04-May-2012 -- In preparation for a visit to Xinjiang, China, we looked at our travel itinerary for nearby confluences. The confluence 37-80 stood out: we would be staying in Hotan for two nights, and the confluence, as shown at GoogleEarth, is actually in greater Hotan.

Zooming in with Google Earth, the confluence looked like it was in a cultivated field in south Hotan, just sixty meters south of a road. Getting close would not be a problem. Actually standing at the confluence, however, might be awkward: we wouldn't want to walk into and damage a local farmer's crops, and explaining the notion of a confluence could prove tricky. The Google Earth image suggested that there might be a track/walkway/levee leading toward the confluence. We would see ...

Friday, 4 May 2012, found us driving south on the main road S216. It was not obvious how to get on to the east-west road just north of the confluence, but the larger east-west road 350 meters further south was easy. We parked our van on that road and walked a dirt road north, then walked the road we had identified over to 80 east. We were sixty meters north of the confluence and lo! there was a dirt track heading south through the cultivated fields. We used that track and walked south and the confluence was within a meter per the GPS: no need to disturb the green crop-lands.

Visiting the confluence were Bob Ayers, Roy Levin, Mike Schroeder, our translator-guide Mr Hu, and our Xinjiang guide Mr Abdul.