Jiageda Hotel Hami

... in the afternoon they set up the checkpoint where most trucks stop. We figure that’s our best option and sits under the shade by the road. Traffic is light on this road, only about a handful of cars pass through in a span of few minutes. We hide half of our bags behind the trees to increase our appeal and write a sign of the next town on a cardboard box cutout to tell drivers where we’re going.

After half an hour a Mazda ...

... only a couple of Ks to a nice shady spot in an unofficial carpark opposite some remote Grottos for a billy boil and a cuppa. It was pretty rough going today with a well worn road and some less than generous speed limits, not to mention roadworks. The push to join the country up with motorways is unrelenting and we suffered the sight of a new sealed road almost completed (to form the dual carriageway) A couple of weeks, a month ... if only. A highlight was being officially ...

... defense of the empire, the spot where China ended and beyond which lay a terrifying wilderness." "The fort's location, between the permanently snowcapped Qilian Mountains to the north and the black Mazong (Horse's Mane) Mountains to the south, could not be more dramatic - or more strategically valuable. Everything that traveled between the deserts of central Asia and the fertile lands of China - goods, traders, armies - had ...

... for two or three days. Meanwhile the guest stays with his wife in the house and does whatever he will with her, lying with her in one bed just as if she were his own wife; and they live a gay life together." (The Travels of Marco Polo) Despite eating the best Dim Sum of our trip so far, we can report that the old customs appear to have died out and neither of us were required to do any lying with wives. On ...

... full houses don't exist and you can put down "super straights." We taught our companion the Asian American style of Big 2 and he caught on pretty quick and earned his share of wins before we called it a night. The next morning we arrived in Liuyuan, which is the jumping off point for Dunhuang. Like Turpan, Dunhuang doesn't have its own train station and it's a good hour by minibus or ...

... When one is surrounded on all sides by desert, in a bus that won't work, where you don't speak the language and when no-one else thought to bring any water but you, only one word comes to mind. ****. So there was nothing for it but to hike up my trouser leg and stick my thumb out. Luckily this didn't work and I soon retreated to the bus. After about 45 minutes a huge bus pulled up along side and offered us a lift. At least that's what ...

... the town, which is at the base of 3000 meter mountains and in the middle of lush, green pastureland. Yurts abound, and I really felt like I was finally in Central Asia!!! On the way back to Hami, I hopped off the van at a random spot and headed up into the hills for a hike. The only things I encountered were Camels. A great day!!!

... from where me & the taxi driver are standing. Funnily enough, I didn't notice the taxi driver disappear, but it was a very sharp exit. The very helpful bus driver tells me that the bus will leave at 3pm, in about an hour and a half's time, and ushers me to my 50cm x 170cm sleeping berth. Sometimes being short has some major advantages and I think of all those people who have stood in front of me at football matches and concerts ...