Facing its infinite emptiness and unending dunes, you can only feel expansive and still. The world here is simplified into three elements-dunes, camels and vastness.

Walking in the Badain Jaran Desert is like walking through thousands years of history; it feels like a pilgrimage too, as you face the pyramid dunes of Alasha.

The steep dunes rise up high from the fiat ground, one after the other, covering the whole desert. Paths zigzag up the dunes and down to the next; and as for road signs--there are only the dried white droppings of camels to guide you, or simply gut instinct. When the camel's pads step onto the sand drifts, the sand slides down,

and the camels too, often slip back a step for every two they climb. You have to 1ie on your stomach over the camel, holding firmly onto its front hump for fear of falling off￡?Unlike in the fiat gobi. the camels cannot run at will; it takes much time and all their breath to creep over every single dune.

Walking in the desert calls for patience. In fact, there is nothing to worry about. Ahead of you lies nothing but sand, nothing but loneliness, nothing but one

day following another. But walking in desert, there is much space and time for reflection, for letting the mind wander; this vast backdrop is better than lofty mountains and flowing rivers. If you suddenly spot camels in the far distance, you feel a surge of warm emotion. But in just a second, they vanish without a trace.

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