July 15, 2005

In 1895, Sven Hedin , a Swedish explorer inspired by tales of lost cities under the sand, trekked across China's forbidding Takla-makan desert (meaning Place Of No Return). He barely survived, and over half of his party perished, including his problematic guide, nicknamed Yollchi, the pointer of the way. The Takla-makan is the second largest desert in the world, but it may still be hard to find.
posted by un- 19 years ago
  • )))!!! Fascinating account -- about an explorer I never heard of before. Thanks, un- -- and welcome, new monkey!
  • Welcome indeed! Nice reading, that.
  • thank you so much un- I have long been fascinated by this barren and mysterious part of the earth... a great find, fellow monkee!
  • Lovely first post, un-.
  • )))
  • Thank you for the warm welcome. I have some more interesting desert stories to post about, unless I'm physically restrained. But, one small question, being a noob, I don't know what the ))) means ... is that just smiles? Thnx.
  • they're bananas!!!!!
  • Great post! (And the ))) is the local symbol for bananas, which we hand out as prizes to exemplary monkeys.) One minor caveat: the "Place of No Return" link is to one of the many sites that rip off Wikipedia content and place much higher in Google results for reasons I don't understand; I personally would link to the Wikipedia article instead, but it's no big deal. Having lived in Taiwan, I especially loved the last link (the "ask a friend" thing is absolutely true). My advice to the irascible Brooklynite: book a ticket for Urumchi and fly to Kashgar from there. If you're a desert aficionado, I trust you've read Doughty's Travels in Arabia Deserta? If not, you owe it to yourself to find a complete edition (apparently only a "selected passages" is in print in this filthy short-attention-span era) and get accustomed to the archaic English he chose to write in: it gives a better idea of what living in the desert is really like than anything else I've read, and the prose is magnificent.
  • I haven't read "Travels in Arabia Deserta", but I'll look for it in my library. I'm woefully underread as I spend too much time on the Internet. And thanks for the bananas!
  • . . . on a horse with no name, it felt good to get out . . of the . . raiiiin . . Oh. Sorry. Nice post :)
  • I thought I had heard of that desert before. The Taklamakan Mummies.
  • What an un- believable post. Bananas AND Pop Tarts to you! I've always been a fool for deserts, also. I love the barren places--I just wish I could take the heat better.