Home » China » From Russia to India (part IV: Travel Notes from Takla Makan Desert)

My childhood dream is fulfilled (mechta idiota ososhestvilas). I crossed Takla Makan and spent night in the middle of it.

From Russia to India (part IV: Travel Notes from Takla Makan Desert)

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 19:27:01

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car the time was already close to sunset and it was not so hot anymore.

We walked away from the road and soon found ourselves surrounded by huge dunes. Road was not visible and it was nothing around us except for the dunes, no trees, no bushes or grass. You cannot walk strait through the dunes. You have to follow their sophisticated, wind generated patter and soon you are completely lost. Fortunately with compass we always were able to find our way back to the road. My Chinese companions were concern how they will sleep without a tent. But what tent do you need in a place where rain never happens. Also, drivers tried to scare them by telling the stories of sand storms which buried people alive. A sand storm actually happened next day, but with road so close we were out of danger.

At sunset we put our sleeping bags on the sand and went to sleep. I went to sleep away from my companions to be alone with the desert. Nothing can be compared with the silence of desert at night under the stars. There is no better place than the middle of Takla Makan desert for those who like to meditate in the high energy places. Surprisingly nobody organizes tours to TM yet like it is in Sahara.

My sleep on the soft sand under the huge sky was very fulfilling. By the morning it was even slightly cold, so I have to zip my sleeping bag.I wake up slightly before the sunrise. The best time in desert is sunrise and sunset. Soon after the sunrise the wind started and soon it became pretty strong. So we have to rush to the road. We stopped a car which brought us to the pumping station. Every 4 km there is a pumping station, which pumps artesian water to water the strip of bushes which Chinese try to grow along the road to protect road from the moving sand.

Lady in charge of that pump station made a breakfast for us and we start to hitchhike farther to South. Constant sandblasting quickly wears out your endurance, so one of us in turn tried to stop a ...