The news in brief

I left Urumqi in a little bit of a rush. This was partly due to the fact that the man running the Hostel I was staying at had a little bit of a freak-out. He decided that Caroline (the girl I'm now traveling with) had offended his wife and decided that he should come and yell at us about how he thought we were trying to cheat him. After Caroline had left in tears, and he finally calmed down, he admitted that his anger had nothing to do with us cheating him and instead was about how Caroline had told his wife that "she wished she could speak English". This situation became a motivating factor in getting out of Urumqi, so the next day we hopped on a bus with our Bicycles.

The bus ride turned out to be 30 hours because one of the tires went flat at 2am, and then an old woman fell ill and looked near death for the last 8 hours. Riding in a poorly air-conditioned bus through the desert in seats made for people much shorter than me for that amount of time was truly a new experience for me.

I'm in Kashgar which is a pretty fantastic place. The bazzar, although not in full swing, is still amazing to walk through. Especially when you get mobbed by small children wanting their pictures taken. One child pulled out my water bottle and just started drinking from it. I ended just giving him the water bottle seeing that he had somehow reached a higher state of filthiness that the other children and looked like happy with it.

In Urumqi Caroline talked me into getting our nails painted with pictures. I got my thumb nails painted with skulls and cross bones and glitter, it looks pretty intimidating. Of course I think that I'll probably take them off before I enter the Islamic State of Pakistan. I also want to get a mohawk, but I think thats going to have to wait too.

I also just realized I will be in Pakistan during Ramidan. That should be really interesting. I guess I'll have to throw away that spandex body suit I bought in Bejing.

Lastly, its been really interesting meeting people in Kashgar. My hotel seems to be a stopping point for traders from Afganastan so I've been mingling a little bit. Everyone seems really nice as long as they think I'm from Canada. Judging by their feelings about American foriegn policy, it would be bad for me to reveal my nationality, although it feels really weird to say I'm from a different country.

I'm staying until Sunday for the world famous Kashgar Bazzar and then I start cycling. I hope everyone is well, especially the people I know living in New Orleans.