Resting
VOLKOV:
At about 8 in the morning the caravan people came with camels. It took 2 hours to load our belongings and it was more difficult then we imagined. The cameleers tried their best to show us that the load was too heavy for them and that there were not enough camels. Our interpreter Yura didn't understand their language. So he couldn't really help us. Actually, he didn't even try to help. We had to explain things to the cameleers (they were Uigurs) in our own way. Renat Temirbaev, the Tatar, "Son of the Steppes", turned out to be a volunteer. I tried to nip in the bud all the attempts of those "service representatives" to get rid of their obligations. We remained dissatisfied with each other, but the luggage was finally loaded. Only a fair impudence from our side and visual weight-proof using scales made it possible to finish loading.
DUSHARIN:
For six hours we walked along a flat road. It was an unusual feeling. We would rather have the mountains. The caravan looked like a long chain of camels walking so slowly. Soon we discovered that we were losing some freight. We had not packed our things properly. One of our guys had to go behind the caravan picking things up. We maintained the communication with him by walkie talkie.

Finally we reached Mazardara. It was neither a town nor a settlement. It was a cozy green meadow in a narrow gorge where two rivers merge together. Our forward progress was annoyingly slow, we had more time available to rest than we usually did. In the evening, we gathered by the fire and cooked the left-over ram bones. The soup was wonderful.

Bridge on the way to Mazardara
Gnawing round sheep's bones

Volkov's
diary
Dusharin's
diary
Advice
for trekking
Trekking
map

(C) 1997 Academy | Credits & Acknowledgements | Contact Us! | Expedition Sponsors