day 327: 柳树泉 (liushuquan) – 三道岭 (sandaoling) = 24,3km

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The last one of my three new tires started acting up in the morning, and I knew it was about to become a very hot and miserable day:

Oh, how I envied this dude on his carriage that I saw – there he was just dozing off while the donkey was getting the job done:

Just as I had taken my shoes off somewhere by the road and planted myself on the floor, this Uyghur motorcyclist appeared and started talking to me in his language:

I didn’t feel like replying in Mandarin Chinese, I really can’t explain why though. So I just pointed at my ears and kept shaking my head. Then I said something that was supposed to sound like the Uyghur version of “Germany” and pointed at my face. The dude looked like he understood. We talked a bit about how the sun was so hot, and about how the way was very long. We figured out that I liked to walk and take pictures, and that he lived in the east and worked in a place west from there. Then the dude gave me a very friendly smile and two large handfuls of dates.

Thank you Uyghur dude!

…

There was a railroad crossing a little down the way:

But not just any railroad crossing – it was far more romantic than that:

Isn’t she beautiful?

You see, I was getting very mixed signals from my destination of the day – a mine district called 三道岭 (sandaoling).

On one hand there was that beautiful old steam locomotive I had seen at the railroad crossing.

On the other hand the whole place just looked repulsive…

…and there was some smelly black stuff (water?) running in a canal next to the road…

…but then again there was this little grove that looked so peaceful and nice after all that desert today…

Mixed signals.

…but only until I laid eyes on the coal mine itself:

Oh my god, no mixed signals here!

It looked like… one gigantic flesh-wound on the face of the earth:

I didn’t expect anything good from this place when I entered the residential area:

Maybe I’ll find someone to fix my caboose here though, I thought.

Otherwise I would have to go back to 哈密 (hami).

Soundtrack: Ignite – “Save Yourself”

—total: 4081,8km