Sitting on a dozen headless pigs on the Yellow River... this is why I came to Shapoto, a beautiful little resort in the desert. You can climb the sand dunes, ride a camel, motorboat upstream, just sit with a beer and admire the river (but not after sunset when the mosquitos come out!).

Beheaded and inflated and topped with a raft. They hold air for about twice as long as necessary to cross the river (one hopes).

Then you have to untie a leg....

and blow...

Or you can do it the modern way:

Back to the Shapoto guesthouse...

With nice airy rooms but no hot water.

The next morning say bye bye to the river for a while. Funny place, juxtaposed with sand dunes worthy of the Sahara on one side, and mountains like the Rockies on the other. Every once in a while it'll turn into Indonesia with rice paddies and people wading knee-high in water.

And there's a hot dry spell that I hadn't counted on, with nomadic camel herders.I think these are the Hui people.

The bike just isn't liking the heat. Gotta find a place to get the timing right. I've always been terrible at the timing.