21 Jun 2011, Hotan-Aksu, China

We again was lost between the Xinjiang and Beijing times and turned up 2 hours earlier than the scheduled bus departure time. Again, tolerance and patience. Foreigners and I would think other Chinese are lost in between these 2 time slots running at the same time in the same province.

I have never travelled in such a bus. It only has sleepers, 21 lower and 21 upper ones. They are extremely narrow and short. Kim cannot stretch his legs fully. We are the only 2 foreigners for this 9 hour drive through the Taklamakan desert. Sand dunes on both sides for km and km. Most passengers sleep or listen to their own music ipods. Except for me who still has to bear with stoicism the full blast Uyghur music.

The hotel staff has a dedicated art to excel in rudeness and put me in a row. On top of it, you feel sure that you are being overcharged as confirmed the next day.

We were too tired and overstretched to look, find and explain what we wish to eat in a restaurant. We took the easy way and indulged in a hotel buffet and ate all the hot spicy seafood. One wonders why seafood is so popular so far away from the coast. I must admit they were fresh and good.

We took the usual night stroll after dinner to the main square watching all the old ladies dancing slow aerobics and couples trying ballroom dancing. Every city and every evening draws dozens of them. The next inevitable sight is the Uyghur night food market where all sorts of kebabs and samsas are offered. They don’t mix with the Chinese. Separate food, separate locations