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Published: July 19th 2008
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Friday 20 June - Jinghe to Kuytun, 184 km
A long day, but fortunately on good smooth motorway all the way, not a lot of wind, and it was cloudy so not too hot. The group I was with stopped every 25 km and that worked well. Picnic after 115 km at a service station - the only shade available. From the supplies offered I took an egg and a banana, bought a yoghurt at the station shop and an energy drink. ( These are labeled “15 nutritional elements” and are a sort of flavoured milk drink - or maybe soya. They are available everywhere.)
After lunch I cycled with Paul, still quite fast but he slowed down for me on the uphill bits. Average speed for the day was 21.6 km/hr - excellent for me.
Kuytun is a nice town with lots of flowers. We are in a big modern hotel. Dinner was excellent, including 2 sorts of tofu and sprouted lentils. There was even coffee and cake for afters. Still no sign of our lorries.
Saturday 21 June - Kuytun to Shihezi, 104 km
Not a bad day. We arrived fairly early. The lorries arrived at last and we
got our luggage back. Did a big sort out.
After dinner I went out to a big shopping centre and got lots of goodies to eat, and also a new bumbag (the Russian one from Rostov was falling to bits) and a pair of flipflops. These are red with flowers on and I wore them every day for ages.
Sunday 22 June - Shihezi to Urumqi, 156 km
Again, good roads almost all day - just a couple of bits of roadworks. I was very tired, maybe due to long day on Friday when we were carrying our luggage as well.
Lunch stop after 85 km but the lorries did not turn up for over an hour - they had been on a different road. Lack of communication as usual. We had a pep-talk from Jean-Francois (our leader) who told us that the lorries were only allowed into China on condition we used all the equipment, so we will have 7 extra bivouacs - there should have been only one in China. This was not good news.
In the afternoon we were met by a group of local cyclists at Quangjye and they escorted us through and out of the
town. At Urumqui we were joined by more local cyclists. The day was longer than expected and very hot. Fortunately most of the way through Urumqui (or Urumshi as it seems to be pronounced) we were on cycle paths which were shaded by trees.
We are at a big modern hotel - the Cultural Garden Hotel. Christine’s husband has arrived to join us and he brought with him a supply of ballbearings, so on arrival Claude and Gil were able to repair the bottom brackets of a number of bikes. This included mine, the pedals have been wobbly for some time. We also had to sort out our luggage and re-load it as the lorries will leave early in the morning for Dunhuang, to which we will be traveling by train. A few of the bikes will go with them, including mine.
Quite late, I went out to eat with Eric and Alain by taxi as Eric had found a Caribbean restaurant in the Lonely Planet guide. Unfortunately we arrived only half an hour before it closed and only got sandwiches, but they were very good, and I had a fruit salad and a genuine cappuccino too. I found an
ATM and got some money.
Monday 23 June - Urumqi
Stayed in and did some typing in the morning. After lunch went to town by taxi with Christine and her husband Jean-Michel. I wandered round a big Muslim quarter with a huge indoor market selling dried fruit and nuts, the speciality of this region. There were lots of shops selling ethnic stuff - shawls, hats, musical instruments and carpets. I found a Post Office and bought some postcards and stamps. There was a Carrefour supermarket so I got some yoghurt and juice. A taxi back cost 13 yuan. After dinner went out to a local internet café (not very good and smelled bad) and did email.
Tuesday 24 June - Urumqi and train to Dunhuang
Had a lazy day. Wrote postcards and posted from the local post office. Bought some supplies for the train - we arrive at 11 am tomorrow. Watched some Discovery Channel on the TV - the only thing available in English.
After an early dinner we got into 3 buses to the station, which is huge. Our bags had to go through X-ray security and they confiscated anything in an aerosol. The waiting room was
hugs - like an airport waiting area. The train was excellent - three-tier sleepers, with very good ladders (unlike the Kazakh ones), clean loos, wash basins, and hot water dispensers at the end of the corridor. I had a top bunk and slept very well. The landscape outside was all desert.
Wednesday 25 June - Dunhuang
Breakfast was early but the official supplies were OK - bread and jam and coffee and milk, hot water at the end of the corridor. Watched the desert and passing goods trains - 51 and 52 wagons, very clean engines, not like the filthy ones in Russia. We passed a windfarm with at least 100 windmills, someone said there was one yesterday with 1,000. This is very impressive.
We arrived on time. Those of us whose bikes went in our lorries went to the hotel by bus. The other bikes had been delivered to the station by China Post lorries and those people rode the few km to the hotel.
After lunch we visited the caves at Mogao. There are nearly 500 caves, some dating back to the 7th century, all with Buddhas and wall paintings. There were a couple of huge standing Buddhas,
one 35 metres tall. There were souvenir shops but postcards came in 20s and there were no nice T-shirts, but later in the town I bought a couple of silk paintings with copies of cave paintings of flying angels or apsaras.
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