At the police checkpoint on the outskirts of Sanliuling, we were asked if we could give a lift to a soldier for about 300 kms to Khotan. Tensing said that he could help us at the police checkpoints so we said yes; Tensing wasn’t too pleased, but they chatted away happily enough in the back of the van. What a lovely young man he turned out to be. His name is Bo and is is 23 years old. He didnt like the army but joined it because his family in Shandong Province are very poor and it means extra money for them. He spoke to the police at the checkpoints and got us through more quickly. It was intereating to see the relationship between the police and the army when a three-star senior policemen pointed at him and asked “Is he a Westerner too?” and Bo replied “Open your big eyes and look at me”. The policeman simply grinned sheepishly. We stopped at a restaurant in a small town and had a delicious plate of lamb kebabs which Bo had paid for before we could stop him. In fact he stayed with us as far as Kashgar where his barracks are located.
The road descended gradually from the Changtang to the Taklamakan Desert over a series of gigantic passes. It clung to the sides of vertical cliffs with stomach-churning drops for thousands of feet to rivers below. Huge trucks ground their way up over the passes and then careered at breakneck speed down the other side. However no near misses because these drivers really know how to drive.
At Kashgar we found the Seman Hotel and booked two nights for £18 a night.
