Onwards and upwards
The Ball left Niye in the early morning after the Kashgar Allstars’ convincing victory, and headed north across the Tarim Basin and the second largest shifting sands desert on Earth, heading for Korla…
The Road to Turfan
The desert highway provided the team with a last chance to play together, and also to explore the changing landscapes across the 800 km of Taklamakan desert, which we crossed in a single gruelling day.
Written by Christian Wach on Tuesday, May 14th, 2002
doe this mean that the power is back on in Turpan Chris? (I’d just recieved a text message to say that there was a power cut and no Internet access until it was back on).
Ni hao Lads.
Glad to see that you’ve traversed the mighty Taklamakan and joined the ranks of Sir Aurel Stein.
When you’re back on home soil at the British Museum you’ll be able to see all of the Buddhist relics that he took away as momentoes from Turpan, Dunhuang etc … Oh well, at least he had good taste … sure beats the jade cabbages and inlaid stone globes that the locals try to flog these days.
I hope that you’re scoring lots of goals and may the Chinese Railway Authority continue to provide you with such friendly conductresses along your journey to the gates of the Forbidden City and beyond.
Luke & Claudia
Alright boys! Every sha-la-la-la-la, every whooaaaoooo…. When will the pics be up from the Taklamakan? Looking forward to seeing and reading plenty more…
The Polish World Cup squad can take their missuses along for 3000 Euros ( whatever they are ), but just who would you stump up for to bring out there ?
Ni hao, Ni shenti hao-ba? Guys, we love following you on your mega trip and now you’re in China I’m more jealous than ever.I’m remember Lanzhou and realising there why it’s called the Yellow river!Where next? Do you go through Shenyang? The school I worked in would be happy to see you if you need a stop there.Thinking of you byeeeeeeeeeee
Rob: This entry was posted after the hotel kindly switched on a generator to power their admin computers… ah, the joys of trying to run a website on the road. See ya tomorrow!
Luke: we’ve got a game lined up tomorrow with some Tibetan monks here in Xiahe… and yes, the train conductresses still think Phil is edible.
Gersh: Pics will be up as soon as I can convince the nice Tibetan woman who runs our guesthouse that a computer is not just for the internet, but can actually do other things too. She gave me a look of horror when I asked if I could plug my camera in. Ah well, let’s see what happens tomorrow when I get one of her (English-speaking) sons to interpret for me.
Tim: As far as I know, the Poles never joined the Euro. But then perhaps that’s why they can’t pay in Zlotys. And the answer’s obvious, innit?
Sooz: sadly no chance of going through North Korea, so I guess we’re not going to go near Shenyang. It looks like we’re going to be swimming from Tsingtao after a few pints of the local brew instead.
Hey Sooz,
China be great, will give uit your love.
Shenyang not on our route, in fact we’re leaving Beijing soon… World Cup Calls.
Love to you ‘n’ family