I managed to convince this cute little Uyghur girl to climb up on my motorcycle for a photo.

The main strip in Niya (Minfeng), the southern terminus of the Cross-Desert Highway.

This guy was obviously Niya's town fool. He followed me around until I took this photo.

A rather subdued tribute to Mao Zedong in Niya's central traffic circle. The tributes get bigger as you head west.

Seeing a pack of wild camels in the desert west of Niya was pretty cool. Unfortunately, the closer I came the quicker they ran away, so I couldnt' get a close-up.

Camel tracks in the desert.

I drove through a number of increasingly green Uyghur farm communities. This girl was taking care of a flock of sheep, especially the baby lamb in her arms.

I stopped for an ice-cold drink and this man encouraged me to take a photo of him with some local children.

The mosque in downtown Keriya (Yutian).

Pretty much anywhere I stopped, I drew a large crowd of curious Uyghur men. These guys were hanging out just outside the mosque in Keriya.

My trusty map and guidebooks! Actually, the guidebooks weren't really that useful. The Lonely Planet's information on Hotan is pretty crappy.

Keriya's (Yutian) tribute to Mao and the Uyghur man who rode his donkey cart all the way to Beijing to meet him. It's not as big as Hotan's!

I stopped on the way to Hotan (Hetian) to grab a snack, and snapped this photo of a little Uyghur girl enjoying a nan bread.

On, and on, and on, and on it goes.

I was stopped by the police between Keriya and Hotan, but after showing them my passport and NJ driver's license they let me keep going. One officer even let me snap a photo.