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24.08.2007
It was dark. Very dark and the sound was terrible. So were the fumes, the dust on
this uphill road. Our horses were afraid and neither were we comfortable with the
situation.
There was no way around this tunnel. He trucks are big and the road itself is
narrow. And no fans either.
The length? – Over 500 meters…and this was the first one - not the longest one
either. Ugly, very ugly. And also dangerous..
It is a bit funny, that most border towns are a somehow funky – even if they are
just small places between two regions. As it is here between Gansu and Shaanxi.
Just one street, and a lot of shabby buildings, many of them hotels or brothels.
Or both. Then - a lot of shabby shops and spitting truck drivers.
There was a slight drizzle when we passed this town again in the late afternoon –
but it was clearing up.
This valley looks strange - it has been beautiful. But with these not so beautiful
buildings and particularly these huge constructions that criss-crosses it …well, it is
a bit with anguish one looks at this. A huge railway bridge here, and another
there, new expressway under construction, in many levels. On huge concrete
pillars. And then these steep green mountains and the ever-bending river. This is a
very narrow valley. It is somewhat absurd.
As we proceed on this busy main road connecting these two provinces – it is not
difficult to understand why this is being done. The traffic on this serpentine road is
immense.
But still - to see this huge building site that goes on and on along the river, in
through the mountains and out again on the other side. High up in the air, almost.
These could never be done in a democratic society. But here, since there is just
one landowner and one part who makes the decisions…it is possible.
For some of the villages this must be a blessing –they still have good connections
but much less traffic going through. For others it cannot be anything but a pain –
as one village that will be squeezed between the railroad and the new six-lane
expressway. And this in a fairly narrow point of one valley. When I say squeezed –
it literally is like that, so small is the area in between these two concrete
monsters.
Obviously this is progression – Chinese style.
What is interesting to see is how these roads are made. Lot of machinery, but
foremost a lot of manpower. At the same time on different sites. So the speed of
building here is very impressive. It is a combination of huge financial resources
combined with endless workforce resources.
We started late and the search for a good place to camp was on all the time.
Much because there seemed to be no suitable place at all. Just the road and the
mountain above and river below and ome villages every now and then. But
otherwise very limited possibilities.
On the other hand – when riding under conditions like these you have a constant
flow of adrenalin- so the tiredness that lurks underneath does not have a chance to
pop up.
What also cheer you up is a friendly smile and a greeting “ ellou” – everybody
thinks we are American. No time to stop but for a short water brake for the
horses and maybe an ice cream for us. Most of the so-called ice creams are frozen
and refrozen juice. But some are actually the real thing. You never know from the
wrapping – the picture shows you something that looks like a vanilla bar covered
with chocolate and nuts. Inside? - Not that remotely looks or tastes like that. It
can be a frozen juice stick in three different colors and four different, very artificial
tastes.
Exciting little game…not really.
On we go – with or without our ice creams and at one point we come to a point
were the road continues right in to the mountain. Oops, we did not know that. And
no way around either. In a way that is comforting - because there is no other way
and no other choices.. We stopped and made a plan.
- Does anybody have a car here? There were a few houses with a dozen people.
Already circling around these strange foreigners with big noses and on horseback.
Both horses and noses is a rare sight here.
No cars here. Hmm.
- How long is the tunnel?
Mumble, mumble…about 500 meters.
Not good. But what has to be done has to be done. In we go. Trotting. First
Gustaf and me. “5 meters ok then Gustaf stops in the total darkness. A big truck
wrooms by. Lot of fumes and dust. But no light.. Carl, who is last with Mahmut in
the saddle, tries to go first. It succeeds and the whole caravan of four horses trots
in total darkness. The sound of the hooves clapper on the asphalt mixed with the
engine roars in this very inhospitable environment is not nice. But we have to go
on …in a good speed and not loose the moment.
These 500 meters felt like many kilometers – but finally we saw the light and out
we came. All four and intact.
But this relief did not last for long. Because. Because, the next tunnel was just few
hundred meters ahead. And the length was twice as much. Sigh.
Also here were a few houses and we asked again if somebody had a car. Nope,
but on fat guy had a motorcycle. He said he could escort us.
I have always preferred a motorcycle escort to a car escort. It is somehow a bit
more stylish. Nice formation…
- Tell the motorcycle guy that he must drive slowly in the middle of the road.
With hazard light on all the time! I told Suyunbay. He nodded, and uttered his
normal
“ Yes, yes”
- Is this clear now!... everybody nodded.
I looked at the fat Chinese guy – for him this was a god opportunity – he would
earn 20 Yuan for just driving through a tunnel. He nodded too.
So off we went – Carl first, then Gusted, Filip and Emil last. As we approached
the mouth of the tunnel I looked at our escort. Where was he…slightly behind me?
No lights on at all. Neither the headlights nor the hazard lights
- PUT ON the lights! I screamed out loud. Nothing happened. Just a dumb folded
look as his bike swayed here and there. Shit. This could be even more dangerous.
So we stopped – went through everything again. T turned out that there was no
hazard light on the bike. So, just the blinker had to do.
Another try… still now lights on. Again I had to offer my opinion and command
in a not so civilized way. It worked.
And we pushed through this very unpleasant uphill tunnel with a swaying
motorbike that was too close to the horses. The driver was afraid and not used to
so to say block the way for bigger trucks.
Filip with Kristian was very close to stumble and fall, but luckily he managed to
keep the horse going.
We made it. None of us had ever done this before – and we all sure hope that we
do not have to experience this again. I think Gustaf, Carl, Filip and Emil agree.
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