dry and arid but occasional stretches in the basin where there were
lakes surrounded by trees.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment