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When The Ig and I finally emerged from the desert last fall, I swore up and down that you’d never, and I mean never get me hiking across one of those Shibble-forsaken places again.
Not only are we back in the desert,
(Rob and Marsh; photo shows mountainous sand dunes off in the distance.)
First of all, I need to apologize and explain why only half the previous post was up; the earthquake in Taiwan has mucked up the internet all over Asia, and it’s quite a frustrating process to even access the ‘net right now. I felt a bit charmed to even get the post up, as it took me over two hours closing frozen browser after frozen browser just to be able to upload the text and one photo. After I posted I couldn’t access anything on the ‘net, and therefore couldn’t even check to see if it was actually up.
So as a heads-up, if it happens again, you now know why.
Right now The Ig and I are up to our old tricks; we’ve checked into a nice hotel, promptly asked where the wang ba was (and yeah, we’ll be playing some games here at the ‘net cafe if we can get ‘em), and will be having dinner at a swank revolving restaraunt later, because we know what’s ahead of us for the next few weeks.
I will tell you we’re in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. We caught a flight here today, but we’re catching another flight somewhere else tommorrow, and then we’ll promptly hit the trail for a half-days walk. Tonight we’re sleeping in cushy beds in a heated room. Tommorrow night we’ll be sleeping in a tent and testing out our new -28c sleeping bags.
Oooohhh, sounds like great fun, du’n it?
With only a high of 80 today and completely overcast skies, The Ig and I can fart around for a few hours here in the city instead of hiding out from the usual 95 degree heat in the middle of the day.
I am, however, quite sparked to walk today, as we found a river on the map we can follow nearly all the way to Zhongwei. Hopefully it’ll be a blissful hike, but if we have to keep walking way out of our way to cross off-shooting canals, then we can always cut north on the only back road marked near the river. I’m pretty excited about getting to follow a river for the first time–WOOT-WOOT!! :~)
Even better is that we’re finally finished with the first page of our map, which is a dreaded 70k per inch.
(Rob and Marsh; one photo is of our map with Gansu province, and the other photo is a close-up where you can see I’ve written in the English for ”Yongchang, Wuwei, Tumung,” and at the very edge of the right side, the last town on that page, ”Jingtai.”)
We now move on to the next page (and Ningxia province in 2 days) with it’s scale of 54k per inch.
Just a head’s up to letchya’ll know I’ve added four new pages; Checkpoint Cities, and three pages of Random Photos, days 1-5 Outta Wuwei.
Hope ya’ll had a great Canada Day, a great 4th of July, and here’s to a fantabulous International Dirt Day coming up July 7th. To dirt!
And, only two or three more days in Gansu province–watch out Ningxia, here come the lumbering lao wei!!
There have been a few inquiries as to how The Ig and I are getting along. I can tell you that as long as he keeps pumicing my feet and carrying my pack we’ll continue to hike together in harmony.
Honestly, I find it surprising we aren’t gagging for a day away from each other; although both social and outgoing, we discussed the fact that we each needed periods of solitude. As a bartender back in the States I could get my social fix at work, but once at home, I’d lock myself away in my room for days if I could. Likewise for Ig; after a social week at his golf course job, he often craved peace and quiet on his days off.
For all those back in your respective homes who’ve said they’d love to be out here with us, be glad you weren’t these past few days.
The morning out of Tumung started off quite well; an overcast, slightly breezy day is perfect for walking what our map indicated would be our last day in the desert until Ningxia province. After the first 5k the sun came out and the wind picked up a bit, but it was bearable. We took a quick break, and after 4k we desperately needed another; trudging uphill in now heavy winds, we’d hiked our happy behinds right into a sandstorm.
Although the amenities at our bing guan are sparse here in Tumung (and I just learned the name of the town from someone looking over my shoulder as I typed), we’ve taken an extra day here. The ungodly heat and dust-kicking wind sealed our fate, and since we’re making okay time now, we’re justifying our stay.
Here’s the alley with where we found the internet cafe.
(Rob and Marsh; photo shows a dusty little road in the town.)
Helen of Troy, whose beauty launched 1,000 ships, certainly had it goin’ on. What she lacked, however, was a lilly white butt that, when bared and flapping in the wind so as to get down to bidness, could beckon a thousand putt-putt trucks, motorcycles and even a bit of foot traffic.
Apparently my behind is like a shining beacon tower in the fog, for it not only compels people to crawl out of the dry desert Earth, but trucks appear on roads that weren’t there whenever I drop me skivvies to relieve myself.
So if you ask me then, launching ships that are already in the water is no big feat.
[read on]
Unable to shake our internet jones, we decided to pop into the cafe one more time before hitting the road this morning. So while we’re here, I thought I’d share our recent news.
The bad news is that we’re facing many days of hiking in 90+ degree heat. Another disheartening thing I learned last night is that the World Cup ends July 9th…GACK!! I couldn’t believe this sentence came out of my mouth last night (and I’m compiling a list of the top ten things I never thought I’d hear myself say, which I’m sure will contain more than just ten), but when Ig informed me of the iminent end I blurted, “Oh my gawd! What’re we gonna do without football?!”
Wow, I’m even shaking my head at that one as I write.
Arriving in our check point cities and other small towns where we’ve taken breaks has been very much the same. A few kilometers out of town, Ig will start trying to convince me that we’ve actully reached town and can hail a taxi to a bing guan.
“Look!” he said once, pointing to a sign completely in Mandarin. “That sign right there says, ‘No foot traffic beyond this point–catch a cab!’”
Unable to convince me as of yet, the unflailing Ig perseveres and keeps giving this tactic the ole’ college try.
When we reach a hotel, I usually fall into bed and sleep for a few hours, whereas Ig showers up and flips around the tube.
Then we spend the entire next two days sleeping, watching the World Cup and gorging ourselves. Well, okay, I gorge myself until I’m sick, and Ig merely picks at the junk he’s bought.
At any rate, we don’t ever have the energy to get out and explore, but we decided today we’d play the tourists. Unfortunately I have no tube socks or Hawaiian shirt, so my crazy tan lines and camoflage tee had to do.
