Desert adventure

I awoke from a light sleep sprawled across five seats in the Shacheng railway station, unwashed, still tired, and slightly grumpy.

We arrived in Shacheng late the previous evening and after several hours of unsuccessfully locating a hotel we could afford or accepted foreigners without the need for a passport (I had forgotten mine) we were forced to sleep in the railway station.

In an effort to escape the concrete confines of Beijing and desperate for a change of scenery, a group of colleagues and I decided last minute to make a run for the Tianmo Desert, located roughly 90 km north of Beijing in Hebei province.

Undiscouraged by the previous night's folly, we awoke and exited the rail station into the city of Shacheng to hail a cab, determined to make it out to the Tianmo Desert.

As we exited the city, we caught site of a fist erupting from the ground, gripping a giant bottle of Great Wall wine, a steel monument to the city's biggest benefactor. Built in 1983, the Great Wall Winery is one of Shacheng's most popular attractions, producing more than 50,000 tons of China's internationally recognized wine annually.

We slept for most of the hour and a half journey to the desert, though occasionally I cracked open an eye to catch glimpses of the mountainous landscape zooming by.

We arrived to the Tianmo at around 8 am, before the sun had risen high enough to bring its full heat, resulting in a cool breeze that made the massive mounds of sand that lay before us seem less like a desert and more like a beach.

And as the taxi departed, we realized that we had no real means of making it back to the rail station to catch our 6 pm train back to Beijing.

The Tianmo Desert is cradled at the foot of the Qipan Mountains and is the closest desert to Beijing and consists of two colossal sand dunes that span more than 83 acres.

A solitary spot of sand in an otherwise lush area, the origins of Tianmo still remain somewhat of a mystery.

With the Qipan Mountains at our back, we sat gazing across the surrounding landscape, marveling at the miles of farmland surrounding the Guanting Reservoir, Beijing's primary source of freshwater.

We shook off our exhaustion and climbed to the top of the tallest dune, which took a total of 10 minutes. Not in the mood to take advantage of the horseback rides offered by the locals occupying the desert, we decided to hoof it, hiking along the outskirts of the desert. As the sun pushed higher into the blue skies above, the heat began to get to us and we decided to make our way towards the cool blue of Guanting Reservoir in search of a place to quell our rumbling stomachs.

Heading towards the water, we marveled at the miles of farmland containing primarily sunflowers, corn and wheat. Occasionally, the farmland parted giving way to the colossal wind generators, part of the Guanting wind power field, which were scattered as far as the eye could see.

Surrounding the reservoir, the Guanting wind power field is Beijing's first major wind power field. The recently completed first phase saw the construction of over 33 new wind power generators, which are expected to help ease Beijing's coal consumption by 50,000 tons.

After stopping at a farmer's house for a mid-afternoon meal of fish, fried rice, eggs and noodles, we traveled along the banks of the reservoir, making our way towards a highway bridge crossing the reservoir.

Soon we came upon a group of men, garbed in camouflage, constructing some new structure that had yet to take a distinguishable shape.

It seemed to me as though China's expansion is not limited to the hustle and bustle of metropolitan areas, I thought to myself. Approaching the men in an attempt to practice on my Chinese, I unsuccessfully made an attempt at finding out as much as I could about the surrounding area.

With my limited vocabulary stretched to its limits I made an attempt to communicate in the universal language of music. Reaching into my backpack I pulled out my harmonica. Laying down a few measures of the classic 12-bar blues I smiled as looks of amusement swept the faces of the workers as they gathered around.

As we neared the highway we spotted a small collection of fisherman's houses on the banks of the reservoir and decided to ask one of the fisherman to take us across the river, putting us closer to the town we spotted from atop the dunes and closer to our train home.

The fisherman, spotting the look of desperation in our eyes and a good business opportunity, charged us a good sum of money to take us across and after a bit of reluctant bargaining, we were on his boat making our way home.

We made it to the village, found a taxi and arrived at the train station just in time to catch the last train back to Beijing.

Though the morning started out rough, our time spent wandering the countryside of the Tianmo Desert was the adventure we had been looking for.