I left Turpan ready for the scorching desert without anything or anyone. Food for lunch and 11 litres of water. It didn’t seem like a desert – it was raining and quite cool, with villages, shops and people. Slowly, I navigated the fully loaded Drahtesel against the wind to above sea-level and beyond.
Mountain face
In Shanshan I met Achun who was also staying at my guesthouse in Turpan. He is cycling from Urumqi to Beijing with amazingly little luggage. Still, he has room for a good camera, and has taken lots of amazing photos from his bike trips around China.
In the mountains
arctic-cycler.com 