Day 15 - June 26, Alxa Youqui to Bayan Hot

Updates from David on Patricia's Rally progress.

589km (of which 202km Special Section)

It would seem that the English translation of the Chinese word "Bayan" might be "Very".

Yesterday's stage (sorry I'm a bit behind) ended in a place called Bayan Hot. Patricia said it was "indeed very hot" (polite translation).

More importantly, the dunes were not as big as the previous few days.

They were bigger !! I saw them on TV and they were indeed like small mountains (well what we Brits, who live in East Anglia, would call a mountain anyway!). Apparently yesterday's stage did in fact go through the highest dunes in the world, so we can definitely say "it cannot get worse". Not only were they high, but also quite soft - so people were getting stuck all over the place - not aided by having 15 days of effort in their bodies. There were also lakes amongst the dunes - amazing scenery.

Patricia got to camp OK though, and I got a text when she went to bed - her tent was "between a party and a generator" - sounds perfect for someone who cannot sleep if a tap is dripping 2 floors down !! Anyway, she sounded in good spirits although exhausted.

Her position for the day was 21st, but she had moved up to 19th overall - which makes her in the top 1/3rd of the field !!

I'm not sure I can stretch much more news from a 15 word text !

However, if you would like an update on items submitted to the newsroom, here we go:

1. From Mr Tomlin : unprintable, because even I am not that brave...

2. From Louise : "Patricia, I am toasting your health from No1 court at Wimbledon" ..... its alright for some !!!

3. From Werner : "I did a presentation on Feedstock Price Developments at work today. My management will not be submitting it for your list of German achievements."

4. From Annette (in Germany): "Would you mind putting our football team on your list?" ... actually I would, because its not a real competition this year is it !? Annette, you know how to hurt a man....

And finally, from Patricia's sister.... Angelika:

"Did you just write "Patricia could make immediate repairs" ? Now this is getting really scary. Especially with the result that the bike continued to work. And, your analysis of Austrian vs. German superiority has to include the rider - it is never the bike alone. Simon is an Aussie after all. How can you expect any vehicle in the world to cope with that?"

Angelika then claimed to be from the European football nation !! I'm cutting my distribution list down !

Finally, back to business...... Patricia has actually finished Day 16 as well, as I write this.... but other than telling you she is safe and tucked up in bed again, you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the next update in this story .....

Over and Out......

Reminders if you are glued to progress and want up to the minute news:

Motors TV is a good watch each night (21.00 GMT and 23.30 GMT) , repeated the next morning (10.00 GMT) , if you have access to it...

For those of you unable to tune in to Motors TV, there is a video clip of each days action on the Rally website at http://www.transorientale.com/medias/video.php