Real Life Survival Game: Solo Bikepacking China's "No Man's Land"

All right, decided not to head out today. Just gonna get some water. I have to say, this water looks incredibly clean. Sometimes when you're in a village using a well, the groundwater can be full of mud and sand. But this, this is remarkably clear. Yeah, this is as clean as it gets. It's 7.49 a.m. The solar panels have been charging for a full day. This one charged up by 20%. This one, probably around 10-something percent. There's no display on it. Good enough. That's plenty of power for my daily usage. It gets pretty cold here at night. I mean, look at my setup from last night. Two layers of ground mats and I even had to break out the air mattress. And on top of that, two sleeping bags. I slept comfortably for the most part. The only thing is, I slept with my socks off and my feet got cold. The insulation doesn't feel great. Well, I'll continue the journey tomorrow. I've already finished my lunch and dinner for the day. I even managed to edit two videos. I just went to fetch a bucket of water. Oh man, my sleeping bag. The, what do you call it? The plaster from the ceiling fell down on it. I had the window open for ventilation. It's pretty cold inside this room. That's why I spent the whole day outside soaking up the sun. It actually felt really nice. Even though it was a bit windy, it wasn't that cold out there. Time to lock the door. The sun will be down in about 10 minutes. Getting into the sleeping bag, ready to rest. Taking my pants off feels a lot less restrictive. It's much more comfortable to sleep this way. I want to take my socks off too, but I'm afraid my feet will get cold again. I need to wake up and leave early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow's destination is that, what's it called? Tianshuihai Army Post. It's about 80-something kilometers from here. So I definitely need an early start. If I leave too late, first, I'm worried about the wind. And second, I might not make it in time. Sign, Guangxue Lake First Level Checkpoint. All right, I rested here for a full day yesterday. Time to hit the road again. Look at that shimmering water. Hongshan Lake. Every single lake in Tibet, as long as the weather is good, is always this stunning shade of sapphire blue. Beautiful, sacred Tibet. Although I think I should be crossing into Xinjiang today. Yep, the Xinjiang-Tibet border is just 22 kilometers past Guangxue Lake. Wow, so many people. We're about to enter Xinjiang. As soon as you cross the border, it feels like the grasslands just open up. The view is so much wider here. And it's a beautiful day too. Time to switch hats. It's getting a little warm. Sign, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Border Management Regulations. I should be about 30-something kilometers from the Tianshuihai Army Post now. I think I can make it in about two hours. No idea if there's any network or signal there. My China Broadcasting Service has absolutely zero signal out here. Sign, Tianshuihai Army Post. Made pretty good time today. It's 83 kilometers from the Guangxue Lake Checkpoint to here. Only took me five and a half hours to get here. That's quite fast considering it's just a little past 5 p.m. All right, I'll just find a spot to camp up ahead for the night. The army post here is newly built and the village committee won't let people stay. Ah, so I have no idea where I'm going to sleep tonight. I'll just keep moving and see what I can find. Water is 5 RMB a bottle here, forget it. Not buying any. I've still got some left on my bike. This is so frustrating. There isn't even a single herdsman's house out here in Xinjiang. Wait, I see an equipment room over there and the door is open. Let's see if I can stay inside. The battery bank is way too close to the machine chassis. If I accidentally get electrocuted, it'd be lights out for me. I'll just keep going and see what else I can find. This might be the last possible shelter I can find today. Huh, is that a bicycle over there? If I keep going, I honestly have no idea what else is out there. Looks like I'm sleeping in an equipment room again tonight. Can you hear that? The hum of the machinery. Tonight, I'm surrounded by batteries on both sides. But this is low voltage. Dunternachsee, sterile voltage 2.25 volts, max current 60 amps. Yeah, it's low voltage, not 220V. If it were 220V, I'd be in serious trouble. I'll just have some snacks for dinner tonight. I was originally going to pitch my tent, but the wind outside is just too strong. Some biscuits, canned yellow peaches, and I've still got some bread. Yeah, I'll eat some bread and then get some rest. It's just past 9pm now. A new day. The sun is out. I have to climb a small mountain pass today. Gotta get the solar panels out and let them soak up some sun. Several of my power banks are already dead. I am Chinatower. Thanks for the shelter last night. Wow, the wind was incredibly strong last night. I had planned to pitch my tent outside, but the ground is too soft for the stakes. The tent would have probably been blown to pieces. The wind was insane. It's still pretty cold right now. The altitude here isn't even that high, just over 4,800 meters. Time for some breakfast. I'll try to get on the road before 11am. I don't have many gas canisters left. Should be just enough to cook some noodles though. Noodles it is for breakfast. Some chicken noodle soup. 500 milliliters should be enough water. This noodle cake needs to be boiled well. It's terrible if it's undercooked. All right, the noodles are almost ready. Gonna add two duck legs. I have to cross a pass today. Since I have no signal, I can't look up any information about it. But I need to eat some meat. Otherwise, I won't have the energy. Adding two duck legs. These ones get really tender when you boil them. And the flavor is much better. My throat is a bit sore. Maybe I'll just soak the duck legs in the hot soup. This is delicious. Mmm, tastes great. No water to wash the pot. Well, I'm full, but now I really need to go to the toilet. Out here, there's not even any cover when you need to go. Haha, looks like today it's going to be a no cover situation. I should probably get far away from the road. Yeah, I'll walk way over there. Find a spot with a slight slope, squat down, and that's that. This area seems to be saline alkali land. As you come down the road, you can see these white patches on the ground. That's probably why no grass grows here. Which means there's no need for grazing. And that's why there isn't a single herdsman's house to be found. This spot I reached last night. It was probably the last possible campsite I could have found. If I had kept going around that way, I really don't know where else I could have camped. I have no idea where any other campsites would be. Last night I was even considering sleeping under that bridge culvert. But it was too small and low. Hard to get into. Look at these layers in the soil. A distinct white layer. It's just under the topsoil. This must be a classic characteristic of saline alkali land. Actually, I wanted to rest more today. After all, I rode a really long way yesterday. I think I set out around 11 a.m. yesterday too. And I rode until after 8 p.m. to get to this spot. The wind started picking up around 8 p.m. Even though it didn't get dark until after 10. I had no idea what the road ahead was like, so I didn't push on. I covered nearly 120 kilometers yesterday. I think it was on 14 actually. But I should keep moving. Because this is the no-man's land. And it's getting hot now. I'm already feeling warm in this jacket. Good thing I didn't stubbornly push forward yesterday. Just 5 kilometers past that telecom station yesterday, the road started going uphill continuously. That's where the pass climb begins. I have no idea how high this pass is. My phone has no signal. This useless network! So I can only hope that after every turn there's a downhill. But no. I go around a bend and it's uphill. Another bend and still uphill. Haha. Well, at least it's still early. I just don't know the specific road conditions for today. No network on my phone at this location. Back at the Tian Shui Hai army post yesterday, there was a signal. But it's so annoying. The other cyclists I met a few days ago were all allowed to stay there. But when it was my turn, no luck. When it was my turn, they were worried I'd get into trouble. So they refused. Not even allowed to pitch a tent. Ah, I can see the pass I have to climb today. Kitai Dabun Pass. This is already Xinjiang territory. The other passes Jishan and Hongtu. They are still within Ali prefecture in Tibet. So that's why there are prayer flags at the top of the pass. Should also be around 5200 meters high. But since this is already Xinjiang, I'm not sure if there will be any prayer flags at the top. Then Kitai Dabun Pass altitude 5170. Sign, ascend to the peak of the Kunlun. Sign, defend the red frontier. Looks like the Kun character fell off the sign. So this is the Kitai Dabun Pass. Altitude 5170 meters. The area I just came up from is the Aksai Chin Basin. Yes, the Aksai Chin Basin. Coming from Tian Shui Hai. The average altitude there is around 4900 meters. The wind is pretty strong up here. They even built a viewing platform over there. It's a hexagonal pavilion. And in the middle there's a white sculpture. Peak of the Kunlun, red frontier. Wow, it's so white. Was this just built? There are already cracks on it. Maybe it's from the wind and snow. After it snows, the melting snow effectively gives it a wash. Let's take a few pictures. Looking at the map, it seems I can finally get out of the no man's land today. It's all downhill from Kitai Dabun Pass. The altitude will drop from 5170 meters all the way down to about 4200 at Hongliu Town. That's a 100 kilometer descent. So it should be mostly downhill from here. I should be able to make it to that town Hongliu Town today. Okay, preparing for the descent. A 100 kilometer long downhill. From an altitude of 5170 meters down to 4200. One last sip of water. Looks like there's a dust storm up ahead. Wow, the whole sky has turned dark. That white dust. There's a storm brewing over there