September 12, 2016
To Xinjiang Desert Camp: about 350km down the road with help
Our camp spot was not very well chosen; right on the other side of the green buffer is a major junction where lots of big trucks turn. Engine noise and honking all night long doesn’t make for a restful sleep.
We are about 20 km away from the junction with G216, but our map on maps.me does not show an intersection with the road we are on, only with the G30 interstate. When we get to what seems to be a toll station with a long line of coal-trucks headed the other way waiting, we notice we lost all of the traffic going our direction. This might be a dead end. So we backtrack about a kilometer and lift our gear over the guardrail at a large interstate rest area. Then we follow the G30 to where it ends being an interstate and turn off on what we think is the G216, but it is labeled G11. Our map does not help us much. Either way, we are headed north now, where we want to go. We start thumbing for passing trucks and anything large enough to give us a ride. Not much luck though, proving to be more difficult than expected; most vehicles are small SUVs and coal-trucks. A coal truck does not make for a good lift!
We pass a large truck tow-truck which is parked on the shoulder, it seems with its own mechanical trouble. Not five minutes later though it passes us and pulls over for us when we make the up and palm down wave which seems to be the more usual “can I get a lift” gesture here. We ask if he is going further north and the guy nods affirmative. So all our gear and bikes go on the back of the huge tow-truck and off we go. Imagine our surprise when he almost immediately exits at the next off ramp. He still re-assures us he is going north though. At the toll plaza we get held-up for quite a long time for reasons unknown to us, then we are off again, headed north on what seems to be the old G216 paralleling the new G11 and headed north.
Almost immediately the landscape changes to rolling desert. Sand dunes, low shrubs and yellow grass. The road has very little to no shoulder, heaps of trucks and lots of speeding traffic. We go about 80km before we reach a town with many roadside restaurants. He pulls over and makes it clear this is the end of the ride.
We pack-up, have lunch and make our way to the north side of the dusty town where it seems the G11 is ending and all traffic gets funneled back to the G216. We stand there for about 20 minutes, trying to get a ride before a guy in a pick-up truck exiting the G11 stops. Again we gesture to the north, he seems a bit unsure and even tries to get passersby to help, but eventually our gear and bikes end up in the back of the truck and we are off again. He even gives us a large bottle of tea. We pass by an overturned coal truck and the tow truck that had been our ride. Things are good for about 200km, then we reach a town where he pulls into a parking lot and indicates: "end of the ride”. All right, then, only about 43km to the S320 junction.
We have ice cream, make sure our water supply is good and start riding. Right at the end of town is a major police checkpoint where all cars are checked, passengers are made to show their ID’s and go through metal detectors. We are herded into an office where our passports are taken and a log filled out. The cops are nice though and have their photos taken with Patrick. At first we think our driver did not want to take us through the checkpoint and therefore ditched us, but then we figure he must have needed to head west from here.
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Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 22,099 km (13,723 miles)
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