May 30, Yanqi - Korla - Tarim River

We have to witness Neo separate from his son, I am sorry for them, it is a job that Neo has to move forward, a story of millions happen in many countries, particular China, with such population, fast growing economic.....we all look forward.
Soon, after leaving the downtown area of Yanqi 焉耆 the Landcruiser enter the highway leading us to endless sand, trees becomes very rare, Neo told us, we are entering into the desert area. We are driving towards Korla 庫爾勒 The boarder area of desert is not that pretty, far away from those beautiful image published, but we are getting there.
Fast moving on the highway, with both side endless sands, we have to admit that this is kind of boring, so we have to find topics to chat around, talk talk talk, and naps in between, eventually the target focus on we have to find something to eat, this idea gets everyone's attention - except my Pook who does not understand Chinese, so she is the last one to cheer. This is the first time Pook on a trip in Muslim world (sort of, in large part), even though there is really not much choice besides the Muslim meal, she actually quite enjoy the local food. Then began the hunt, so we stop a few times, checking out the kitchen - don't fancy the kitchen in this area, it is in the middle of nowhere, kitchen means a brick stove on open air, with beat up wok which you can't tell the color from the coal they use to fire the stove. But, Muslim people is very clean, I trust them with the food, and everyone seemed so. To give an idea what it is, shot by compact Canon G10.And like most of the Chinese family, a too-familiar scene, Mom cooking, and kids running around. The 2 cute boys of the cooking mom. In China, one baby system is still practiced, among Han people, but for minors in Xinjiang, they can have more. Canon G10.The house they live in.We don't have problem with her cooking, but we are looking for other choice, I made the proposal; "....let's find some noodle..", so noodle it is. We continue to drive ahead, looking for noodle.
And we found it. A nicely set up restaurant, and a busy - although dark, working kitchen. I grab a compact Sigma DP-1 for snap shot, and a Canon G10 - this time just for video clip, sneak into the kitchen, make a series of images and a full record of our meal making. This is an image took while I walk by the hall way (OK, to be frankly, to the restroom), with DP-1. I confess that I am a huge fan of Canon G10, but I will not lie that for pure image quality, DP-1 is by a mile a better photography camera. Get use to it, and it produce astonishing quality image, something I don't understand why others don't follow suit. At the time of this writing, Leica has its offering in name of X1. something to look forward to.The waiter, and helper in the kitchen, unlike many Han Chinese, is not camera shy. He pose for me with 2 bowls on his head!The cook and his wife, working on our Xinjiang noodle. And the secret of such delicious noodle, it really took efforts to work on the flour to get the taste that let us remember forever!One proof that the food is so good is that I simply could not stop to take time to make shots on what we ate, each of us took 2 big bowls, including my Pook.
Time to move on, now we are goting to Tarim 塔里木, and to see the Tarim River 塔里木河.