China - Land of contrasts

A jeep, two women, three weeks, 6000 kilometers, 5500 pictures and countless impressions.
On the Silk Road from West China to Shanghai.

At the beginning of February I meet Ricarda by chance, who, although we have known each other for only two hours, makes me an unbeatable offer: she wants to bring her car, which is parked on the edge of the Gobi Desert, back to Shanghai. She is looking for a travel companion.
In China it is not possible for tourists to rent a car to travel individually, so it is immediately clear to me - I want to do that, such a chance only exists once!

Within a few weeks we plan and prepare. The route is especially interesting because we start in the Gobi desert, with low population density and the simplest standard of living, and drive to the east coast, to one of the most gigantic cities in the world - Shanghai.

This trip is a unique experience of contrasts. From the past to the future, from poor to super rich, from unbelievably helpful to ruthless jumping.

We are allowed to experience one of the largest countries, in which about 1/6 of the world's population lives, up close and personal, and capture me with my camera. For me it is a document of contemporary witness, because China is growing in an unbelievable speed and in a few years many things will look different.

We visit small, simple farming villages, watch how the fields are cultivated and observe how a house is covered with modest means.
In the early morning, in a small village at the canal, in the same water, laundry and vegetables are washed, poultry is gutted, eels are caught, snails are cleaned and the street is scrubbed.
During a walk over a huge cemetery next to a deserted industrial town we puzzle what might have happened here.
On the search for a glacier discovered only in 1954 we enter a small iron ore mining village and spend the night in a miners' accommodation.
Surrounded by noisy, ruthless, selfie making Chinese tourist herds we drive up to a holy mountain and instead of experiencing enlightenment we climb hundreds of steps up and down in single file.
The markets with their exotic smells and colourful stalls are a feast for the senses.
By the litre we enjoy green tea and soups with freshly prepared noodles.