Tim Boelter

It has been a long week but we are in Urumqi now and hoping to get on with the trip proper. I've spoken with my friend Lao Wang and he just finished the Taklimakan Desert Rally, placing second. More details about this when they come.

It's almost 2:00 am and today was by far the longest traveling day. We departed out of Jiuquan after a quick breakfast and were on the road at approximately 9:00 am. We made a brief stop in Jiayuguan to visit the Ming fortress built in 1372. This fortress represented the furthest western stronghold of the Chinese Empire and the furthest western extent of the Great Wall of China.

The city of Jiayuguan was historically the gateway into the inner lands of the empire and represented the mouth or entrance into the Hexi Corridor, which represented the throat. Silk Road travelers entered the kingdom through this corridor between the natural barriers of the Qinlian Mountains to the south and the Mazong, Heli, and Longshou Mountains to the north.

At this point I realized I've bitten off more than I can chew concerning our travels on the Silk Road. Until now all we've been doing is drive, drive, and drive. And although I expected to fast track through this section in order to get to Urumqi by May 9th, I felt that visiting these places now and not taking high definition footage was a waste of valuable time. After experiencing firsthand the tremendous travel distances involved, it makes it that much more difficult to drive this way again to get the footage I want. So after seeing this beautiful fort and not having the proper lighting or time for gaining the access, we had to once again rush off into the desert.

We passed through countless towns in the past few days and even out here in the middle of the desert I was somewhat surprised to see the same monotone look in the building architecture. To spice things up, the Chinese like to add flashy neon signs to add color to the drab cityscapes. Every town does have something to offer whether it is a museum, temple, old fort or even a market place thriving with local culture. It's only when you come to an ancient heritage site that you see a bit of what the true Chinese culture was like. Otherwise the major cities seem to all blend together.

So after rushing off from Jiayuguan our drive started out on fairly nice tarmac. We managed to send some dispatches using the sat phone and computer while traveling on the road. Just as we were to send off some photos the road turned to absolute chaos.

In China, once they start building a new highway, the old road is usually left for ruin, and this would be the case for the next 200 kilometers. We bounced in and out of potholes, crossed over actual desert terrain, and were literally engulfed in a cloud of dust the entire 200 kilometers. Occasionally we would cross back onto a paved surface, but this too was like riding on a washboard. And just as we would start to enjoy a dust-free experience the paved road would vanish and we would once again enter the world of off roading.

Driving in these conditions does have its dangers, especially when most of the vehicle traffic is huge eighteen-wheelers, usually overloaded. Imagine traveling on terrain that is really meant for off road vehicles and then add to the mix blinding dust and areas of roadway where only one vehicle can pass without losing an axle. What you have is a formula for a head on collision, and this we avoided by the skin of our teeth countless times.

Once we arrived in a city called Anxi the road turned good again. From here we headed south to Dunhuang. Mike and I were under the impression that we were going to stay here for the night or perhaps even two. Dunhuang is known for being the last major oasis town before heading out across the vast and deadly Taklimakan Desert. Here at Crescent Moon Lake you can climb a sand dune that's approximately 1,715 meters high. From this vantage point you can see for miles into the desert. Also just south of Dunhaung is the Magao Grottoes. Here on the cliff walls and in the caves are located some of the most amazing Buddhist cave paintings ever to be discovered in the world. The drive to the Magao Grottoes is through a land of emptiness, but once there, you enter into a lush valley, where there is a striking contrast between the green foliage and the stark desert earth tones.

Now remember, Mike and I thought we were going to spend at least a day in this region to shoot footage, this would not be the case. In fact, after bypassing Dunhuang all together and traveling 25 kilometers to the spectacular Magao Grottoes our driver said we didn't have time to enter the cave valley. At this point I was livid and didn't hide this fact. I started to raise my voice and through a feeble attempt to communicate with Lao Bei I tried to explain that this was unacceptable. After spending about 40 minutes arguing we then discovered we were heading directly to Hami, another 450 Kilometers.

Our driver Lao Bei and his traveling partner Lao Wu are nice guys who were instructed to get us from Zhengzhou to Urumqi so we could meet up with my friend Lao Wang. For them, this whole trip is really just a matter of driving. They felt that being a tour guide or taking time to stop was not part of the deal. And with the communication gap it was a constant struggle to tell them the importance of what we are doing. For these guys this drive was a holiday. Both Mike and I noticed Lao Wu reading through a Chinese tour guide. He was telling Lao Bei where they felt they needed to go, rather than listening to us and helping with what we needed to do.

So in a nutshell, we passed through two ancient heritage sites without taking one good HD shot. I'm only hoping that we can come back here on the way back. But to be honest, I now realize just how vast this place is, and we may not have time to come all this way again.

Our drive to Hami was truly a desert experience. At times the earth was so flat that there seemed to be no horizon at all. Then the landscape would turn into bizarre jagged mountains painted in a variety of colors. We traveled through sandstorms and the occasional rain shower or should I say mud showers. We stopped once at a small town for a quick meal. It was more or less an intersection full of vehicle repair garages and a gas station. Here the wind gusted violently as dust devils swirled everywhere. It was quite a dump to be honest.

We traveled until late into the night arriving in Hami at 12:00 pm. Mike and I tried to write and process photos but we both succumbed to much needed sleep. We eventually hit the sack at 2:00 am.

I'm sure I am missing more about this experience, but I will write later. Although we are traveling by car and staying in hotels, we have been literally in the vehicle on average over fourteen hours a day since leaving Zhengzhou. After having dinner and getting situated with everything, it's usually around two o'clock in the morning.  In Urumqi we hope to get situated with Lao Wang, and get on with a more reasonable pace. The Silk Road has thus far been a long journey for us, I can't imagine what it would have been like traveling it two thousand years ago on foot or camel.

—Tim Boelter

close window