Day 219 (China): 10km after Lop - just before Yupian (tailwind, sun out, happy days …)

daily distance: 140km
total distance: 12,392km
riding time: 7h

I stepped out of my sleeping quarters and … it hit me. Or rather didn’t. There was a tailwind. And it was sunny. I was on the bike as quickly as I could and started on what should be a long day.

But it was just plain good riding. After a while I reached the town of Qira where the internet woes seemed to continue. But in the end they didn’t. It seems that there was someone who did what was necessary … puts in my details (including passport number, where did I have to do that before?) and that is it.

The rest of the day was desert riding, interspersed by inhabited places here and there.

Those tend to be interesting and much more attractive to me than the big cities. But look for yourself.

Finding a place before Yutian proved to be a bit tricky again. Trying to explain what a tent is when you don’t know the language isn’t easy. And even with a drawing or the picture talk booklet people don’t seem to be getting what you want. Instead, they invite you into their place (once again …).

As someone asked about the temperatures - it is mostly below freezing during the night and goes up to around 20C during the day. Most of the time I start riding wearing a solid layer of clothing which I am slowly shedding as the day progresses.