Taklimaklisomething

Today was our third day of driving through the desert. That first day was by far the worst. After two nights of sleeping eight to a yurt and two camping in the desert, I am looking forward to a shower. Secretly, I don't mind not showering for a couple of days, but we are all filthy.

I did one of Tash's... well, for the purposes of the blog, let's call it a "bushman's" shower... last night (aka, out of a water bottle). My face was so salty it burned as the water washed over it.

The desert defeated my kindle. It got too hot and confused to get the internet and then we drove out of range. No internet for three days. Also, facebook stopped working on it several days ago. That's probably been harder than the heat and illness.

Everyone has been sick. And, with the heat and breakdowns and long drive days, everyone has stopped eating so much. You can almost see weight melting off people.

We have been leaving camp at about 8am Beijing time (which is about the equivalent of 6am local time) to try and get as much driving in as possible before the heat.

LATER

I have showered and I am clean. My dust caked toes are clean and my nose no longer aches with the smell of hot dry desert and hot dry skin.

And now that I'm showered and clean I find that I miss the hell out of bush camping. I miss the camaraderie and cooking together and bonding over the grossness of our hair (that was mainly the girls) and the shared dirt and discomfort.

Tomorrow we head to the Kashgar Sunday market. I have wanted to come and see it for so long I can hardly believe we are here (especially as we all had moments of thinking we weren't going to make it through the impossible heat). If I never go back to the Turpan basin, it will be too soon.