October 10th
0km
Went for a massage this morning and a tiny Chinese woman beat the crap out of me. I spent 60 minutes on her table trying not to scream as she jammed her elbows into my spine.
Spent some time online next to chain smoking middle aged Chinese men playing computer games.
Went shopping for more warm clothes so that I can survive the last four nights of camping. Found a little shop that made me puffy snow pants for $20 in 3 hours. I picked the fabric and they measured me and sewed the pants from scratch.
Great lunch and dinner at small restaurants near the hotel. Stir-fried meats and veggies with rice or noodles. (Dove chocolate bars made a great desert after breakfast, lunch and dinner today.) Most of the riders are loyal “John's Cafe” customers, which is a Silk Road chain catering to tourists. I found the one in Turfan slow, expensive and not very tasty, so I'm not sticking to more authentic local places.
Interesting night market in town, with hundreds of vendors selling mostly touristy items. The tourist-trap feeling was somewhat diminished by the fact that we were the only non-Chinese tourists.
The tiny shop that made my pants:
They love their neon at the night market...a good indicator of a tourist trap:
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