The bus parked on the side of the road in the middle of no
where. Desert stretched as far as the eye could see on all sides of us and the
silence was broken only by the sound of our voices and the occasional passing
car. We took everything we needed out of bags and packed small backpacks for
the night, applied sunscreen, and then went to meet our camels.
The camels came in all sizes and colors and some had two
humps while some seemed to only have one, and a few camels had weirdly bent
over humps that I didn’t really understand. We were in trains of about 8 camels
each, but it didn’t really matter which group you were with because when you’re
riding in a camel train you find it’s not very easy to communicate with anyone.
The camels were sitting down when we climbed up on their backs and it didn’t
seem so high then, but as soon as we were ready to move the camels stood up and
I was surprised to see how high up I was.
I was the first in a train of camels so I had the whole of
the Gobi Desert to behold. It was a dry and desolate place. But up ahead in the
distance I could see some sand dunes that marked an area where we would be
camping for the night. Someone in our group had looked up how to tie a turban
and all of us had our heads wrapped to block the sun from our faces, and the
dry air from our mouths and noses. We must have been quite a sight to see.
The trek to the campsite was about 2 hours on camel, and I
have to say by the end of the ride I was pretty sore from riding. I couldn’t
imagine people on the Silk Road riding for days and days although I did get
rather attached to my camel that I named Dustin. There was nothing really to do
except to pull out an ipod and listen to a desert playlist, which is what most
of us ended up doing to pass the time.
This is Dustin.
When we got to the campsite, which was easily spotted since
it was the only source of color for miles, we said goodbye to our furry camel
friends. We would be boarding a van to drive us out of the desert the next
morning. The tents were brightly colored and very small for sharing but
obviously it would have to do. We saw our dinner laid out for us. It was a
dismal sort of meal that was made up of instant noodles, assorted fruits,
sodas, and prepackaged precooked sausage and pre-packaged vegetables that looked
anything but appetizing. We settled in to eat.
After a meal that mostly consisted of apples and grapes for
me a bunch of us decided to hike up one of the larger sand dunes to try to
catch the sunset. It was an easier climb than earlier because the dunes here
seemed to be packed down a little more and we got a great view of our campsite
from up top as we watched the sunset. When we returned we found that people
were starting a party. The campsite was bathed in full dark and people had
thought to bring glow sticks and speakers for ipods and the sounds of American
pop filled the night.
The people who had set up our camping trip had a few tricks
up their sleeves as well. They brought in some dry brush and we got a huge bon
fire going and roasted potatoes and other assorted random things over the fire
to eat. Someone even thought to find marshmallows in a Chinese supermarket and
so it was almost like a traditional American campfire. Eventually everyone
tired out from the long day and we all headed to our tents to sleep.
It was a long cold night. I had on lots of layers but I was
never quite warm enough during the night, and someone to my left snored the
entire night at a volume I didn’t know existed. When we awoke the next morning
at around 6:30 it was with little rest and we piled on more layers for
breakfast which was instant coffee and bread with some apple jelly and some
fruit left over from the night before. Although I was cold and sleepy I have to
admit the early morning haze in the desert was sort of beautiful and when we
got in the van that would drive us out of the desert and back to civilization I
was kind of sad to leave.
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