Tim Boelter

Today we departed out of Tianshui at approximately 10:00 am. After having a traditional Chinese breakfast, which wasn't as good as I've enjoyed in the past, we were once again off on the Silk Road and up through what is called the Hexi Corridor. This long valley region allowed passage out of the Middle Kingdom. The road out of Tianshui was everything we thought it wasn't going to be. It was a modern expressway that weaved through terraced hillsides. The countryside was arid but well managed with crops. We continued on past Lanzhou, which is in fact quite a large city. (Is there such a thing as a small city in a country with 1.3 billion people?)

The further west we went the hills grew in size and the land became a literal desert. The mountains looked like sand dunes hardened into clay and then carved with ridges. The landscape turned into a brown and yellow backdrop of nothingness for a while. Although we were not in the Taklimakan Desert proper, it sure felt and looked like a desert. Even these barren hillsides/mountains were terraced. In areas around the towns the hills were terraced and planted with arborvitaes or junipers. I presumed this was to help stop the erosion of the land. In many places you would see large sprinkler systems on the hillsides watering these sparse patches of trees. It seemed like a feeble attempt to outsmart nature.

It must have been difficult to travel this route on camel and foot. It is such a vast and dry place. And this region isn't even the real desert per say. About 100 kilometers out of Lanzhou we started to travel past areas of foliage, perhaps these were little oases for the travelers of the day. Soon we were climbing and the heat of the lower elevations gave way to the cool breezes of altitude. For me this was comforting. I watched my altimeter as we climbed to almost 3,000-meters. The vehicle labored at times with our load of people and gear. And after six hours of driving we reached the high pass just before Guyong. When traveling through Tibet Buddhist prayer flags mark almost every high pass. In this case both a Buddhist chorten and a Taoist pagoda marked the high pass.

Just after reaching this pass we started to race downhill and just as we were taking a long right turn, the vehicle swayed violently to the left, Lao Bei our driver quickly corrected the vehicle’s path, but it veered sharply to the right. It did this a few more times before we managed to slow down and eventually come to a stop. The first thing I though was, dang, we have a flat tire. We all piled out of the Nissan to look at the tires, and at first glance there was no sign of a flat tire. But after another look it was quite obvious that the entire wheel was no longer attached to the axle. All the lug bolts were sheared off and the wheel was held on by the brake caliper only. The brake rotor rested on the axle keeping the vehicle rear end from dropping to the ground. So here we are, in the middle of nowhere, high on a mountain pass, and for the first time this entire trip it was actually cold outside. Imagine that. We've been commenting on how damn hot it's been and now it's cold, just when you don't want to be cold.

We unpacked some tools and removed the wheel from the axle. But of course it would take more tools and hardware than what we had to fix this. But as I've experienced in my past travels to remote countries like this, people are very industrious. Not to mention that Lao Wang and Lao Bei are quite well known in the Chinese off-road-rallying world. It wasn't but three hours before we were off and running again. Friends from Wuwei received a cell call that we were stranded and they dispatched with new lug bolts (studs) and the tools to fix the wheel. We followed them on to Wuwei where we then found a hotel.

We were all tired by this time, especially Mike and I. We have been living off of an average of four hours of sleep since arriving in China. But getting to bed was not on the agenda. No, tonight Mike and I would be taken out to a ten-course dinner where the beer would be tossed down one full glass at a time. And when I say tossed down, I mean it. Every two-minutes someone would be saying cheers! And it is custom to drink the full glass, so that we did. After a robust meal we were than taken to all the clubs owned by friends of Lao Bei. I felt like a celebrity or perhaps my friend Lao Wang made sure we were taken care of. Nevertheless Mike and I were treated as royalty. Special arrangements were made at each bar/café and our pictures were taken with the entire staff. Coffee was served up and our signatures were requested on (four-wheel drive) team banners, and then displayed on the restaurant walls. This went on and on until about one in the morning. It was a great time indeed and we were in the best company.

—Tim Boelter

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