sexy time immemorial

By loading the map, you agree to Google's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load map

Always unblock Google Maps

My friends Zhu Hui, Master Qi 祁师傅 and Li Na 李娜 got me into a car and drove up to the Tianshan mountains today:

It was very beautiful up there…

…where the sheep walk in the middle of the road…

…and the cows…

…and the shepherds…

…enjoy the daily luxury of a sight that money can’t buy:

We passed some kids who spread their arms as wide as they could as soon as they saw the camera:

And we passed some cows that were totally oblivious to our presence:

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

Always unblock YouTube

I took a time-lapse of the lake from a different perspective:

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

Always unblock YouTube

We hadn’t come here for this though. What we were looking for was these guys:

Kangjia Shimenzi Rock Engravings 康家石门子岩画.

They date back more than 3000 years, but have only been discovered about two or three decades ago.
The engravings cover a relatively small surface of plain rock…

…and they depict mostly human bodies in an artistically exaggerated fashion:

I wasn’t sure if this ancient artwork was meant to hint at sexy time (or the joy of procreation) but some of the figures sure did look like they were massively hung:

Or maybe they were just wielding some sort of ancient magic sticks?

…

Too bad some idiots had scribbled over large parts of what was left of the engravings:

I turned around and looked at the scenery opposing the rocks:

Had the vegetation changed during the last three millennia? Was the shape of the hills still the same? Did the air have a different shade of blue today?

In my imagination, all this didn’t matter. I was looking at the exact same sight as the rock engravers did. There was a sheep bleating in the distance. Another sheep answered. A bird circled over the hills. Everything was very quiet.

I stood there for a long time.

…

When we came back into town that night, we played a few games which I wasn’t very good at:

At the same time I somehow managed to come up with a half decent time-lapse of the sun setting over Shihezi:

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

Always unblock YouTube

It had been a good day.