Still hiking to Huatugou

In the morning, I regret stopping at the town where I’d spent the night.

The first lift I get takes me to another town, less of a dump, but undergoing major reconstruction.

The ruins of the old town being demolished as they modernise it and cram more people in.

The map I purchased the previous day at Golmud indicates I should take the 215 highway, to where it joins the 315 and when the two branch, I should follow the 315 to Huatugou. Easier said than done.

My lift drops me off at the junction and I start following the 315 highway. Only it’s not a highway, it’s barely even a road. There’s very little traffic here, the road is barely visible under the sand that covers it and the going is slow, but the markers indicate it is the 315 and so I follow it trying to get a lift.

The first lift takes me to a town several kilometres up the road but locating it in the middle of nowhere.

Waiting for a lift in the middle of nowhere.

One hour passes, no traffic, I read my book. Two hours pass, a military convoy passes, they don’t stop to offer a lift. Three hours pass, rain comes and goes, a small wind blows loads of sand covering myself and my bag. I discover the desert’s daytime mosquitoes – jumping/flying insects that look like mosquitoes, make no noise and leave nasty bites. Within half an hour I am itching from head to toe and can barely contain my joy when a truck, driving only slightly faster than walking pace pulls up and offers a lift.

After several hours drive, I’m dropped off at a junction of sorts, marked by a building and a sign and further up the road, a construction site.

I pick up a lift from the construction site and learn of some bad news. Yes, I am on the 315 highway, and yes it does go all the way to Huatugou, however, it’s the old road which explains why it’s in such disrepair and sees so little traffic, at this rate it will take me days to get to Huatugou. I’m driven another 15km, told I can’t spend the night and start walking along the road, in the middle of the worst sandstorm I’ve ever seen.

Spitting sand out as I walk, I eventually pick up a lift in another truck. The driver takes me to his office/living quarters (he’s also part of the construction project rebuilding the old road) and I eat a big dinner/lunch. Afterwards, wondering about where I’ll be sleeping for the night, he tells me to hop in the truck. After another few hours following the old 315 highway, he makes a turn (not indicated on my map) and we drive along another road covered in sand.

Several hours pass on this road, it gets dark and we are stuck in sand several times.

Eventually, at midnight, we arrive at the end of this unmarked road, to a proper highway, the new 315 where the bus to Huatugou will arrive at 8am.

If you’d told me three months ago that I’d be hitchhiking along a mostly unused road, faced with the prospect of spending the night in the desert eaten alive by mosquitoes, I’d have panicked. Now, it barely even registers as something to worry about.