She got the tickets at about 1/2 price (Regular tickets are $300 I think) off of craigslist and we made our shopping list etc.. and were all ready to go !
5:00a.m Friday, packed up tent, bikes, food and other essentials and headed off to Black Rock City in the Nevada Desert for Burning Man ! Reached there around 2:00p.m. We did not have a camp as such, nor did we know much about the geography of black rock city and where's best to camp. We parked the car and took out the bikes and rode around to find a place to pitch tent. Black Rock city was so much bigger than I expected. I think from one end to the other, its like 9 miles or so. I am so glad we had brought bicycles.
We roamed about the playa and the campsites trying to find a home for the next two days. While roaming, we encountered the 'Critical Tits' event - where women at the event ride their bicycles around the playa topless to express their feminity. yeah.. I did get a good dose of feminity for my first burning man event. Watched that for a while and then continued our search for home. On the way, stopped at a couple of camp sites. Most of the spots closer to the center were taken and no spots available. We found a post at 3:45 G where we set up camp. We pitched tent, set up our food out etc, before it gets dark.
Friday night, after dinner, went out to the different parties on the playa. So many good things happening all the same time. Survived Friday night. Saturday during the day, I ventured out in the playa to see the art works set up all over. I had forgotten to bring one thing - my goggles - and Saturday most day long there were many dust storms.. so I was stuck out there in the desert in the dust storm without goggles or breathing devices. It was not too bad though - managed to eventually make my way back to my camp site.
Rested for a while in the afternoon shade, had a hot ramen noodles dinner and then headed off at night to see the Burning of the Man. Everybody was gathered out there and we burned the man and then there was ritual dances, parties all over. Partied that last night off and headed back to my tent around 3:00 to get some sleep before departure Sunday morning.
Overall, the experience was awesome !!! People were very nice. Everywhere we'd bike around, people will stop us and offer us drinks, chocolates, cookies, food, body paintings, massages, water. Loved the theme camps, the different activities, the art work on the playa, the dust storms, the people, the music, the dust, the art cars, no electricity, no internet, no phone - but, so much to do and so little time.
Definitely, next time, I need to plan ahead and possibly try to join a theme camp or something and stay more.
And Thank you, Xiaoyan for planning the food, logistics and doing all the hard work to make the trip a success !
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