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Published: June 17th 2014
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WINDMILL CAMP. SUNDAY 15.6.14 111kms
Brilliant blue sky, cloudless morning, finally. 32C forecast high. Last days of the HEXI Corridor. Now entering Barbarian Country! Scenery of high plateau bordered both sides by mountain ranges. As we are above the tree line, mountains are barren, giving very definitive shape to the rock formations. Mountains on the left are snow capped. Morning air is fresh.
Today the site was 111 Kms from JIA YU GUAN. Before lunch route was uneventful, although came upon an amazing religious complex comprising seemingly a Buddhist Temple and a Muslim mosque and school, dubious I know, but the picture confirms it!
Lunch was shortly afterwards. Much roadwork followed, roads were bumpy and sandy, certainly uncomfortable for cyclists! It was interesting being in the tour leader's truck as he was putting tape markers out to follow. GPS and past trip notes didn't correlate, so their was some back tracking involved to identify a clear route.
The campsite is at a place called windmill park, a barren, sandy, rocky paddock between wind turbines, rail lines, and highway. It should make for a potentially noisy night! Interesting though, in the initial 3 hours at least 20 long
trains have past, some blasting horns.
""I have been doing some blog research in my idling speed, about how to make my ramblings more interesting. It was suggested that I should ask readers to ask questions, so, please ask me " relevant questions" if you wish and I will endeavour to respond if I can ! There is a button to communicate with me.""
DESERT CAMP: MONDAY 16.6.14. 132kms
Last night it rained and a dust storm blew. An ENIGMA. Some tents suffered damage, but thankfully I put in plenty of pegs and was ok. Third camping night of rain. I think we broke the drought. The trains passing the camp last night were long and frequent. At least 100 a ll blasting their horns near the campsite. China's transport infrastructure is very impressive.
This morning weather was pleasant, clear sky, but you could feel it was building to a hot day.
Interesting riding in the truck today. Needed to fill the water tanks. Interesting spot where we filled the tanks. Guides nearly put too much purifier in water, which if nothing else would have soured the taste.
Later we helped
the scout, Emily, search for a tent stop. Ultimately found a clean stream which was most refreshing. The cyclists enjoyed it upon arrival. We are now in the desert, surrounded by sand and scrubby, thorny plants.
The HEXI CORRIDOR has more Wind Turbines than I have ever seen. Apparently over 10,000 turbines in this area. China hopes to generate a very sizeable portion of its power needs from renewable energy in the short term future. The other day, after I fell asleep in the van, we passed hectares of solar cells also generating power into the grid.
There is very minimal cold beer in China! Today was a day of need for everyone, without success. I think power is either to expensive or too unreliable to power refrigeration for non essential goods!
The thought is at 6 pm it was 33 C. Maybe I shouldn't be in a hurry to get back on the bike! Apparently the bitumen was melting and some bikes were splattered with hot tar from its surface.
The number of trucks using Expressway S30 remains impressive. Hundreds per hour. Car carriers transport over 24 cars per trailer. Amazing their length and width.
Also saw wind turbine fan blades being transported. Impressive sight, but I was too slow with my camera.
On dish washing duty tonight. Everyone seems tired, but darkness doesn't happen before 9.30pm. Makes for a long day. Hotel and shower tomorrow.
DUNHUANG: TUESDAY 17.6.15
Today the sky was dark with dust. This part of China is the dustiest place I have visited ever, could wash my feet in the creek before bed, but on getting up this morning and collapsing the tent, I was covered in a talc like consistency powder. So I decided to have another haircut as keeping clean is much simpler.
Dunhuang is a big town, very clean and modern. Many western style cafés written up in Lonely Planet, so it's a tourist city. Found a very trendy hairstylist across the street from the hotel, haircut, beard trim, head massage and wash- Y 30. ( $6) supermarkets had a good selection of nuts and dried figs, dates, apricots, etc. so stocked up- (1 kg- $5).
Also found an interesting looking bar for a glass of China Red later this evening.
Rest day tomorrow. This ends stage 2 of
my journey!!
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Question!
So how does the Chinese wine compare to our Aussie favourites???