Heading out into dry country now, i'm greeted by a nice little tail wind once again. with only 125km to travel today settle into a chilled rhythm and the day sails by. Tragedy strikes though with about 30km to go. A puncture... stop under a bridge to take of it and am off again. Oh no... another puncture. Less amused this time, stop under a nearby sign post to fix this one. On arriving at the destination town, Yumen, you won't believe it, but yes, another puncture. "to hell with this!" I shout. Don't bother fixing it and instead get one of the nearby streetside bike repair guys (of which there are an abundance) to fix it. On trying out the new tire with a quick test ride, ride over a nail, another puncture. 4 in the space of 4 hours. this is a sign to replace my treads which happens at the bike repair shop. At least this happened here and not in the middle of nowhere...
 
Next door is a cheap restaurant and hotel, owned by the bike repair guys' sister. Get a good price and settle in for the night.