Yes, correctly – I am not in Qiemo as expected. When I went to the bus station in Minfeng in the morning for getting on a car to Qiemo, I was told that the street was closed due to heavy sandstorms and other reasons. I should wait until noon. Just about one hour later I was told that the street would not be opened again until at least the day after tomorrow and I should better return to Hetian. Well, what to do? In one of my earlier itineraries I had included Kuche on the northern Silk Road which is famous for its Buddhist Grottoes full of mural paintings – Kizil. Due to the time I took it out though. However, now I had to go back to Hetian and I did not know if or when I would be able to go to Qiemo. As I had other things on my plan, I just decided to continue my journey on the northern part of the Silk Road, taking a flight to Kuche and then continuing to Korla – bringing me back on the originally planned route. But before I would leave for Korla, I still had one day left in Hetian…


Back in Hetian