We walked along the highway for no longer than three minutes. I was about to take a traditional Chinese roadside bathroom break, when Galen warned against it. We were fairly close to a series of small military camps, and Galen, in the distance, could hear a large diesel engine humming towards us. I did not want to encounter the People’s Liberation Army, certainly not when I was liberating myself.

I watched as the large green troop-transporter passed us, the uniformed driver looking down at us. Just behind the truck, there was a large SUV. Without thinking, I stuck my hand out. The SUV slowed down and pulled over.

Two men were in the back seat and a driver was in the front. Though their vehicle was fancy and clean, the three occupants were poor and dirty. They clearly did not own the car; I assumed that their boss was having them drive it.

After I made sure they were not expecting us to pay, I squeezed into the backseat with the two guys and Galen hopped into the passenger seat. We began talking, and one of the guys in the backseat began asking me about the NBA. I did my best to keep up in the discussion of the teams that he knew by heart and I had only vaguely heard of.

They asked me what we were doing out in China, and I told them that we had come to explore the Silk Road. The basketball fan turned to his companions and then to me. “That is too bad you came a little too early.”

Unclear, I asked him what he meant.

“The Silk Road, I don’t think they have finished building that,” he explained. I sat there unsure of what to say.

At a construction site on the outskirts of the city, the two men got out, saying goodbye. The driver took us farther into the city and then dropped us off, from which point we took a bus back to our place.