Around 10 in the morning, I said goodbye to Uncle Shen and climbed on the train to Kuytun (奎屯).

We gently rolled on, and the Gobi desert passed by the window:

It felt weird to be there:

A few hours later, had arrived at my destination:

Kuytun. The place where I had many friends, and the place where my own stupidity had caused a disaster the last time I was here.

Lei Sheng (雷盛) picked me up from the station and took me to get something to eat. I was surprised to find out that квас, the drink that I had so much enjoyed in Russia, was a popular beverage over here too:

Then we went and saw the Caboose. She was in a storage room:

Lei Sheng had been keeping her there for me. It was very moving for me to see her after all this time:

And she looked like she was feeling the same:

To me, she looked like she wanted to be on the road.

…

Then some reporters showed up:

I was a bit reluctant at first, because I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself (not after what had happened last time), but they were very nice, so I just played along.

That night, we went out to dinner with some of the same people of two years ago. Friends. And we even went to the same place:

Glasses were raised and toasts were given out, there was laughter in the air and the smell of good food. I had some pomegranate wine that was pretty tasty. And I think I more or less managed to hide my fear.

My fear of tomorrow.

Soundtrack: glasses clicking.

Posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 07:53 ;Filed under Lei Sheng, Prelude, Video, Xinjiang.

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