And lemme tell ya, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Although we’ve been back with bits of the Wall for 2 days now, we’re again in the desert with the sun in full gear, and today it was all we could do to stay standing. With a high of 95 today we were really tested, as there were no clouds, no breeze and no shade.
After 10k Ig started getting dizzy from the heat, and we were in dire straights with our water supply; he’d already drank all but two of his bottles, I’d ingested every drop from my water resevoir, and my dumb arse accidentally left my other two bottles behind.
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Having spent the last week holed up in a hotel waiting on packages from the States (one still hasn’t arrived; unable to wait any longer, we’ll leave a Datong hotel adress here so it can be forwarded), The Ig and I have done far too much channel surfing. I can say with authority that the Chinese no longer need to resort to water torture to break a man; all they have to do is sit him down in front of a television.
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Not much in it, but check it out anyhoo; Random photos, Zhongwei to Yinchuan.

Being on the road sometimes entails going without some of your favorite things. For me, this meant kicking my brewed coffee addiction. Although able to find instant coffee in the bigger cities, it just isn’t the same.
When Ig’s friend Johnny sent an entire bag of Starbucks along with filters for me (again, JP, you rock!!!!!!!!!!!), it was like presenting a crack addict a rock but omitting a pipe to smoke it with. In true addict form, however, I found a way to brew it.
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Before coming to China I’d both read and been told Da Man had put a clamp down on internet cafes and that they’d be few and far between. I almost believed this while in Beijing; outside our hotel, I only came across one the entire time we were there. I was even more worried when I couldn’t access my email, and when I was forbidden to use the usb port.
Perhaps I only saw one cafe because I couldn’t yet read the characters for “Internet Cafe” or maybe because they keep them well-hidden.
Whatever the case, I can tell you that internet cafes in China are alive and thriving. In the bigger cities you can find them on almost every block, and we were even shocked to find one in a mostly mud-walled village.
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Since Yinchuan marks being 1/3 of the way finished, The Ig and I decided to book a hotel a while back and request schtuff from home. Upon our arrival, the package from my father was already waiting for us. My most needed item was the package of earplugs; when The Ig does something, he does it right, and that applies to his snoring as well. That said, he refuses to wear any to block out my snoring!
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In Qingtongxia, the last town we stayed in, I decided that instead of choosing an event or thoughts to post, I was just going to post whatever occured the next day we walked.  Turns out our walk into Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia, was a typical day, but our night gave us a glimpse into a side of  Chinese life we’d not yet seen first hand.  If you’re looking for the Short Attention Span Theatre, then move along, because you’re going to want to skip reading this one!  Enter at your own risk, however; it get’s a bit raunchy!  ;~)

It was six am when the fearless Ig put his life on the line and woke me.  The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was one of his walking poles leaning in the corner next to my bed.  In the event one of us tried to take a nap the day before, we’d be able to use ‘em as rousing sticks without having to move; being up early meant going to bed early, and naps would mean we’d be up half the night. 

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With The Ig and I slaughtering Mandarin all across China, it’s good to know we’re not the only ones mucking up a language second to our own.
While out in Zhongwei, we were shocked to be given a menu with English alongside the Mandarin characters, as we’d previously only seen two. Most items were familiar, and so we decided to stay on the safe side and forgo the “Fried Rape.”
With our supremely cultured palates, we were quite pleased to find a restaraunt back in Jiuquan proclaiming it was for “Sophisticated Eat Lovers”.
Ooooh; we wondered if perhaps it was a typo omitting the M, and salivated all over ourselves with thoughts of big juicy steaks.
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Here’s some photos on the road from Jingtai to Zhongwei. 

A tired Ig takes a rest on one of the kilometer markers.

This here’s a nice clean squatter.

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With our hopes of walking by the river stomped, our first day out of Jingtai was a real downer for Ig.  Instead of lush vegetation and flowing water, here’s what we got.

(Rob and Marsh; photo shows Ig pointing to the desert, and the other shows what looks to be a river of sand.  :~)  )

I tried to cheer him up and pass the time playing the “Name Game” and “Name The Food I’m Thinkin’ Of.”  I stumped him on the name game with Frank Zappa (at the time neither one of us could come up with a name starting with Z), and the food game was far too torturous. 

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