Posts Tagged ‘Yuergou’

Day 188. 121km. Yuergou – Turpan

Posted: November 16, 2015 in China, Cycling
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Turpan is famous for its heat, so I left early and descended the last metres to the second lowest place on the planet. I passed barren rocky plains and some saltbush plains before arriving in my backpacker’s hostel. Its great to sink into the backbacker’s environment and be amongst travellers.

The low flat plains

The low flat plains

Turpan borders on what I thought was a salt pan. I imagined cycled through landscape similar to Lake Eyre in outback Australia. It was a bit underwhelming – just flat saltbush country. Also, it wasn’t as hot as I had imagined. Uzbekistan was hotter.

Arriving in a backpacker hostel was lovely. No worries about police registration. People that speak English and understand my questions. An oasis of familiarity amongst a sea of foreignness. And I could speak with people in lots of different languages. I love that. I spoke English, German, Swedish, Spanish and Chinese. Yay!

New friends in Turpan

New friends in Turpan

Day 187. 131km. Village before turnoff to Turpan – Yuergou

Posted: November 15, 2015 in China, Cycling
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I missed a day to the rain. The village that I got to know as wet and grey I discovered was perched in a beautiful snowy mountain lined meeting of valleys. I cycled up one of these valleys and down the other side, watching the landscape transform from grassy high mountain plains to a barren flat desert.

Summit prayer flags

Summit prayer flags

When I left my little room at 3am to have a leak, I stepped outside and saw a starry sky, and a crescent moon. I smiled. The rain has gone, and the day cycling will be awesome. And it was. Three more kilometres on the crap road surface before the turn-off, and the smooth roads I have come to love in China.

My bedroom for the night

My bedroom for the night

The rainy village in the sun

The rainy village in the sun

The road was a bit rough

The road was a bit rough

Then a steady climb through the grassy yurt valley before the steep climb. I have grown used to these big climbs. I reach the end of the valley, look ahead at the ring of mountains and wonder where the road is going to go. Then I spot the road way up in some impossible place. How is the road going to get there? Well, it does. Somehow.

Yurts

Yurts

High mountain valley

High mountain valley

Top of the pass

Top of the pass

And then the descent to beat all descents. In total the road drops from 3200m to below sea level – over 200km. It drops from the rolling grassy green landscape to the hot, desolate, rocky flats. I stopped after 131km at the edge of the wide flat expanse. The crossing of that to Turpan can wait until tomorrow.

The way down

The way down

It's getting dryer

It’s getting dryer

The dry rocky mountains

The dry rocky mountains