Yesterday I thought I wasn’t getting anywhere with the GPRS problem because of Easter, so decided to spend the day walking instead of banging my head against the wall. My sponsor of the htc telephone in Norway – Nordialog – has sent my request on to the experts, so I hope it will be solved soon.

I got a taxi to the position where I last stopped walking (find the cross I  drew in the sand two days before) and start walking eastwards, north of Jiayuguan. Soon I’m out there alone and life is good. A few farmers here and there. After a while I get to a beacon tower with eight 2×2 metre (6×6 feet) and little higher constructions. They have a few holes going into the centre which is hollow. Andreas told me about them in advance. I take quite a few pictures of them and start thinking what they were used for.

The soldiers that served along the Great Wall spent their time, for the most part, waiting for an attack that maybe never came. So some scholars believe these constructions were used for some type of alternative industry to make money. There are 3-4 groups of these constructions, all placed close to beacon towers. Some believe they are stoves of some sort, while others think they may have been used as a sort of smoke signaling device.

As I continue walking, I associate that sand and snow behave the same way in some respects. For instance they both pile up behind obstacles when the wind is blowing. They can also be hard to walk through quickly if they have the wrong consistency, as they take the thrust out of your stride. So – we have sandstorms and snowstorms.

I am most certainly a Snowman. I was mostly brought up in Norway and have spent many nights out in the forests in the winter together with friends and alone. So I know what to expect even in pretty cold conditions.

The Sandman in me is having a pretty hard learning curve now.

For instance – what kind of socks should I use? I started off with cotton socks in two thin layers to prevent blisters. But they were much too dense and didn’t let air in or humidity out. Today I used a thin pair of woollen socks and they were great! Like walking on water   🙂  But when I took my shoes off at the end of the day they both had holes at the top… Luckily I have brought more robust woollen socks and will try them soon.

Another Sandman trivia – how many miles to the gallon do I last? (Hvor mange liter på mila?) Yesterday I drank 2 litres on the 15 km trek. That was a lot more than I expected. So I’ll have to drink more when I get to places and stock up where water is abundant – both in my body and outside.

As I walked on and got closer to the designated end point for the day, I suddenly got a shock. In the horizon I seem to recognize a very familiar structure (the header picture) on the dilapidated Wall. I got very emotional thinking that this is the exact same spot I walked past 11 years ago. I walked there with my brother who I will be meeting in only a week’s time. As I got closer I see that this is not the same spot. So I quickly regain control and save the tears for another day…