Day: May 4, 2006

This morning we woke up in a haze of dust and sand that reduced visibility to a few hundred meters.  We couldn’t enjoy the scenery and the small mountains on the left side of the road were just barely visible.

To make the situation more pleasant, there was a terrible wind blowing right at us, which forced Serge to double up in order to advance.  After two hours our runner looked like a “sand biscuit”: his eyelashes, eyebrows and hair, to say nothing of his pants and sweat shirt, had become an indefinable color.  In these moments of discomfort Serge stays very cool, joking and eating with his team.  I don’t know how it does it.

The first 20 kilometers were noteworthy because we met shepherds watching their herds of goats.  Again today at feedings Ludo and François worked at keeping in shape with pushups and sit-ups, whereas Liu and Thomas played a game of 3 stones: a checkerboard is drawn on the asphalt and each player has 12 stones.  After that’s it’s strategy that counts and Thomas still has a lot to learn.  While all that was going on, Serge advanced step by step: I wonder if he could imagine what his followers were doing at each feeding.

Luckily, at the beginning of the afternoon the wind fell but the dusty haze persisted.
Today we didn’t pass a single village until the 70th kilometer.  Several hundred people were gathered around a wrestling match.  Ache is a typical Uighur village and very few of the inhabitants speak Mandarin.

Like yesterday, we set up camp 50 meters from the road and 5 kilometers after the village.  There was no cooking to do because Rémy and Liu brought us Tian Me (noodle soup) and spicy chicken, as well as local beer, which was indeed welcome because it is still hot and sultry (37° Celsius).

This day would not have been a complete success without an attack by dozens and dozens of mosquitos, who still didn’t manage to disperse the band of four who were playing pinochle (François and Thomas are not very good losers!).  Even if he doesn’t sleep, Serge rests on his bunk in the camper after a good foot massage.  His feet are beginning to take on a more human shape after two foot baths and 2 massages.  Is Ludo a miracle worker?

As for Daniel, after four camps we can mention his ritual of bathing and shaving.  He balances the basin on the trailer and with a washcloth in hand is soon shiny as a new penny. We are rather envious but luckily we have our wipes.

At 22H00 night fell softly.  Thomas and François went to their room, which is hoisted on top of the 4 wheel drive, while Daniel and Ludovic each put up a tent.  Serge and Laure took advantage of the relative cool in their bunk and went calmly to sleep.