Day: May 5, 2006

Another day in the desert that could have depressed us because the haze of dust which has covered us for the last two days makes the scenery really dull.  But no, the mood remains good.  Serge is relaxed, even if he ended the day by walking the last kilometers, because his feet are sore and his famous toe hurts.  He has retained his good mood.

At the 55th kilometer, the camper went ahead with Thomas, François and Laure to set up camp 50 meters to the left of highway 314.

At the 60th kilometer, a car stopped.  A couple and their child got out and speaking in English asked Serge what brought him here.  They were taking advantage of their week of vacation to travel from Shanghai in order to visit the desert.  The “labor” holidays last for a week, which enables a lot of Chinese to travel and above all to spend.

At the 76th kilometer, the camp was set up, always with the same repetitive gestures: light the gas and the water heater, because Serge has the right to his hot shower every day in the camper.  He is the only one because since Kashgar, we are living off our reserves.  The villagers use water from the rivers for everything, including drinking.  With that water we have trouble washing ourselves and doing laundry because it is so dirty.  Then we start the generator, which lets us recharge the batteries of our computers, our telephones and the Garmin watch.  We set up two camping tables and stools, take down the awning and stabilizers of the camper.  We burn the garbage, we try to clean up the dust … It’s everywhere, a real horror!  It’s a matter of team work, which is accomplished in good humor.  Then we take the time to do our laundry, to read, to do Sudoku (brought by Daniel and which frustrates more than one of us).  During this time, Ludo and Daniel are in the 4-wheel drive and stop every 4.5 kilometers to feed Serge.  It’s a real feat for two people to spend 10-11 hours in a 4-wheel drive and this evening Daniel is fed up with hearing Edith Piaf’s “les Amants de Saint-Jean” which Lulu bombarded him with all day long.

Our Chinese guides, Liu and Rémy, are equally well organized (Liu sleeps in the car and Rémy in a tent) and like all of us they dream, for tomorrow we will stop at a hotel in Aksu and showers will become reality.  A bit of refinement in a race of brutes.