The Desert

Finally, I'm writing about the desert. I know, it's been a while, but I can still remember what we did.

The whole group finally arrived in Yinchuan by 6am on Tuesday (part of the group was supposed to be there by noon on Monday, but their bus was stuck in a lot of traffic and didn't get there until 6am Tuesday!). After organizing and paying for the trip, we threw our stuff on a bus and hit the road... destination... desert!

Almost the whole group. 26 FoCers, 3 Chinese friends

The ride over was fun, we sang songs and introduced ourselves. There were 29 of us and many were new FoC teachers, so introductions were nice. Finally, in the distant we saw the desert. Which desert you ask? Many will say the Gobi, but it wasn't the Gobi. They just think that sounds cool ;o)

Day 1: Rode about 2 hours, stopped for lunch, rode another 1 stopped for the night. During our resting time we could do anything we wanted in the desert. Part of the time was finding a quiet, private place to go to the bathroom. There are no trees or forests to go into, so you just had to climb over some dunes to find yourself a bathroom. One of the guys also brought a frisbee so we played some ultimate frisbee. The field was huge!!!!

Resting on a dune after the first lunch.

Our Frisbee field

For supper, the guides went back into the city (apparently we weren't that far away) and brought hot food for us. We had a campfire and  got ready for bed. However, something was missing... our tents were still in a pile. They neglected to tell us that we needed to set up our own tents. Not a big deal, but no fun at night when it's cold and we're tired.

Our first night's campsite minus the tents.

The first night was tough... very very cold!

Day 2: had breakfast, packed up, rode for an hour or so, had lunch, napped, got back on, rode for another hour or so, stopped for the night.

This time we set up our tents right away. Hannah and I had ours all ready to go and even took a little nap. Then we all hung out together and decided a group picture was in order. This group picture included making a fish. After that, the time in the desert got really interesting...

A fish in the desert

The wind hit and boy did it hit! They brought our food, but when we ate it, it included sand in nearly every bit. We checked out our tent but our door was broken. So, we decided to try another tent. Tents will give you privacy and a little warmth, but won't do much for the sand. It ended up everywhere! After supper we hid in our tent for a bit, then went for a devotion.

By 9pm, Hannah and I were hiding in our tent, trying to protect ourselves from as much sand as possible. The wind was ruthless. I felt like our whole tent would be picked up and flung around. I thought the first night was bad... boy was I wrong! Finally at 3 or 4 or 5 or maybe it was 6am, the wind finally stopped and rest came.

Our second night's campsite

Although it wasn't fun to sleep though, it makes and interesting story and interesting experience. I enjoyed my time in the desert. It was peaceful, beautiful, unique. Not like anything I've seen before. I also was able to spend time with friends from Wuhan and around China.