Around China in 100 Days

[Roadrunner]

Xingxingxia to Hami – Day 59

The next morning we could see our lodging in all its glory.



We had banmian noodles for breakfast and as we were walking out of the restaurant, we bumped into two guys, Chet (from South Africa) and John (from England), who were riding bicycles from Istanbul to Beijing. It was a very impressive journey and showed us what extreme road adventure really is. They told us that the roads ahead were good (which was a relief) and we told them the roads heading back toward Gansu were terrible for the next 80 kms.



I wanted to try to get to Shanshan, 500 kms away by nightfall given that the roads should be good all the way. I think I knew that it wouldn’t happen, but I was feeling pressured to push on so we could have more time in the later destinations.



We figured out that the G312 is also the new G30 at this point, and we drove along newly paved highway. Hopefully motorcycles will be able to use this expressway when it’s completed because the only other national road (and possibly only good road) to Urumqi would be the long way around along the road south of the Taklamakan, the G315.

Lulu tried to pass a car-carrier on the shoulder and collided with one of the mounds of rock and sand that had been dumped at regular intervals along the shoulder. It was a much slower crash than her last one so she didn’t hurt herself and it didn’t slow us down much.



In a couple of hours we drove into Hami, an oasis town known in China for producing good fruit (Hami melon, or 哈密瓜, is named after the town). Dark-green fruit trees and grass lined the road heading in, an instant change of environment from the desert we had been driving through.



Lulu had been contacted by some people who saw her story on weibo (Chinese version of twitter) and we met up with them for a delicious lunch. This was my first taste of Zuafan, rice fried with carrot and a big lamb chop on top. It became my favourite meal in Xinjiang.



We talked about our route in Xinjiang and mentioned we were going through Kashgar. They looked worried and told us that some Han Chinese had been killed near Kashgar, by terrorists taking revenge for the death of Osama Bin Laden, who himself had been killed in the past week or so. I didn’t know whether it was true or not, but I found it odd and it unnerved both of us.

The lunch was great and after they insisted on showing us around Hami. Lulu wanted to visit the museum again, and even though I would have liked to press on we wanted to stay and experience Hami. We were also told that there is literally only desert and wide open nothingness between Hami and Shanshan for over 300 kms. Nowhere to stay, nowhere to eat, nowhere to buy water. Shanshan would have to wait.

We visited the museum, which had lots of nice pictures and dioramas, but everything was in Chinese. Right next door was a Performance Centre and the manager of the centre invited us to watch some Uighur music and dancing. The performance was excellent.





We got our bikes serviced at the local Lifan store while we looked for a place to stay. It took a while as we were in town, where it’s usually harder to find cheap places that will take foreigners.

We had a rest for a couple of hours before our friends picked us up for Xinjiang BBQ and Friday night beer.

The girls tried to teach me Uighur dance. I’ve got two left feet when it comes to dancing, but I almost got the hang of it.







We had a really great time, had plenty of Wusu beer and delicious Xinjiang barbecue fish, and got home after 1am, very glad we stayed in Hami.