May 30th: Forest Park to Horgos

I woke up at 4:30 unable to return to sleep. The camp generator turned on that morning at 4:46. After laying in bed for a bit I got up to have a cup of coffee while my dad slept. In the dining tent I found Peter, our german friend with a 1934 Chevrolet. He told me a story about how his family, with the exception of his father, got stuck in east germany after the war. His father was a pharmacist and with the relatively low security of the post-war border, he was able to trade his families immigration for insulin to a diabetic russian soldier. In the night, Peter was given sleeping pills and put in a camping bag carried by his mom and older sister across what would become the Berlin wall later on. He explained this to me as we drank coffee and watchd the sunrise over the rolling fields below.

After coffee, breakfast and rolling up the camping gear we set sail for Horgos. The drive was breathtaking, like we had suddenly entered the Alps and were driving along its crystal blue lakes and snowy peaks. We drove down a lovely winding mountain pass and into the city. The largest crowd we’d seen so far was in the parking lot asking us all kinds of questions about our cars and ourselves. In private I asked a few of them about the Uyghur people and if what we’ve been hearing is true. They confirmed that it there had been re-education camps and they were a problem 10 years ago but things have changed and China had become more open and accepting of them as a people. Whether or not that story is true I can’t say but it did seem like the people were very happy there. It was very fitting to spend our last night in China here, the place with the most barbed wire, security cameras, police presence and the happiest people.