"The Desert of Death on Three Wheels" By Antonio Graceffo

Solo crossing of Taklamakan Desert! In recent memory, only a very few books have been written about a solo crossing of the China's Taklamakan Desert, "The Desert of Death."

The following is an excerpt from the book:

On the fifth day, in the Taklamakan Desert, the water ran out. Thousands of kilometers of parched earth lay between me and the next Uyghur village, where I hoped to trade my father’s watch for food and water. Having no other choice, I hacked open the camel’s hump with a machete, and chewed the spongy white flesh, sucking out the water. It smelled of rotting fish and turned my stomach. But, slowly, I felt it bringing me back to live. The sand, which blew at fifty miles an hour, drew blood on my exposed skin. I collapsed beside the carcass of the suffering camel, and snuggled tight against its lifeless belly, hoping the sandstorm wouldn’t bury me alive.

When I finally made it to the Taklamakan Desert, I discovered the reality was not quite so exciting.

When I was provisioning up back in Aksu, I found out that camels were out of my price range. Instead, I was feeling extremely un-macho, pushing a silly looking three-wheeled bicycle. The flower covered basket and the bell had already broken off, but a few of the brightly colored streamers still dangled from the handlebars.

And as for my father’s watch, it was plastic.

"The Desert of Death on Three Wheels" by Antonio Graceffo, his Taklamakan Desert adventure is available at amazon.com or speakingadventure.com

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