Tim Boelter

Today we woke in Xian to rain and fog, so filming may not take place due to the ugliness of the day. We may be able to hold out for another day, but if we can't, that means we would miss some important shots. Our schedule has been grueling up this point. Because the Silk Road is so incredibly long (and we're only covering the China routes) this trip has been more about scouting the route and developing relationships with those who will be able to grant permits and support for a future film. We just do not have the time to accomplish everything. I think when it's all said and done we will have traveled over 10,000 kilometers or approximately 6,200 miles. Doing this in a matter of 27 days while trying to film is tough.

I woke to Mike processing photos. It's only 7:30 in the morning and Mike has been up for an hour already. That means he got three hours of sleep and I got four hours of sleep. This is how it has been for the entire trip, feels almost like we're climbing (in regards to not getting sleep).

My last dispatch covered our travels into Qinghai Province where we stayed at a worn out oil town in a wide valley where the Altun Shan reared up high in the distance revealing snowy peaks that lined the horizon.

Picking up where I left off in my previous dispatch, let's go back to the morning of May 22nd, the day after we stayed at the bus station.

We managed breakfast and the use of a room in a decent hotel down the road from the bus station. We took advantage of this kindness to access power for charging and photo processing. After our stay in the rundown bus station, we were quite happy to brush our teeth and throw some water on our face.

We were on the road by 9:00 in the morning. Today we were going to try and push on to Qinghai Lake. This would be a very long day -- 1,200 kilometers. It was our goal to stay on roads that were paved. Until now we have been traveling on whatever we could to go eastward, but the bumps and dust were even getting to Lao Wang. So with this said it was very disappointing to find out that over 100 kilometers of highway G315 was under construction. To avoid the terrible road conditions as well as possible hold ups due to construction vehicle traffic we decided to take a detour that would add an additional 200 kilometers to the route. The added time would be made up through the ability to travel at much higher speeds. So we headed north toward Dunhuang in the Gansu Province to a town close to the Gansu border called Dingzikou. From here we traveled southeast again until we merged back with the new highway 315. Our altitude was consistently over 2,500 meters the entire day. The landscape was literally touching the sky.

The Qinghai Province was officially part of the Tibetan world and is still considered the "Roof of the World." Eventually this region would become Chinese and separate from Tibet altogether. Geologically Qinghai is a very interesting province, it's just one big high plateau bounded by mountains throughout. Three of Asia's greatest rivers have their headwaters here. The Mekong, the Yangtze, and the Yellow Rivers all start their winding journey to the sea from within this province. The landscape is also dotted with emerald green lakes laden with salt, and the largest saltwater lake in China, is Qinghai Lu.

The current Dali Lama was born in Qinghai Province and the yellow hat Gelugpa school of Buddhism was founded here. The province is still populated with semi nomadic Tibetans who raise yaks and sheep in the high grasslands.

As we continued east we realized we weren't going to make it to our destination by a reasonable hour, so after traveling roughly 900 kilometers we stopped in a town called Delingha. As we drove through town it was obvious most of the population has never seen foreigners. I felt like an exotic animal in a zoo, where passersby's would stare to the point of nearly breaking their necks to keep looking.

Lao Wang eventually found a hotel, seemingly quite nice on the outside, but rather cheap once in the room. After we checked in we brought our equipment to our rooms and then went out for dinner. Here is where our journey changed from an innocent adventure into a nearly international incident.

While eating lamb kabobs and sipping on a beer in a restaurant Lao Wang was approached by a plainclothes man. He flashed an ID card and motioned Lao Wang to follow. Without saying a word Lao Wang got up and left the booth. If you know Lao Wang you would know that this wasn't normal. He doesn't just get up and follow someone without having a few words. Obviously something was wrong. Mike and I looked out the window from our booth and saw Lao Wang obviously in a very heated discussion. After about five minutes he came back and told us that he was being taken into custody by the NSB (National Security Bureau). Naturally Mike and I asked why and he said that foreigners were not allowed to be in this town or traveling in this region unless they receive a permit from the Public Security Bureau (PSB). Apparently this area, specifically highway 315 is off limits to foreigners. Later we would find out that this area is a military zone and that the town in which we were staying has a military base. To make matters even worse, the hotel we were staying at actually catered to government officials. Lao Wang told us that after the attendant at the front desk of the hotel received our passports she immediately reported us to the PSB. This explains how they knew we were at the restaurant eating. 

Lao Wang told me to use the satellite phone to call someone if we did not hear back from him in an hour. They were threatening to also take the vehicle. As we watched Lao Wang get ushered into a van by a group of men Mike and I looked at each other in disbelief. I was thinking, wow I'm experiencing first hand the effect of a government that rules with an iron fist; this was indeed Big Brother in action.

