Expeditions / Trips Dragon's Backbone Diary / Updates Back Tracking
Saturday, 25 April 2009 00:00 Last Updated on Thursday, 18 June 2009 16:38
After packing up everything we went to the road to wait for a truck to come so we can hitch a lift. We waited for about 40 minutes and the first truck came past which we stopped and explained we wanted to put our bicycles on the back and go to Xaidulla town. The driver agreed and we fastened our bicycles on the back on top of bags that contained stones. After Kosbel pass the driver stopped and slept for an half an hour and we continued to Xaidulla. When we arrived we went back to the guesthouse we stayed 2 days earlier and had some food which cheered us up a bit. We hanged around to see what is going to happen since we couldn’t really communicate with our truck driver or anyone else in the town.
When he was ready to leave another guy told us to get back in and he also got in and off we went. We negotiated a price for the driver to take us back to Yecheng where we would try and catch a bus back to Kashgar. We settled on 400 yuan for both of us which we thought were a bargain. It turned out the other guy that got into the truck with us was also a truck driver and his truck broke down just before Chiragsaldi pass. We spent around 2 hours at his truck while the driver of our truck helped him. On our way up Chiragsaldi pass it started to snow and further up everything was covered in snow.
Although we were heading back and the trip was pretty much over I still enjoyed riding in the truck even if it was at an average speed of 25km/h. It was nice and warm inside. I was listening to music and watching the mountains and snow covered passes roll by. There was just something special about it. The truck can go fast but as soon as you reach 30km/h it shakes so much that the driver can’t control it.
We tried communicating with the truck driver and figured out a couple of thing like what his driving route was. How much it costs per trip and all kinds of other things. He knew who Mandela was which was amazing. I guess everyone around the world knows Mandela.
We drove till early the next morning until we reached Mazar where we slept in a small quest house for truckers. It was about 3 in the morning but the owner woke up and cooked for us. The food was like usual extremely tasty.
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