Baicheng

First of all I must apologise for having the sorriest travel blog on record. We started the week long journey home this morning driving across the Taklamakan desert from Khotan via a Chinese Milton Keynes (lunch stop, much dog, I'm a vegetarian etc.) to a place called Baicheng so that tomorrow we can go and see the Kizil caves. The hotel here is the the best we've stayed in since Urumqi, it's clean and warm but my next door neighbour has the loudest telly in Xinjiang.

We've been to too many towns and sites to list but if anyone ever finds themselves in these parts, Keriya is my choice. I'm afraid I haven't kept a proper diary but someone else has so when I get the chance I'll have a quick peek and try and fill in the blanks but for now here's a quick summary:

• Roads, driving, desert, sand
• Noodles, rice, shish, nan, raw garlic, boiled eggs (excellent eggs)
• Cars stuck in the sand, long trudges across the desert in the midday sun with an icy wind, severely chapped upper lip, one injured car
• Beer, fake vodka, paper cups, local firewater, endless toasts ('gambei' – see the bottom (of your glass))
• 2 dismembered cows, one goat's head, serious sheep massacre on the road (I was asleep)
• 2 roaches in bathroom (small), one dead body louse (not in my bed)
• Being stared at (in a friendly manner)
• Cheap fags, many varieties. My Uighur name is Mura, my Chinese name is something I can't remember right now but they both translate as chimney
• Petrol stations with outdoor pool tables and chickens
• Apples, pears and melons cut with filthy knives
• Camels, deer, sheep, donkeys, chickens, roosters, goats – some alive, some on our dinner plate, two pigeons in a box in the back of one of our cars
• Mummies
• More meat
• Hairdressers (whole photo-series on that)
• Chairs and stools of the Silk Road (another photo-series)
• Khotan bazaar (mostly meat and spades)
• Chinese pop music with epic crescendo, Michael Jackson Olympic bonanza VCD x3 (don't ask), Uighur folk songs (probably odes to meat)
• Kids who want their photo taken but don't want anything in return
• Hats of many shapes and sizes
• Sachets of ready sweetened Nescafe with powdered milk, luke warm Coke, Snickers, biscuits that taste of meat
• Super abrasive toilet paper and tissues (see chapped lip above)
• TV remotes wrapped in cling-film
• People shouting for no apparent reason
• Solar powered mobile phone masts (aint no place you can't get a signal)
• People hunting in dried up river banks searching for jade and amber – our drivers included
• Uighur dancing, meat eating and Chinese drinking (all at the same time)
• One night in a Uighur guest-house: a stone room with a coal stove (loved it)
• Ducking behind sand dunes for a wee
• Great Chinglish
• Meaty sausages in the mini-bars

There's so much more but it's late now and my neighbour is snoring so loudly that I'm going to have to forage for some earplugs. Although the internet was a welcome surprise it isn't so good that I can upload the few thousand photos yet so bear with me until I reach a city and I'll do my best. I'd love a salad.

Eek, make that 2 small roaches and 1 medium, reckon I'll leave the lights on tonight.