After about half way through our walk the next day, we got to a large factory that we were told made a chemical ingredient for making pictures. Because of the financial crisis it was temporarily shut down. As we walked through the area it was clear that the factory had employed a lot of workers. All the houses of these workers were empty now.

We got to a shop and the lady there greeted us. We asked if there was any place to get a warm meal, which there wasn’t. We asked if she could make us a Ji dan chao jiu cai against payment, and she agreed. The building had two rooms. The shop in front and her living quarters and a small kitchen behind. She said we could stay in the back room until she was finished with the meal. This is a delicious dish, yet simple to make. Jiu cai is a vegetable that is fairly easy to get hold of and ji dan are eggs. Yummy. We also bought and drank more than a litre each. Ice tea is our favorite.

We spent some time in the shop and then went on walking. Along The Wall we saw footprints of camels in the sand. Toward the end of the day we started looking around to find a place to spend the night. Jon walked to another factory and started talking to one of the workers there. He kindly offered us these premises to stay the night. He was a really friendly guy.  We were able to wash our feet which is nice when they are full of sand.