Expeditions / Trips Dragon's Backbone Diary / Updates Kashgar to the desert
Tuesday, 14 April 2009 00:00 Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 June 2009 14:28
Cycling Day: 1
Distance: 140km
We started very early to avoid traffic in Kashgar which is insane during the day and we also wanted to start early because we knew we had a lot of distance to cover. We where supposed to do only 130km today but ended up doing 10km more because we went in the wrong direction out of Kashgar which was my fault but luckily I soon realized my mistake.. We rode through many very small towns and sections desert and dry regions. The place looks much different from the rest of China since it is mostly Urdu people living in the region and not Chinese. The people live very dirty and there are a lot of little Mosques around.
The people are really curios about us and our bicycles. We stopped for a snack and a guy with his bicycle stopped by us. He just stood there and we thought he was waiting for someone but when we left he also left.
We stopped at Yengisar for lunch which turned out to be a great experience. When we entered the town everyone stopped what they where doing to have a look at us. People just stare at us and it made us feel a little bit uncomfortable. We rode to the end of town and then found a small place which sells kebabs (it is the easiest thing for us to order since we can just point) and where called over by a guy sitting at an outside table. The guy could at least talk Chinese so I could tell him some things about us. They found our bikes very interesting and they ordered us some sugar crystals you put in warm water to make a drink. We took pictures with this guy and his friend and when it was time to leave he paid our bill for us which were very cool of him.
We then cycled to Kizer, a very small town on the edge of the desert. We decided we will buy a whole lot of Kebabs there to eat in the desert for dinner so we don’t have to cook. When we stopped our bikes in this small town it was only minutes before a whole crowd of people was around us to look at our bikes and us. I ordered the meat and Muis filled our water bottles. We must have attracted about 50 people at the end and they encircled us. It was actually quite hectic because everyone wants to touch your bicycle and the speedometer and the Brookes saddles we are using. When we left everyone around had to make a isle for us to get through and they followed us to the edge of town. Really bizarre. It really feels like we are the first foreign cyclist these people have every seen although we know this route has been done many times by other people.
Riding through the desert we looked for a nice camping spot and found one in a quarry where no one could see us.
Good first day.
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