Day: May 9, 2006

A surprise package and the weather.

The weather is very surprising and different every day, with only one constant: the wind.  Today we put our jackets back on because the highest temperature was 19° Celsius.  You will say we’re never happy and in any case we have to accept what we get.

Serge crossed the city of Xinhe at the 25th kilometer and reached the outskirts of Kuqa at the 58th kilometer.  These cities stretch over a good 15 kilometers and life there is intense.  Everyone has his means of transportation: on foot, on bike, on motor bike, on motorcycle, in donkey or horse drawn cart, by tractor, on a motorcycle dumpster, by taxi, by dump truck, by truck, by minibus, by car, in a beautiful 4-wheel drive…. All these means of transportation share the same roads.  Our caravan creates a lot of interest among the inhabitants, who by dozens gather around our vehicles.  Number one on the curiosity hit-parade: our trailer.  As strange as it may seem, as soon as we leave the city we find ourselves in the desert.

This region’s primary resource is oil: drilling, laying pipelines, refineries, gas burnoff vents spouting flames.  A certain amount of this precious treasure remains to be exploited in Xinjiang.

Serge stopped 7 kilometers from the hotel where we will spend the night.  It’s too bad there was no hot water.  The restaurant offered a few rather unusual dishes: large live frogs which one could choose from and cock’s combs.  Not very adventuresome, we limited our choice to beef and mutton.  This feast had us a thinking about our bivouac tomorrow evening.