Main theme--on the road, all the time

Road trip is such a romantic concept, if you love driving. Driving in the city may only emblaze wheel rage; but driving in Yili disarms it. Never in my life had I such an urge to drive.

Yili is SUV's real territory, macho driver's playground, but for someone who sits at the backseat, the ride can be more of a compulsory massage session that just pinches whenever I managed to nap for a minute.

Yet, no complaints. Tangbula and Botorla region's landscape is speechlessly stunning. Sitting behind the driving seat may deceit someone with a power of "in control", but I was happy sitting behind peeking through the car window, enjoying my own moments-- Little me with the colossal nature, silent, intimate.

An episode, on a break

One late afternoon, our van was stuck in a hidden ditch the middle of nowhere, the closest Kazak oasis settlement was 2km away, so it was hardly a scary moment, we all took it as a break for a stretch. I was about to jump into the self-rescue team, then my cell phone rang. Ex-boyfriend called from his office cubical:" what do you see now? What do you see?! Do you see miles of grassland and now, what now? Sunset?!"

I panned my eyes from the crew, up to the burning sky, and back again to the digging abd pushing hands. No one seemed to take too much notice of the time- dusk was falling, And it felt chillier.

I held my cell and finding myself squatting besides the van stuck in the ditch, checked myself from the reflection mirror and saw a exhausted sunburned face half-covered by flying hair; I thought for a while, pictured what the rest of the real world was doing¡ªclock, cubical, computer, coffee, cab- rides, then I just smiled: "yes, the most beautiful sunset in my life".

Thanks to true collective spirit (mostly united by the incentive thought of the possible hot shower ahead) we got our van back to the road. The cheer didn't last long though. A few minutes later, I found most of us felt into sleep and some lost in their own trance states of mind. outside the window, maybe the most stunning scenery we would never see again failed to impress. I saw we were getting closer to the light ahead, felt relieved: "I am gonna have the most comfortable hot shower in my life, MAYBE, if I am lucky."