 25-minute walk away. However, with my luggage and some uncertainty about the route, the journey took me almost an hour! For first-time visitors, I would recommend taking a taxi directly from the railway station to the hotel. It is much more convenient, especially when travelling with luggage.

In Hohhot, I spent time exploring some of the city’s attractions and and spent some time browsing the various shopping malls and commercial areas around the city.

Mongolia Museum 内蒙古博物院

Genghis Khan Square 成吉思汗广场

Yili Modern Smart Health Valley 伊利现代智慧健康谷

Saishang Old Street 塞上老街

In total, I spent six days in Hohhot, and it turned out to be a truly memorable part of my journey through Inner Mongolia. From the vast grasslands and desert landscapes to the unique experience of staying in a Mongolian ger, the trip offered something very different from the usual city sightseeing. The cultural experiences, comfortable accommodation, delicious food, and warm hospitality all came together to make my stay in Hohhot a special one.

“The Big Book of Being Rude” contains about 7,000 slang of insults, collected from a research done by Johnathon Green. Here are some of them.

(1) Fire-tail – A woman who loses her temper easily
(2) Alarm Clock – A nagging woman
(3) Barber – A tediously talkative person, especially in sport use.
(4) Church-bell – A talkative woman
(5) Fanny Merchant – A person who is “all talk and no action”.
(6) Foghorn – A person who talks too loudly.
(7) Joey – One who pretends to great religiosity.
(8) Pickthank – Curry favour, especially by informing against someone also.
(9) Fatso, Fatty or Feather-bed – A fat person
(10) Buffalo, Bargain Bucket or Slow – A fat woman
(11) Copper-belly, Mr Double or Buss-belt – A fat man
(12) Hairpin, back-and-belly or Monkey on a stick – A thin person
(13) Monet – A woman who from a distance looks attractive, but close up she is a mass.
(14) Dough Face – A woman who wears an excess of cosmetics
(15) Easter Egg – A woman who wears too much make-up
(16) Dirty Bundle – An untidy person
(17) Bog-eyed – A person having tired eyes, the result of too little sleep or too much alcohol.
(18) Bottled Blonde – A woman with dyed blonde hair.
(19) Hairhead – A long-haired man.
(20) Who Robbed The Barber – Said to a person whose hair is seen as over-long.
(21) Pullet-squeezer – A woman who prefers younger partners.
(22) Chubby-chaser – A man who prefers plumper fat woman.
(23) Old Cat – An unpleasant, gossiping old woman.
(24) Christmas Tree – A heavily over-made-up or over-dressed woman.
(25) Esprit Chick – A young lady who wears only designer clothing and looks down on others who dress differently.

Source : “The Big Book of Being Rude” by Jonathon Green. Published by Cassell & Co.

(1) Writing is nothing more than a guided dream – (Jorge Luis Borge)

(2) If your writing falls apart, it probably has no primary idea to hold it together – (Sheridan Baker)

(3) Write the way an architect builds, who first drafts his plan and designs every details – (Schopenhauer)

(4) The investigation of words is the beginning of education – (Antisthenes the Sophist)

(5) What is written without effort is, in general, read without pleasure – (Dr Samuel Johnson)

(6) True ease in writing comes from art, not chance – (Alexandra Pope)

(7) Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man – (Francis Bacon)

(8) Always be nice to those younger than you because they are the ones who will be writing about you – (Yril Connolly)

(9) Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they are busy – (Charles Peters)

(10) Television has raised writing to a new low – (Samuel Goldwyn)

(11) It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give up because by that time I was too famous – (Robert Benchley)

(12) Report writing, like motor-car driving and love-making, is one of those activities which almost every English man thinks he can do well without instruction. The results are of course usually abominable – (Tom Margerison)

(13) Tomorrow’s illiterate will no longer be the person who cannot read. Tomorrow’s illiterate will be the person who has not learned how to write – (Alvin Toffler)

(14) Without trust, words become the hollow sound of a wooden gang. With trust, words become life itself – (John Harold)

(15) Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them – (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

(16) Words are, of course, the most powerful drugs used by mankind – (Rudyard Kipling)

(17) A broken bone can heal, but the wound a word opens can fester forever – (Jessamyn West)

(18) Words without actions are the assassins of idealism – (Herbert Hoover)

(19) A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought, and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used – (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Source : “FAQs About The English Language” published by the Civil Service College, Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM).

(1) Be strict in judging yourself and gentle in judging others, and you will have no enemies.

(2) If you see a holy man, think: how could I become like him? If you see a dissipated man, think: don’t I have the same vices?

(3) A wise man does not judge a person for his words, but at the same time does not neglect another person’s words, even when these words are pronounced by an unworthy person.

(4) A wise man sets requirements only for himself; an unwise man makes requirements for others.

(5) A wise man was asked, “Is there a single word which you can follow throughout your life?” And the wise man answered, ” There is such a word. This is shu.” And the meaning of this word is, “If we do not want certain things to be done to us, we should not do such things to others.”