in the valley. A proper dust storm. That shouldn't be happening. Could there be a vehicle causing trouble down in the riverbed? I mean, it can't be like this all the time, right? I knew someone was messing around down there. I think I can see an excavator. Look at the road behind it. They really don't care about anything, do they? This is just great. A man-made dust storm. After riding all this way, I finally see a properly functioning wind turbine. Now that's what I'm talking about. I mean, the wind here is so strong. I feel like it's about to take off. The wind here is absolutely insane. We've been riding against this headwind for kilometers. And this is the first working turbine we've seen. This is Hongliu Town Town. The Hongliu Town. I'm out of the no man's land. Finally out. Leaving Hongliu Town and pushing on. Today's goal is the next town, which is 120 kilometers away. But it's mostly downhill, except for a small pass with a 300 meter climb. I stayed last night at the Kunlun Inn, right next to the Hongliu Town checkpoint. Got a good night's rest. A few motorcycle travelers arrived around 11 p.m. So I got to share their breakfast this morning. Didn't have to cook for myself today. On 20 kilometers. No idea what time I'll arrive. The altitude here is 4,200 meters. The town I'm heading to today is at 3,600 meters. So that's a descent of nearly 600 meters. Because of that, I think 120 kilometers today should be no problem. Yesterday, coming down from Kitai Daban Pass at 5,170 meters to here at 4,200 was a pretty big drop already. Although I think I only rode about 70-something kilometers yesterday. Because parts of it were uphill. And the wind yesterday was brutal. No joke, it was a really strong wind. It was impossible to ride. I had to get off and push. And when you're pushing, if you get hit by a gust, maybe a level 7 gust. Wow, you can barely hold on to the bike. It feels like it's about to topple over. Today, I'm still riding through the valley along the Kunlun Mountain Range. But the mountains here aren't very high. So the valley doesn't seem as steep. It's nothing like the Nuzhang River Gorge, where the mountains are incredibly steep and tall. Sign Majestic Kunlun, the Dragon Vein of China. Are those snow-capped mountains in the distance? This snowy range here, this is the Kunlun Mountain Range. The Kangxiwa Martyrs Cemetery is at an altitude of 4,010 meters. And the Kangxiwa Dabin Pass is at 4,380 meters. My destination for today, Saitula Town, is another 86 kilometers away. But after I cross the Kangxiwa Pass, it's all downhill from there. Saitula Town is at an altitude of 3,600-something meters. So even though it's 86 kilometers, it should just be a few dozen kilometers of rolling hills, with a general downhill trend. So I should be able to make it today. Sign G219, China's most beautiful border scenic byway, haha. The Martyrs Cemetery is on my right-hand side. Maybe it's because the altitude is lower now. It's still a sunny day. But the sun feels so much hotter on my skin compared to when I was in the Ali region. I sign Kangxiwa Dabin Pass. Altitude 4,269 meters. An altitude of over 4,000 meters doesn't even faze me anymore. This slope is alright, not too steep. Just a few kilometers of climbing, less than 10. Almost there. This is the highest pass of the day. After this, it's down to, what's it called? Tutu Town or something. Time to go downhill. Thank goodness it's a downhill. The wind started early today, a headwind blowing right at me. But luckily, this pass wasn't very long. The climb was less than 10 kilometers. So now, oh, it's already five o'clock. It's already five o'clock in the afternoon. I've ridden 60 kilometers today. Five o'clock, that means I'm still, what's it called? 60 kilometers away from Saitala Town. 60 kilometers, oh. If I ride fast, I wonder if I can make it before 9 p.m. It's mostly downhill for these 60 kilometer. I should be able to make it, right? Later. Okay, about 26 kilometers left to Saitala Town. Who is playing in the mud up there? I can barely see the road anymore. I've got to put my face shield down. Otherwise, I'm going to get another mouthful of dirt. Greets passing car. Hi. Got to put on my glasses too. Don't want to get dust or sand in my eyes. Wind power. Haven't seen these in a long time. I didn't see a single one in all of Tibet. All right, about 15 kilometers left to Saitala Town from here. Wait a minute, that doesn't seem right. Which road is it? According to the map, both roads lead to Saitala Town. But this lower one is marked as National Road 219. And this one is also marked as National Road 219. I think the road behind me is the correct one. This main road is probably for trucks. There are a lot of them around here. I absolutely have to get to town. I don't have a single drop of water left on my bike. Not a single drop. Tight five kilometers to go. I have to buy some water. I'm so thirsty. The final two kilometers. But why is the sky above the town so hazy? It looks like the air quality isn't very good here. Look at that. The air up there is all gray and hazy. Oh, man.