Now with Phil, we packed up after a bit of a lie in and had pot noodles for breakfast. I sorted out my stuff and realised I had about 4 kg of stuff I don't need and I'm gonna post home. I forgot to mention in the last blog that last night we had a massive plate of chicken organs! It was actually quite tasty but a bit too garlicky and the texture meant we didnt't finish it.  The first morning together was uneventful, we arrived at a town for a late lunch, another plate of chicken, not organs this time but too much garlic again. The noodles were good though. In the afternoon we started descending a huge descent into the Turpan depression, the second lowest point on the planet after the Dead Sea. For some reason, Phil bought a pea flavoured ice cream, which was a disgusting as it sounds! Mine wasn't much better, an orange one which didn't taste remotely like orange and it was brown!      The descent went on and on and we had a roaring tailwind which sped us up even more. We saw another massive Chinese project - a huge railway line, completely raised off the floor on stilts climbing up and tunneling through mountains. Unbelievable! The wind was really strong now as we rode through a massive windfarm. When we turned with the road, the wind became a cross wind although it was still behind us. We were leaning into it about 20 degrees and getting blown at about 25 mph. It was great fun but pretty dangerous when a truck came past and blocked the wind, sucking us toward it. We retreated into a tunnel for the night and didn't get much sleep because of the wind rushing down it. |
The next day, we still had a tailwind and we arrived at the ancient silk road city of Turpan. It was great there although very hot, it's statistically the hottest place in China. On the way in, we stopped at an irrigation canal for a swim and I washed my clothes in it. We went straight the market and ate loads of food, delicious noodles, dumplings, ice cream and dates. We could barely cycle afterwards but managed to get to the Emin Minaret, an impressive 44m tower joined to a mosque, made from clay. Once we'd digested our ridiculously big lunch, we climbed out of Turpan, past some Buddhist caves and a large cemetery to another tunnel. Phil was settling into the pace of the riding great, he was faster than me with my extra weight and we were making good progress.
Had a great breakfast in the tunnel from the Turpan market, onion bread, pineapple jam and dates. The houses in this part of the region were really strange, made from clay bricks with gaps inbetween and all the same rectangular shape. There were hundreds of them and they made an impressive sight. We descended again to the city of Shanshan for lunch, more noodles and then we had what we thought was coke flavoured ice cream but turned out to be frozen coke syrup - the highly concentrated stuff! We got a massive sugar rush and headed out, via another, very fast flowing irragation canal. We stocked up on food and water that evening, preparing for a couple of days in the desert before the next town.
The next day the headwind was ridiculous. We limped on for 20 miles, which took us about 7 hours. It was pointless carrying on into the evening, we were both tired and Phil was ill and short of energy so we stopped at a tunnel and found that there were some Chinese road workers living there while constructing the new motorway. I don't reckon that that would go down to well in the UK. They were living in a concrete tunnel, didn't have any toilet facility, had to cook all their own food, which I assumed must have been delevered to them and living away from home! They were very nice and jolly people though and we took up there invitation of staying there for the night. They cooked us delicious bean noodles and one super-strong guy carried our fully laden bikes down a very steep slope into the tunnel on his own. There's no way I could have done that, we were both shocked!
Afer a good rest and a great breakfast from the road team, we headed out into the headwind again. After a while, we reached a climb that was sheltered and we made pretty good progress. We found a truckers cafe for lunch, which was dirty, surrounded by rubbish and human poo but served very tasty food! The afternoon was a stuggle against the headwind, pot noodles for dinner in a petrol station and a puncture for me to fix.
The following day was more desert riding, nothing happened until we reached the city of Hami. We got some dinner and used the internet then Phil went back to the hotel room and was sick. After a late start the next day and a good rest, Phil felt better and we headed out after buying a huge amount of food from a rare good shop! I got blanked when asking for directions again but then a truck driver chucked a couple of bottles of mineral water to us then drove off. This is typical of China - contradictions - odd behaviour but also great, kind and friendly people.
Phil was still ill the next day so we took our time and plodded along against the ever present headwind. More disgusting truckers cafes with unbelievable hocking up and spitting going on all around us. I nearly got hit by a big melon that some idiotic trucker threw at me for absolutely no reason. That night I watched James Bond on Phil's iPod, ace! We spent the next few days speaking like Sean Connery! The following day was more of the same - desert, headwind, climbing, truckers cafes. Whenever we stop at a cafe, groups of Chinese people come over and grab our stuff, take our maps out of the map cases, touch the bikes and check the tires are hard. It's a different culture completely and at home that would seem rude. We just had to keep an eye on our valuables but it was really annoying. Phil's map case was already showing signs of wearing out!
We were looking forward to reaching the town of Xingxingxia that evening for a decent meal and a wash. We arrived there eventually and were thoroughly disapointed! It was basically a big rubbish tip, toilet and truckers stop. We got a hasty meal and did a runner to a camp site behind a sand dune! We vowed never to mention that town again, it was a low point!
Things didn't improve the next day. After a morning of cycling along a half finished, dusty road, we spent the afternoon fighting a headwing to another truckers stop. The highlight of the day was the plastic policemen on podiums directing traffic! Finally though, we left the motorway and with it the truckers cafes and piles of rubbish. We cycled down a quiet road through beautiful desert landscape and found a place to sleep behind a wall. The stars were amazing that night, loads of shooting stars and we were delighted to be off the motorway at last.
We woke up to a decent breakfast and headed out of the desert into a large fertile swamp. It was great to see fields and agriculture again, and suddenly we saw the GREAT WALL! It wasn't like the touristy restored sections you see on the photographs. It was crubling and only present in patches, but great to see. It looked like there were a number of parallel walls at one point and they must have been seriously impressive when they were new.
In the afternoon we passed a town were thousands of melons were grown, packaged and taken away on trucks. They gave us loads of free melons and I had tummy ache for the rest of the day! For some reason the melons were packed in dolphin boxes. We're still pretty close to Urumqi, which is the city furthest away from the sea in the world, why an earth are there dolphins on the melon boxes? Another unanswered question to add to the list of unanswered questions that China is providing! By late afternoon, we reached the city of Dunhuang, where we found a hotel, I sent 4 kg of gear home that I didn't need any more and we ate in the night market. It was an amazing place, we saw an opera being performed on the streets. It was spotlessly clean but for some reason foreigners were banned from using the internet - very odd. Anyway we had a great evening, good food (a sort of burger, sheeps entrails and a pizza sort of thing) and a good sleep. We planned to visit some Buddhist caves the next day.
Loving China so far, it's so different but great to experience it. Next up we climb into Qinhai Province, which is the same culturally as Tibet, is high altitude, full of monastries and should be stunning.
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