Fly out to Wellington on Saturday after 4 weeks. A very enjoyable
holiday - the Shanghai lifrstyle could certainly grow on you I think -
but for me it's back to Wellington!
We had a couple of diversions again today where local officials
decided to close down a 6 lane motorway for their own use. Covered the
1100 km from Xian in 13 hours.
On the way into both Xian and Beijing we passed the construction sites
of the new high speed rail link from Urumchi to Beijing via Xian. This
line will run at 250-300 kph over 4000 km. This will be the way to
travel across China in future.
We have two days off here to clean up the car. I plan to do some
shopping before flying back to Shanghai on the 11 th.
A colleague of Paddy's is to look after us while we are here.
It rained heavily on the way into Beijing. Huge amount of traffic even
though it was a Sunday evening.
Paddy says this trip on the blog site needs to renamed "flowers while
riding horses" expedition - a Chinese reference to looking at the
scenery while galloping ones horse.
The first 150km were gravel and the last 150 through small villages
and construction sites. We stopped to sleep in the car about 11am for
an hour.
Entrance to Lanzhou a nightmare of 25 km along the Yellow River, also
a construction site. We plan to drive south to Xian tomorrow and then
on to Beijing.
Country today was all in Gansu Province which is dry, dusty and very
poor. Roads largely ok but the last 150 were very slow.
Most of the people here live as they did in the Middle Ages, with mud
houses and mud floors. All on minimal incomes and still planting seed
by hand.
The Yellow river glows through Lanzhou and is a swift but rather dirty
river here. We crossed the first bridge across the Yellow about a week
ago upstream.
Huge numbers of trucks on the roads all carrying machinery and
construction materials West to tue road and rail projects.
We drove till 2am and stayed/slept in the car till 6am. Now back on 4
lane highway again with the next big town Jiayuguan, the western most
end of the Great Wall. Hoping to make Lanzhou tonight.
There were trucks backed up for kilometers. Police were standing in
the side of the road for miles, spaced at 500m intervals.
Our daily trip was severely disrupted
Temperature today is 33 degrees, but in summer is commonly 50 degrees.
They say it never rains here which is why the city was preserved. I
believe the old city is actually below sea level but did not check
while I was there.
Lots of grape drying sheds where sultanas and raisins are made. Turpan
is a city of about 700,000.
Had lunch at a Muslim Halal restaurant and now back on the road
heading East across the top of the Goshun Gobi.
We've crossed some enormous shingle fans with 1000m of relief and 50km across.
The road has hundreds of trucks on it, most grossly overloaded. One
wonders how long the new roading infrastructure will last given the
damage heavy trucks make.
There is a big police presence wherever you go with the hotel having a
metal detector at the front door yo deter would be assassains. The
place feels safe but there is clearly an ongoing concern by the
government. For example the TV hasn't been working since Bin Laden got
the chop because it might stir up the locals.
All that is playing are promos for military matters.
Tonight Paddy and I are off to a banquet in our honor put on by his
father in law. I think he said 14 relatives would be going. The skill
is to eat sparingly because there are about 20 different dishes served
and lots of toasting.
Tomorrow he and I head for Beijing which wasn't part of the plan, but
since we have 5 days to cover the 3800km that should be doable. The
Chinese colleage who has been with us for the past 4 days heads by
plane to Shanghai this evening.
E
Now at Paddy's father in laws at having morning tea. He lives just off
the square. Lots of photos of daughter Hannah and grandson Oliver.
Last night T dinner he was waxing lyrical about his wonderful son in
law!
A beautiful sunny day here today and look likes being a hot one.
Korla was a small city about half way where we stopped at KFC for
lunch. There we met a German cyclist who had ridden across China on
his bike from Germany on the 219 Highway from Kashgar to Lhasa. For
those who don't know the road this is one of the longest and roughest
gravel roads on the planet. He camped the whole way at an elevation of
between 4 and 5000m. Makes a ride across Europe seem ordinary.
Urumqi is a city of about 2 m. Hot in summer and 20 below in winter.
Tonight my brother Paddy and I are being hosted by his father in law
and family for a banquet.
We crossed another pass of 2500m coming from Korla to here and dropped
as low as 125m asl coming into the town.
Hundred of wind turbines on the outskirts of the city and in the
square below the hotel dozens of people doing their morning Tai Chi.
Have to drive about site seeing today as we are in a city dominated by
Uhigers who are of Turkish origin. The death of Bin Laden has not made
them happy campers. Mfat advise staying away from crowds so that's
what we'll do.
Because China has only one time zone across the whole country the
Loulan Hotel dining room opens for breakfast at 9.00am. But it was
still quite light last evening at 9.30pm.
It's now 6.38am and we are timed to hit the road at 7 heading for
Urumqi. Should be a big day but we have a rest day before heading to
Beijing.
Travelled 800 or so kilometers all through desert country of varying
sorts. We are now off the Tibetan Platuea at Bout 900m asl.
The road was generally good but the landscape was sometimes like being
on the moon. Almost no vegetation the whole way, which is why the
scene below is such a relief - being a street scene in the above town.
Tomorrow we hope to reach Urumqi, presumably through similar countryside.
The landscape is absolutely devoid of vegetation. We are 2700m above
sea level in the Qaidam basin heading west toward Mangnai Zhen.
