TAKLAMAKAN DESERT

Make no mistake about it - This is the desert of all deserts. Its one massive, beautiful, scary place. It seems one endless horizon of rolling sand dunes. 80KMs south of my lookout tower/Hovel Hotel balcony, I found a very fancy restaurant. The friendly staff fed me great food and close to a gallon of tea as I sat back the afternoon, waiting for the midday sun to ease. Using sign language and a lot of map pointing, I was reassured all round, that my main concern of there being no restaurants along my chosen route, was not going to be a problem. I felt I had over-packed with my 10 litres of water and 4 days food supply. BUT the next restaurant I passed was 250KMs down the road. That was 250KMs of no restaurant, no shop, no house, no camel, no goat herder, one bridge, one crossroad, one long straight road through and infinity of sand dunes. Two camp spots with another infinity of bright stars in the sky. Sunrise and sunset was Mother Nature in glorious form as she toyed with shade and shadow across the dunes. But she wasn't in such glorious form when my tailwind became a headwind. Sand gets into everything. It sticks to your sun cream. It tears up your nostrils causing nose bleeds. Its in your sleeping bag, your bicycle chain and don't drink that last mouthful of your morning mug of tea. Its a mouthful of sand.This is desert number 3 on Global cycle ride;1.Karakum - Turkmenistan2.Kyzulkum - Uzbekistan3.Taklamakan - ChinaThe Karakum was tough. The heat was unreal at the time that I was crossing it. The Kyzulkum was almost friendly in comparison. Although the road was relativity poor, a truck stop every 25 KMs and a powerful tailwind made it all very achievable. But the Taklamakan is an extraordinary place. Just endless sand dunes and not much else. Its truly an amazing achievement for the Chinese to build a road through such terrain. And while sleeper buses tear by leaving behind a trail of dust, fumes and ZZZzzzs, I'm holding my brake levers, to soak in the all my surroundings. Its a beautiful place,but its a not place where you want things to go wrong.When I finally made it to that restaurant 250KMs down the road (where I now am), I entered the town cautiously and quietly just after sunset. The only people of this town are directly or indirectly involved in oil and gas projects. It seemed no place for a foreign tourist to be. I had managed to get this far without any police interference and the plan was to get loads of hot food and tea and venture back out into the dunes to camp up for the night. But instead my arrival was greeted with the frantic horn blowing of some over excited motorist. I pulled over to the road side and looked over my shoulder expecting police. Instead three beaming Chinese faces smiled up and handed me a note. It read, 'You are 1 day ahead of me, Please wait.' It wasn't signed, but I presume its Markus and he has heard I'm down the road from him. There's a basic hotel in town, so my plan for tomorrow is to sit by the window and drink tea. And see who passes by.