taklimakan

I got to Dahongliutan in the late afternoon. I figured my best shot was a truck ride back down to the desert, since the bus from Ali would likely be full. I went back into the Uighur restaurant, and asked if I could have laghman.

"Sure..." No one was moving very quickly. It occured to me that perhaps it was Ramadan.

"Has Ramadan started?"

"Yes."

"Ah, well then, hold the laghman - I'll break the fast with you tonight."

We left Golmud a day later than we had anticipated: my illness was harder to shake than I had expected. Martin kindly supplied me with antibiotics which eliminated the lung infection in 3 days' time, and made significant inroads against the sinus infection that I had also developed...