Welcome to Sebei

11 September 2008 Donglingqiu to Sebei.

We are back in the sunshine again.

We are working in the hear of the Chaidamu Basin, where sand stretches beyond the imagination.

Fossils? Not so much. I had to hike 9 miles to find NOTHING. Not to despair, we shall prevail. In the past several days we have been finding mostly fossil fish fragments, and only a few mammal bones (nothing identifiable to family).

We returned to Donglingqiu because of Mr. Gary Takeuchi's discovery of a single beaver tooth in 2005. Nothing more was found this year.

We are now in the oilfield station of Sebei; we have gained access to the refinery, so we could fuel up in the middle of nowhere.

Tomorrow we will attempt the ~6 hour drive to Eboliang, the supposed mecca of fossil fishes (geologists back in the day reported rich fish fossils by the bucket).

Jack

"The Majestic Kunlun, Master of all Mountains"

9 September 2008, Geermu.

We have once again been denied an exploration of the depths of Kunlun. Unlike the car accident in 2007 that made us back off, this year it was the snow. We waited out the storm, but at the mountain pass the road stayed slick and icy, and north-bound traffic has been totally cut off.

We packed up our gear and drove back to Geermu. Tomorrow we are driving deep to the center of the basin, exploring the sandy and vast terrains of Donglingqiu, Eboliang, and Yahu.

Here are some photos of Kunlun as we attempted its snowy peaks:

[mouth of Kunlun]

[Xiaoming in front of the Yuzhu Peak]

[snowstorm]

[it's cold!]

Jack

Snowed out

9 September 2008. Kunlun Mountain

The road up to the mountain pass is treacherous. We were forced to turn back for a few miles to wait for an improvement in the weather.