Heading into the desert

Yesterday (24.5) we left Dunhuang to tackle our long east-west ride to Kashgar. From now on our bags would be more stuffed again as we could finally store away the layers and layers of cloths. As usual the first task of the day of course was to fuel the bikes. Well, easily said then done. In China there is a special rule for fueling up motorbikes. It does not at all speed up the whole process and, to our disgrace this rule is very closely followed in Xinjiang Province. The law says that motorbikes cannot, under any circumstances (no, not even big bikes with four aliens on them) get close to the fueling hose. Instead they have to be parked in considerable distance of around 20m away. You fuel them with a traditional Chinese tea pot, which of course you have to usually pay in advance, because the fuel station staff are extremely scared that you would otherwise leave without paying, and of course you have to shlep these teapots back and forth yourself.

That done we had our first ride through the dry and hot region. We spotted another herd of double humped camels, Boris' favorite animal so far  on the ride. It was funny to see them loose their warm coat. The ones we had observed previously, further up north looked much more fatty and big. But now we knew that this was only because the thick fur. These double humped camels are funny things with their slobbering lips and huge heads.

We stayed the night in Hami and enjoyed another delicious dinner on the local market. While we would walk right into the kitchen in Yunnan and pick the food we like to make some delicious dishes (and this was by the way not at all rude, the chefs loved it and everybody does this), here the set up was a bit different: Here everything takes place in the open space of the big main square of town.

Numerous little barbeque stalls are lined up around a sitting area of plastic tables and chairs. You go around these stalls and pick what ever you like to be thrown on the grill: Chicken or mutton, bread and vegetables. All is prepared on small skewers and served to your table. A fantastic easy going atmosphere. Unfortunately all skewers are usually marinated with the same spicy seasoning. Boris has already enough of them and I am also reaching the limits, not last as my stomach does not handle this spice mix all too well ... and mutton is not my favorite. Luckily in some of these eat-and-drink bazaars there are also other dishes like stews or dumplings.