The restaurant owner came over to our table to let us know through hand gestures that the meal was paid for and that he would get a taxi to take us back to the hotel. Mike and I quickly wrapped up our meal and left for the hotel to wait for Lao Wang. Interesting thing is suddenly Mike's cell phone was barred from making phone calls or text messaging. And not to sound paranoid, but a man was posted at the stairway for the next hour. I would look out the peephole in the door and see him sitting on a chair.

About an hour later Lao Wang showed up to tell us about his experience. He was questioned about why we were traveling on this highway, why we stopped in this town, and where we were going. Lao Wang basically said he was oblivious to any restrictions in this region. They allowed us to stay the night and told us to continue east the next morning. In other words get out of our town and don't look back. We were also told not to speak with local people or interact in any manner. This would explain why tour groups traveling to the Tibetan town of Golmud had to seek out special permits and travel through a Chinese travel agency.

Qinghai has history that goes beyond its ties to Tibet and Buddhism. It is here in this province that political prisoners and convicts were banished to serve time. Also Qinghai is where the first testing of the atomic bomb took place in China. As we traveled east past Qinghai Lu (Lake) and on toward Xining, Lao Wang took us to a town known to the Chinese as Atomic City. Mike and I were able to look at the abandoned buildings and bunkers that housed the researchers and engineers who developed China's first atomic bomb. Parts of the old ghost town are now a preserve where deer roam over vaulted bunkers now overgrown with grass. If Loa Wang is correct this town changed history in many ways.

After traveling for two days in some of the most remarkable and remote landscapes we've come across so far, it was almost like culture shock to enter the steel town of Xining. Situated in a river valley this long bustling city has a population of 1.9 million people. For the first time in months we saw lush vegetation and color that went beyond the earth tone hues of a desert. We had dinner here and pushed on again.

We were attempting to reach the city of Xian, which would require driving over 1,500 kilometers in one day. The only problem with this distance is that we stop to film and the hours begin to fly by and soon it's already 2:00 in the morning. Lao Wang was getting very tired driving, evidenced by the few times we nearly went over a cliff. We pulled off the road a few times to catch quick ten-minute naps, but it wasn't working. Our speed diminished to a mere 40 kilometers and big heavy-laden trucks were soon passing us, which isn't good. Nevertheless Lao Wang insisted on pushing through the Ningxia Province and back into the Gansu Province until we reached the town of Pingliang.

The drive just east of Lanzhou was on a great highway, but after 30 kilometers it came to an abrupt end and the rest of our night was on poorly maintained roads where the dust and exhaust got the better of all of us.

It seems that China never stops working. At 3:00 in the morning this road was a congested avenue of heavy truck traffic stirring up dust and blowing out black exhaust fumes as the trucks struggled up hill. In the darkness I could see that the entire road, which apparently wound through a mountainous region, was lined by extensive mining operations. And even in the dark of the night you could see the billowing pollution pour from smoke stacks that lined this road for the entire trip. You could taste the dust and your nose burned from the heavy fumes.

By 4:00 am we were wary travelers in need of sleep. After combing the streets of what seemed to be an abandoned city we found a hotel in Pingliang and all of us dropped into our beds exhausted.

After having a cold shower and a very unappealing Chinese breakfast we left for Xian the next morning. Today our luck would suck once again. After being caught in a traffic jam in a dirty coalmine town for two hours we drove for another two hours and reached Xian only to get caught in another traffic jam caused by road construction.

As we entered the city outskirts it was apropos that we would come across a beautiful statue representing a caravan of animals and people crossing the Silk Road route. The statue was approximately 100 feet in length and stood at the location representing the start of the ancient Silk Route. We have finally come full circle, traveling over 10,000 kilometers on China's Silk Road Route.

We reached our hotel in the center of the old city. And for the first time in a very long time we had fantastic accommodations in the heart of this great walled city. Xian is truly a modern cosmopolitan city with a wonderful ancient history.

After a warm shower we went out to eat in the Muslim quarter of the city and then took night photos and footage of the Bell Tower and Drum Tower in the city. The city is remarkably clean, and absent of heavy exhaust fumes because the taxis use natural gas to power their vehicles. The evening was met by a colorful array of street vendors and people from all over the globe taking in the sights of Xian.

My battery is dying as I am writing this in the vehicle on the way to our original starting point -- Zhengzhou. It is 10:00 pm and it looks like we will get to a hotel at a reasonable hour. There is much more to come detailing the trip.

Cheers for now,
Tim Boelter

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