September 27, 2014
Photo? Photo? Photo?: Is that a sheep on your motorcycle?
I left the hotel and continued, still heading west. I found it very hard and was still feeling down and trying to work out what I was doing out here all alone and all that crappy stuff. There were a lot of motorcycles and the people would turn their head and stare at me as they passed, just the same. I also saw a sheep on a motorcycle, but I could tell I was in a civilized country now because instead of requiring a second man to hold the animal, this sheep was simply tied onto the back of the seat. It is this remarkable level of innovation and efficiency that marks China out as the next great superpower.
At least this time there was a happy ending. I assumed the sheep was going to be someone's dinner that night but actually I saw the motorcycle stop in a field where the sheep was untied and allowed to run, probably with some slightly cramped legs, back to it's flock. Then, I assume, they all lived happily ever after.
A little later a car stopped and two men got out and talked to me. Well, mostly they wanted to take photos with me. I asked them where they were from and they said they were Kazakh, which explained the photo. I tried speaking to them in Russian but they didn't understand. "Chinese Kazakh" they said. It is a very mixed up region ethnically, that's why there is so much trouble in this province of Xinjiang. The two men were nice enough and gave me a bottle of green tea to take with me.
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I went past a mine and the road got a lot busier with trucks as I headed up a pass. At the top another car stopped and three men and a woman got out and immediately ran over to have their photo taken with me. These were Han Chinese so I guess it wasn't just going to be a Kazakh thing. But they gave me four bottles of drink! At least if I kept getting paid in drinks these photoshoots were going to prove quite worthwhile for me. The best thing was that these people were really friendly and really genuine, smiling and joking with me despite the language difficulties. I realised that it was the first time I had greatly enjoyed one of these roadside meetings in a very long time and it lifted my spirits enormously. I zoomed down the other side of the pass into a flatter area of desert and it suddenly felt really good to be in China. As I sat eating my dinner at my camping spot an owl came over to say hello and life seemed somehow much better now.
Today's ride: 103 km (64 miles)
Total: 29,238 km (18,157 miles)
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