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Horsing around


Ants and Jo

Taxi for two from Bangkok to Brighton? Ants Bolingbroke-Kent and Jo Huxter aim to cross 12 countries by tuk-tuk, and raise £50,000 for Mind.
Entry: 11
Date: 09/07/2006

The girls bid farewell to China as they head over the border into Kazakhstan.

Saryam Lake, Xinjiang Province. China

Ants writes...

Our last day in China - how strange! At last after 30 days of driving across this massive country the Kazakh border is within spitting distance, a mere 60km or so west from here. The last month has been an intense experience; exhausting, exhilarating, stressful, hilariously funny, beautiful, frustrating and immensely rewarding. After all the trials and tukulations that China has put us through, I never through I would be feeling sad to leave it behind. But I am.

Yesterday was a tuk to the road personal best. We left Urumqui at 9am, the streets still deserted due to the city living on Xinjiang time (although the clocks here are officially set to Beijing time the people live two hours behind, the same as Kazkahstan and the rest of Central Asia), and arrived at this magic lake at 8.30pm last night. Eleven and a half hours on the road, and 650 km covered. The day seemed so long that I couldn't get my head round the fact that it had all happened in a single day.

"Horse sausage, horse intestine, horse liver... horse everything. I'll just stick to the veggies, thanks."

Along the way, we crossed desert, steppe, fields of sunflowers, empty scrub land and wheat fields, guided all the way by our new guide, Tien Shan. We set off in the morning unsure of our destination, our fate to be decided by whether we were allowed on the expressway. Our first attempt failed and the irate lady at the toll told us to tuk off in no uncertain fashion. Undeterred, we tried the toll gate about 20km further west. Again the guards shook their heads and told us to be off to the old road, where other three-wheeled beasts dwelt. He also added that a few kilometres further on there was a slip road where we could surreptitiously tuk onto the expressway. Which, of course, we did.

The next 450 km were spent speeding along on glorious tarmac, slipping through tolls before they could change their minds and waving merrily at policeman who we were convinced would stop us. Although Jo and I feel that not being allowed on the expressways has in fact turned out for the best, there are times when it's a joy to be on them. Without yesterday's luck we would never have made it to the lake last night and been able to spend our last day in China riding, walking and enjoying the unspoilt wilderness of China's final frontier.

Everyone here has horses. They spend their whole lives on their four-legged friends, herding their flocks, and then eat them when they get too old to work. Being a vegetarian, I was delighted to learn this morning that horsemeat is also a national specialty in Kazakhstan. Horse sausage, horse intestine, horse liver... horse everything. I'll just stick to the veggies, thanks.


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