(6) Every bird always knows where to make her nest. And if she knows how and where to make her nest, this means that she knows her purpose in life. And why does man, who is the wisest among all creatures, not know that which any bird knows, that is, his purpose in life?

(7) The first rule of achieving goodness is this : think only about self-perfection, and do without though to being praised by others.

(8) Truly kind people forget the good things they have done in the past. They are so involved in the things they do now that they forget the things they have done before.

(9) If you are alone, think about your own sins; if you are in society, forget about the sins of others.

Source: “A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul written and selected from the world’s scared tests” by Leo Tolstoy, translated into English from Peter Sekirin’s Russian version. Published by Simon and Schuster Inc, USA.

This is for any male who loves hilarious stories and jokes.

(1) Diana and Barbara were in the shopping center. “There’s my husband, coming out of the florist with a dozen roses. That means I’m going to have to keep my legs up in the air for three days!” said Diana. “Why?” said Barbara. “Don’t you have a vase?”

(2) When the country boy got married, he was too dumb to know what to do on his wedding night. “Take that big thing you play with all day and put it where I pee” said his new wife. So he got up and threw his bowling ball in the sink.

(3) A guy meets a blonde in the bar and goes home with her. When they are relaxing after making love, he asks, “Am I the first man you ever made love to?” She looks at him for a few moments and says’ “Of course you are! Why do you men always ask that same stupid question?”

(4) A woman was on the witness stand. “What happened?” said the judge. “I was walking down the street when he grabbed me, dragged me into an alley, ripped off my dress, pulled down my panties, and bent me over a garbage can. I…. I don’t remember what happened next……” She answered. “Make something up! Make it up!”

(5) Little Johnnie was concerned. He could hear thumping noises coming from his parent’s bedroom. When he went to investigate, he found his mum bouncing up and down on top of his father. “What are you doing, Mummy?” he said. “Ahh…… I’m bouncing up and down on Daddy’s stomach because he’s too fat and I want to take him thin again” She lied. “You’re wasting your time,” said Johnny. “When you go to work every morning, the lad next door comes over and blows him up again!”

(6) Doctor John was depressed. He’d been caught in bed with a patient. He was so worried, he confided to a friend that he might end it all. “You worry too much”, said his friend. “You aren’t the first doctor to sleep with a patient and you certainly won’t be the last.” “I know” said Doctor John, “but I’ll no longer be considered this city’s top vet.”

“Source: “Politically Incorrect – Jokes Men Love” by Allan Pease. Published by Pease International Pty Ltd, Australia

I joined the chess training class as a beginner, uncertain but curious. The email mentioned that the game would start at 12 noon but when I arrived at the 11th floor at around 12:30 pm, there were only a few people lingering and chatting idly. The organizer reassured me that the games would begin soon.

The four stations stood ready for the game with ivory pieces gleaming under the lights. Finger food and drinks were neatly arranged at the corner. I picked up a packet of iced lemon tea.

When the tournament began, the first match unfolded quickly. A lady I recognized from the 13th floor faced a man from the licensing department. His pawns advanced with confidence, and within minutes she lost the game; unaware of the ways to counter his attack. He casually left for coffee and snacks before returning for the next round. This time, he captured her queen within minutes and defeated her in just over ten moves. She asked for a third game, and the board was reset.

I suspected the odds were still be in his favour, having already won twice. Yet she studied the board intently with her fingers brushing through the ivory pieces. She looked him into the eye, a silent challenge, while he continued eating with pride. Her queen advanced recklessly, nearly costing her to lose the game. Then, came a twist when he made a foolish move and lost a knight with another being trapped. Soon his bishop fell. I wondered if his distraction was the curry puff. The atmosphere thickened; the casual ease of the earlier games gave way to tension.

The rhythm of the room changed, whispers rising as the momentum tilted. This time, she played brilliantly, with precision, anticipating his moves, unveiling strategies that were unfamiliar to me. Suddenly, his queen vanished, and disbelief clouded his face. He sipped his coffee, head bowed, powerless. She smiled enigmatically, revealing nothing of her thoughts. I started to take more interest in the game.

Piece by piece, she sacrificed with purpose, weaving a trap. I began to wonder what was going through in her mind. The silence grew heavy, broken only by the steady tap of pieces against the board. His defenses crumbled. Did he under estimated her ability or was she just trying to be courteous in the first few games?

At last, her voice rang loud and clear – Checkmate!

Reflection

This match was more than a game. It was a lesson in resilience. Her early defeats could have silenced her, yet she persisted, studying, adjusting, and waiting for the moment when the tide would turn. His casual confidence, distracted by food and drink, became his undoing.

Chess, in this small training hall, revealed a truth about human nature: victory is not always about strength or speed, but about endurance, focus, and the courage to rise after failure. The arc of the match — from her hesitant beginnings to her decisive triumph — mirrored the rhythm of life itself.

In the end, her checkmate was not just a move on the board. It was a declaration of resilience, a reminder that persistence can transform defeat into triumph, and that quiet determination often speaks louder than confidence.

Essay written with the help of Copilot