This old derelict building
And I
Two hundred kilometers
Away from
Anywhere
Nothing but gravel, rock
A winding strip of bitumen
And heat
So much heat
Stretching
Well beyond the horizon
Well beyond my imagination
Abandoned
Even by the crazy foreigner
Pedalling a bicycle
Who looked at me
As he passed by
Like I was the crazy one
So much heat
He wavered in the heat-haze
Then disappeared
Like a desert mirage
As the swirl of heated air
Swallowed up this fantastical sight
I thought
In this punishing heat
Is it I
Who have lost my senses?
From Liuyuan
Gansu/Xinjiang
The People’s Republic of China
Taken during travels, 1998
This highway roughly followed one of the ancient Silk Road routes.
I saw many a strange sights in China. Few stranger than the occasional lone individual standing along a desert roadside hundreds of kilometers away from anywhere. No bags. No hat. Just standing there. Patiently. Waiting for . . . I will never know what.
Several times, there was no building or other road to be seen. Just the highway and one puzzled face, watching as a Western mountain bike, towing a fully loaded trailer, cycled by, its rider looking back with an equally puzzled face.