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April 23, 2007
Behold, Mother Nature's Fury!
How much sand could a sandstorm storm if a sandstorm could storm sand?
Well, I received quite a vivid and colorful answer yesterday morning as I was preparing to leave Korla for a quick business trip to Kasghar. My newly-organized perch high over Korla gives me the perfect vantage point for observing the effect of a brisk wind on trillions of microscopic particles of sand from the Taklamakan Desert.
This first photo was taken at 9:24am, when I awoke to find the air above the city as clear as I've ever seen it:
Things changed rather quickly when the wind kicked up. This second photo was taken at 9:35am, only 11 minutes later:
I don't think any words of wisdom I could add here would speak any louder than the photos above. Sandstorms are just one of the small pleasures of living next door to one of the world's largest sandboxes.
posted April 23, 2007 at 03:55 PM unofficial Xinjiang time | HaoHao This!
Comments
Amazing!
Posted by: Neil Sun at April 23, 2007 04:32 PM
Yikes. Suddenly Beijing doesn't look so bad.
Posted by: Chris (Eyes East) at April 23, 2007 07:19 PM
that's scary man..hope you're not riding trains during a sandstorm either..they had that train derailment not long ago. stay safe pal!
Posted by: dezza at April 23, 2007 08:11 PM
You can't fool me! Do you think you can trick us with a dirtied piece of pee-colored cellophane! Everyone knows that the Bingtuan has already removed the blight of sandstorms from Xinjiang.
Posted by: Vincent at April 24, 2007 11:57 AM
It's true.The sandstorm is so serious.I am from Bintuan and i was told the sandstorm is much more worse than the city of korla.
Posted by: Anna at April 24, 2007 04:17 PM
The real question is did you get more sand in your shorts with this or a day down the Jersey Shore?
Posted by: cph at April 27, 2007 07:15 AM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Taklamakan_lrg.jpg/789px-Taklamakan_lrg.jpg
I think this is a satellite photo of a Taklamakan sandstorm in June. I can't seem to get it to display with an html img tag.
Posted by: ou yang at April 28, 2007 11:08 PM
Yikes... I've just discovered your blog and read through much of your archives... I was starting to think about moving to a town like this for the experience (I have lived abroad from the US for several years)... until I saw these photos... i think sandstorms are not for me!
Posted by: maldives at April 30, 2007 03:11 AM
I live in Ala'er, about two hours south of Aksu along the Tarim river. On Tuesday, May 8, we had a sandstorm that cut visibility to about 50 meters. Trees were stretched out to horizontal. Schools were partially closed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and students were sent to the countryside to help farmers recover.
You should not go to Paris and fail to see the Eifel Tower. You should not come to the Taklimakan and fail to see a sandstorm. It's what we're famous for. But see it from indoors looking out a thick window.
Posted by: Jim at May 11, 2007 07:25 AM
This is so normal!Someplace in the state Mongolia in China in 10 seconds daytime became mid night. You even can not see your hands and everything!
Posted by: Matilda at June 19, 2008 07:24 PM