Dunhuang (or, time to get off the internet and go see the town)

Dunhuang is an oasis town. I am feeling hot and lethargic and only the need to buy water and snacks for the long, bumpy, underconstruction road tomorrow is going to shift me from the wifi cafe/hotel.

We will be crossing into Xinjiang province tomorrow and I have a feeling there won't be as many Mandarin speakers there. Already, while Dunhuang looks like the China I am familiar with, it doesn't feel like the China I am familiar with. I don't like not being able to communicate, so I might have to borrow someone's guide book and start learning numbers and noodles and important things like that.

I forgot to mention in the last post the miles and miles of gravestones we passed. There should be a picture there somewhere. We started passing them again, yesterday.

The pictures in this post are all a bit same same. I can't seem to stop taking pictures of the desert. It gives me a feeling of having travelled a long way when I think about the rubber trees in Malaysia.

We have a night of bush camping in the desert tomorrow and then we will be in Turpan - the hottest city in Asia. When Al, Juan and Coco came through there a couple of weeks ago it was fortymumble degrees. I am pretty sure Juan said 45, but my brain is refusing to acknowledge it.

Having broken 3 umbrellas on this trip, I have now lost one and should go to replace it. Should should should.