Bush Camp by the Great Wall 1

Dear all,

On the morning of 28th August we set out from Liujiaxia through and towards the bush. I had acquired several steamed buns that morning, both for breakfast and to take away (which reminds me that I need to throw some buns away) and felt nearly prepared.

We drove for some time. The landscape was still picturesque and almost pastoral, and by this point was notably absent of large scale tower building projects:

But now the fields were starting to disappear, with only scrub in its place:

While we were driving one of my fellow passengers looked out the right window at the above view and  asked me, "You see that line? Do you think it's natural or man made?". I looked at it a long time then finally decided that it was natural. Shortly after Matt called out, "Hey guys! That's the Great Wall to our right!".

The Great Wall isn't great all over. It was built over many centuries by many different rulers, all united under the banner of the Chinese emperor. You have some sections that are ancient, some are relatively new, and short sections have been reconstructed and are well touristed. Quite a bit of it has crumbled to nothing or just wasn't that substantial to begin with. Mud was a popular building material.

When we arrived at our campsite - a patch of desert off a highway - I had my first ever opportunity to inspect the Great Wall for myself.

I'm not sure what counts as a representative section of the Great Wall. Perhaps this was it.

We set up right next to the wall.

I was surprised at the speed with which we got camp and cooking set up. Everybody had an assigned task, besides setting up their tent. Mine was climbing onto the roof of the truck and chucking tents and mats down which I enjoyed greatly.

We received a short lesson on how to put up the tents, which turned out to be remarkably easy. These were heavy duty canvas items that I've never before had the pleasure of using because no backpacker would ever buy one because its far too heavy. Matt suggested we not peg them and not use the flysheet because there was no wind or rain, and with that in mind we quickly set up a very easy camp:

One guy opted to sleep under the stars and Claire took her preferred spot on the roof of the truck, which seemed the best of the lot - you're under the stars but crawling things can't reach you.

The other team was cooking tonight so after setting up my tent I took the chance to explore. I found a hole and what I surmise used to be soldiers' sleeping quarters:

The main long term occupants of the area seemed to be locusts and spiders. I have always pictured these creatures as being somewhat scary but they weren't really. The locusts were numerous and constantly bouncing around and off our legs while the sun was up but didn't seem to do much else whilst the spiders stayed put and waited for locusts to bounce into their webs.

The other team cooked three pretty decent curries with the help of green and red curry paste. Claire and Matt were impressed, saying than no one had ever cooked three dishes before. I wasn't feeling good about our pasta with vegetables.

We sat round on folding chairs in a semi circle, drinking red wine, tea with almond milk and occasional shots of dark rum and Jack Daniels. By this time the temperature was dropped quite dramatically. I went to dig out my fleece (my sweater was still in Pingliang and would be staying there) and thick socks to go with my sandals. As the sun set the locusts calmed down and went to sleep (or simply stopped moving) while the spiders continued sitting in the middle of their webs as they had done all day.

I couldn't keep warm so I went to my tent at about 10pm. To the best of my recollection it's the first time I've ever had a tent to myself. Most of the times I'd been in a tent in recent memory was at Glastonbury music festival with Corinne. This was quite different. I was alone, there was no music, and it was so dark that closing my eyes made no difference to the light. Zero either way. I'd been hiding charger and TV LEDs in hotel rooms in an attempt to darken my sleeping environment but I may have been glad for a tiny LED that night. I like a dark room but absolute blackness is a tad disorientating.

It was also bloody freezing. I thought I'd gone overkill with my extra thick 3 season and quite bulky sleeping bag but it wasn't nearly warm enough even with a liner. Though part of the reason for this may be my insistence on changing into pjyamas for every single night of sleep. I should have worn my fleece but it was supplementing my pillow.

When I finally nodded off in this cold silent blackness I dreamt I was at home. But where could that be? Certainly not London. Not Manchester either, one house there is a house I purposefully left and the other was only a nine month staging post. I dreamt I was living alone in Laugherne Bank, my childhood home, as an adult. I had the place to myself, which in theory should have been great but the rooms were dark and lonely and there was a leak that had accumulated in a pool at the foot of the stairs. I tried to find a plumber to fix it but they refused, citing regulations against Capitalist activity. I then went into the woods near the house and took photos of a cartoonish looking owl who was trying to fly but couldn't.

I was glad to see the dawn light. My tea with almond milk was welcome and breakfast, Mexican scrambled eggs, was excellent. After an efficient packup routine that took us from full camp to truck departing in one hour we were on the road to Jiayuguan, literally translated as "the first and greatest pass", the westmost point of the ancient Chinese empire and gateway to the desert.

Stephen