A four day drive directly south through the desert – no towns/shops/toilets/water refills or garages so we had to rely on everything on the truck.
The first night we camped too close to a river and I got horribly eaten by mosquitoes . To compound the pain also found a scorpion in my tent, which rapidly learnt to fly. Decided I was bored of being ill so prescribed myself a massive dose of antibiotics (they sell them over the counter, so I’d stock up just in case). Instantly fixed the stomach issues. For about 2 hours.
The second night was our turn to cook again and we made an excellent (if I say so myself) vegetarian chilli, mostly because we’d found kidney beans in the last town.
The third night we finished pitching the tents just as a sandstorm blew in – the tents bent flat and filled with sand. Most of the team sat on the truck whilst the more (fool)hardy amongst us ran round and stopped the tents blowing away.
Woke up with mouth, nose and ears full of sand, but my skin was nicely exfoliated and shiny so not all bad. Could do with a shower.
The fourth night we camped in a crater, before heading off to see knife, silk and carpet factories in Hotan. Could really do with a shower.
