Luckily we have had help from the family of Amin Shan, a nice young Uighur working in the Animal Health department who we met at Xingxingxia. The Uighurs are a Turki race who form a large percentage of the population in Xinjiang, and are Muslims. Here we all are at a Uighur restaurant in downtown Hami.
Amiin Shah is being mother and on his right is brother Delat Shah, who speaks excellent English. On the far left is their father, and the good news is that he has not only helped us to source fodder, but has also found us a new driver, an imposing Uighur by the name of Niyaz. Here is Peng with Niyaz and his wife. The one drawback is that I cannot understand a word Niyaz says in Chinese let alone any other language, so the next stage promises to be an interesting challenge. Peng hopes to be back as soon as possible, but of course these things are in the lap of the gods. 
… though their choice of wording for the signs in front of the matching side palaces could be regarded as singularly inauspicious
Ladies of leisure ready to receive guests ….
..while Mr Peng meditates in the bedroom. Note the black eye – acquired not from an irate palace official, but from an unruly Shandan.
You may remember our stay at the tomb of the Muslim pilgrim at Huihuipu. He was one of three who are believed to have been sent to China by the prophet Mohamed in the Tang dynasty. In fact only one of the three pilgrims made it to South China, and the first, Gess, died at Xingxingxia, where the Trio visited his tomb. However in 1945 his remains were removed to Hami following the destruction of the tomb by Kuomintang troops. We dutifully made our own pilgrimage to the Gess mausoleum shown below, though the retainer was not very friendly and we were not allowed to see the tomb inside. No donation there then!
The temperatures have soared, and within the space of two days we have gone from seven layers of clothing to one. The leaves are sprouting and everyone is busy planting out this year’s crops.
The sight of abundant clean fresh water is a treat after the long bitter water desert stages.
Yesterday we rode through the delightful little oasis villages of Huanglugang and Yukeshi, also visited by the Trio. Rowena has an amazing ability to chat with anyone in any language she doesn’t actually speak – here she is gossiping with the locals in Yukeshu.
Having been accosted by the local police, we ended up parking truck and horses in the police station yard at the small town of Luxuan where we stayed last night. A quick wave of our official certificate always works wonders.
We wandered up through extensive walnut groves to the remains of a few old decorated Buddhist caves (mentioned by French and Cable), and walked along a canal carrying meltwater down from the hills. 
It was all most beautiful and peaceful (at least until the buses of sightseers starting arriving) and we even found some wild iris – malien – of the type which gave their name to Malienjing.
The khan’s summer palace appears to have been replaced by a chickens’ summer camp. 
However it was not long before we were battling against a fierce and freezing head wind. And then a dust storm loomed up but luckily passed high over us as we sheltered by an underpass, spattering us in mud.
Rowena soon had a cheery fire going which looked most romantic as dark fell …… 
…….but the flashlight revealed her in her second life as a bag lady eking out an existence in the underpasses of the Gobi. 
Today we had a long trudge to Yandun, the Kotzyentun or Pigeon Rock where French and Cable stayed. Although the old settlement has long since been swallowed up by desert sands, the red cliffs inhabited by pigeons they described are easily recognisable, and Rowena even saw some rock doves nearby.
..and we eventually ended up riding through some lonely desert hills…. 
…and came across this beautiful unexpected little oasis
After several attempts, all involving the ritual little piece of wire, Zorbee has at last managed to christen Rowena, and she joined the select ‘ Zorbee Dumpee’ society today. However nothing was bruised but her pride.
….and here is the inside view. Rowena slept in the fairy bower, leaving her elderly aunt to doss on the dirt floor (but I did have my extremely comfortable air bed).
We had a perfect day for riding. French and Cable describe places in the Gobi where ‘the ground was covered in with small pieces of white porphyry which looked as though a slight snowstorm had fallen’ and the photo above illustrates this. But only two days ago it was the real thing!
The desert scenery has become more wild and beautiful as we move northwards.
Coming over the brow of the hill to the final plain before Xingxingxia, which is to the right of the large hill on the skyline. The straight line of the main road can just be seen in the far distance.
Xingxingxia takes its name from the ravine at the end of which it stands. According to French and Cable it originally meant ‘Ravine of Baboons’ due to the baboons which came down to drink here, but it is now taken to mean ‘Starry Gorge’ after the quartz outcrops on a nearby hill. The baboons have long gone, and neither did the ravine look very starry when we rode through, due to the constant line of lorries throwing up dust on the gravel track which winds along the bottom. Due to construction of the new G3, they have been rerouted along the old road. 
However the weather brightened up in the afternoon although it was still bitterly cold and we were wearing nearly our entire wardrobe in an attempt to keep warm. In true form, Peng managed to find a little camp of construction workers who let us park the truck by them and fed us a wonderful noodle supper cooked in an oil drum – below is the camp cook in his kitchen tent.
Rowena and I narrowly escaped freezing overnight in tent and truck respectively, but Peng of course somehow managed to wangle a place in one of the stove heated tents!
Once again the inimitable Peng has managed to find us food and lodgings courtesy of the Hua Zhong construction company building the G3 expressway – this time in the site managers headquarters in Malienjing! Here we are with some of the genial hosts who rescued us from another arctic night. 
