I have been to Dunhuang before... I know it's in the middle of nowhere... really... but two summers ago, during a 1 week break from my studies in Beijing, I went to Dunhuang by myself to see the desert, and to explore the Mogao Caves. There was something about Dunhuang two years ago that I loved. I don't know if it was the food, or the people, or just the general atmosphere, but Dunhuang has always held a special place in my traveling heart since traveling there. At first, however, it was not on our itinerary. I didn't think we'd have [View Full Entry]

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So we took our first over-night train for the trip without much incident. We arrived in Jiayuguan this morning around 7am and headed right to the Great Wall Hotel, which is built in the shape of the fort of the Great Wall here in JYG. We were in need of a real hotel after having such a grimy time in Lanzhou. So we checked into our room and immediately went back to sleep (we were woken by bright lights and loud music at 5:30am!). When we woke up, we grabbed a quick bite, and then called the taxi driver that we [View Full Entry]

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Lanzhou may be the worst place I've ever been to... I don't recommend it. We took the train back this morning from Xining, and tonight we are taking an overnight train to Jiayuguan, so we had no hotel today, and just had to check our bags at the train station for a day in Lanzhou. THERE is NOTHING to do in Lanzhou!!! We hung out at a little restaurant as long as possible eating niu rou mian (the only good thing about this city), and then headed to a park, where I gave Witt his first Chinese lesson, and enjoyed some [View Full Entry]

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After posting last night, we headed back to the hotel for an early night in our very basic hotel room in Tongren. We read our books, wrote in our journals, and shut out the lights for some much needed rest, after traveling basically the whole day... About a half hour later, I was awoken by what sounded like some very drunk people in the hallway. After five minutes, the sound died down, and I thought nothing of it. However, about 15 minutes later, and probably every hour after that until about 4am, the same thing happened. I would first hear the [View Full Entry]

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This afternoon we boarded a train to Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, which is on the border with Tibet. Outside of Tibet itself, Qinhai has the greatest density of Tibetan people in the world, and since Witt and I couldn't go to the real thing, we wanted to be able to experience a taste of tibetan culture in Qinhai. The train ride was uncomfortable, but uneventful, with some pretty scenery (but not really that much to be honest). Arriving in Xining, I was a little nervous. I had been planning on taking us to Xiahe, another city near Lanzhou, which [View Full Entry]

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Witt and I woke up at the break of dawn yesterday after a VERY late night out in Beijing. It was a nice morning, and we were excited/a little intoxicated as we packed our last minute provisions (TP) and headed to the airport for our adventure. We flew from Beijing to Lanzhou, which took about 2 hours, and then had our first bump in the road... I had no idea how far the city-center was from the Lanzhou airport, so I just got right into a taxi and we were on our way. The driver didn't ask any questions, and didn't [View Full Entry]

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