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At any speed the landscape changes at an almost unpercievable pace. Subtle details transform around you but it is hard to put a finger on any one particular moment from whence everything has changed. The steppe is a vast grassland with an enormous sky. When we turn on the GPS the screen is filled with satelites fighting for recognition. The fact that this plain stretches on for distances that make the Canadian Shield seem like a suburban lawn makes it feel even more daunting. Walk to the edge of the horizon, see the same thing again. Two days ago we stopped for drinks and cookies at a dusty little bus stop. As we sat there eating our snacks we noticed that the animals around were lean, the grass was gone, and the sand was moving. Welcome to the Gobi. Here the dusty expanses roll out of sight like an ocean and distant towns appear on the skyline like islands in and endless mirage. From time to time grass grows and people eat it- pickled. It tastes fresh and good.
While the villages seem to be losing their battles with desertification, the larger towns are rising out of the sands that lap against their walls. Spacious parks, large scale public art works, and fancy hotels are the norm which leaves us scratching our heads in the surreal face of such modern construction. Who are these people, what are they doing here? They are doubtlessly thinking the same of us as we seem to draw a fair bit of attention in the towns and a lot of rubbernecking on the roads. This is not the same irksome, nagging attention that we have experienced in places like Ethiopia. As we have experienced (almost without exception) since we hopped off the boat in Tanggu, the people are full of respect, encouragement, and helpfullness. Joe is out there somewhere and hot on our trail. Given that most of the people we meet have never seen a westerner before, much less a westerner on a bicycle, we are humored to imagine what they will think when they see Joe!
The food........ We heard the horror stories: cats with their fur still attached, sheep brains, and a wide array of other delicacies that we were sure to encounter. To us these are little more than antiquated lore as we dine daily on fresh tofu, amazing eggplant dishes, and homemade noodles. To call the food good would be an understatement. It is an unending array of culinary masterpieces imbued with millenia of carefully recorded and improved formulas. We have yet to experience bad food though we eat in a variety of places from roadside dives in slanted shacks, to posh hotel dining rooms, to tricycle-born kebab carts. We challenge anyone to traverse the roads of Americana and return with the same tale. Tonight we will sweat out our ails over a steamy hotpot filled with fresh mutton, noodles, tofu and a dizzying variety of fresh vegetables that come from the hectares of greennouses that surround the town.
In an day or two we will make a sudden change of the human variety as we make the leap into Mongolia. We have met a handful of Mongolians who vacation here in this border town and they are decidedly friendly to us. We are a bit concerned about navigation and water shortages in the middle of the Gobi but with a bit of luck the satelites will align and grant us a safe and hydrated crossing. For the last few days a strong high (+15 Mb in 12 hours for you weather geeks) has been blasting our faces and our moral with strong, cold northerly winds. Our pace has been reduced to that of a jogger despite good roads. Yesterday we were pleased to see high cirrus approaching from the southwest and, sure enough, today the light winds came only from the west granting us repreave and a pleasant stroll into town. If this holds (somewhat unlikely given the climatic history of the area) it would certainly make our next leg a bit more pleasurable.
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kathy halloran
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Love your stories. I'm off to the Bay to Breakers this weekend. I have packed up and moved from my cabin. Head to Anchorage Monday to catch up with Greg.Hope we have great weather for our climb. Wish you were coming with us. Love, Kathy