ADAM: 'You are faced with overwhelming power. Accept your helplessness.'

The mokoro owner I hired happily piled us all into a single, rather small craft and we set off over a flooded meadow, covered with barely half a metre of water.

These buses stop at the oasis towns of Keriya (Yutian; 177km/110 miles; 3 hr.; ¥25), Niya (Minfeng; 294km/182 miles; 5 hr.; ¥55), and Charchan (Qiemo; 603km/374 miles; 8-10 hr.; ¥105-¥147).

Very few and no females survived to spinetoram and spinosad exposure, respectively (see the results section).