Blogs from Hami, Xinjiang, China, Asia

18.6.14 DUNHUANG UPDATE: This afternoon visited the famed sand dunes 6 km out of town. Quite spectacular against the vibrant blue sky. The focal point is the Crescent Lake and Oasis. Quite beautiful. The were camel trains for tourists to climb the dunes. The camels in convoy looked impressive, picture Lawrence of Arabia! GRAVEL CAMP: 19.6.14 Distance: 120 Kms SubT. 2826 Kms Bal 9,655 Kms Road Condition: ok, then gravel strewn by last night's storm. Strong and constant head wind. Weather: pleasant early, then storm. Campsite hot, reflected off rock! Time in Saddle: 6.5 hrs Av Speed: av. 18 kph. Av Cadence. Rpm Elevation: 1000 m : Decent 150m Calories burned : excessive. Now a shadow of my former self. Am eating but makes little difference! Last night we ate dinner at the market, tasty skewers ... read more

It gave us a huge lift to find this stretch of perfect highway closed off to traffic. It allowed us the freedom to roam and put in good distance as the evening turned to night. All the better, as the sunset gave us a blood red sky and no wind to ease Tati's fears of Silent John's doomsday predictions of all out armagedon if we were to leave Xingxingxia without him.The only worry was a lightning storm well away in the distant mountains to the north, but we soon forgot about that as we made camp having put on 45km since Xxxia.The evening was cool, but bearable,Venus shone like a headtorch in the western sky, our instant noodles tasted like lobster our bottle of rice wine tasted like the usual paint stripper. With a fairly decent ... read more

One lazy day in Tiger Leaping Gorge (Yunnan province), we started planning our next adventures. As we consulted our guidebook and prepared to travel further south, a nice British lad suggested we check out Xinjiang. Xinjiang - the Chinese province that borders Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and Tibet and houses the Taklamakan and part of the Gobi Desert, along with the southern reaches of the Siberian Taiga. Why we hadn't thought of this earlier was beyond us, but from that moment forward, our sights were set on the Northwest. Some of our most memorable moments from our travels in Northwest China included a camel trek complete with desert camp-out under the stars, a trip with our first Chinese tour group to the breathtaking blues and greens of Kanas Lake (northern Xinjiang), a TOTAL ... read more