Beginning of Silk Road

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This is the first blog entry on the trip, and it's long over due. Have been in China for 2 weeks already, and spend the first week or so meeting friends in HK and Shanghai. The past three days were spent in Dun Huang, a major silk road city 2000+ years ago. Actually it was the border city that controlled the flow of goods and immigrants between China and Persia/Europe/India. Ideal beginning for my silk road trip.

Amidst oceans of sand dunes and mountains of martian landscape, Dun Huang is an oasis filled with trees, grape vines, and cotton farms. The desert wasn't as prevalent before, which is another testimony of human civilization's negative impact. I suspect much of the greenery today is unnatural, forcefully created with ground water to drive agriculture and tourism.

First day here was spent visiting the famous moon shaped oasis and sand dunes, which have to be the most beautiful I've see, since the sand is finer than that of the Sahara and the dunes are more sculpted than that of the Middle East. The only catch is the masses of tourists, along with the 500+ camels ferrying the tourists (most of whom could use the exercise) from site to site. The local government transformed this place into a theme park, placing sand surfing trails, powered gliding vehicles, ATVs, and even an archery range in the dunes. As David Luk would say, "this is how they roll in China."

In the afternoon, we went to the MuoGao grotto, built in 366 AD as a Buddhist temple and text storage site, probably one of the first in China, since Buddhism spread east bound through the silk road. The grotto contains close to a thousand caves filled with religious wall paintings and the world's 3rd largest Buddha statue. There used to be over 50,000 texts stored here, but after it's discovery in 1901(ish), expeditions teams from England, Germany, France, Russia, US, and Japan "acquired" almost 40,000 text. Along with local government corruption and theft back in the day, now there are only 8,000 left in China. Only a small fraction of the caves are open to public to minimize erosion and light damage, and the tour is tightly run on a controlled route. Government is finally doing something right to protect our heritage, which is also the reason why I couldn't take any photos. You just have to see it yourself.

Quick digression on food. We had donkey meat and camel toe (yah, I know), the former tasting like venison with the texture of veal, the latter tasting gamy with texture of beef tendons. With exotic ingredients, dinner for 4 at the best restaurant in town cost between 240-380 RMB. That's a round of drinks at Mint in Shanghai. Another example of the wide spectrum of development in China. With the vast cultural and geographical differences, it's going to take some hard work for China to reach internal equilibrium.

Second day started off with 2.5hr drive into the desert, and we landed at the Ya Dan geographical park. What used to be a lake bed tens of thousands of years ago, the hard mud is carved by forces of wind and gravity into different formations, similar to deserts in Cappadocia, Turkey, and Wadi Rum, Jordan. We proceeded to the remains of great wall built in the Han dynasty, the ruins of two border gates/castles that controlled the flow of the silk road (Yu Meng Guan & Yang Guan), all built around 200 BC. It's interesting to note that the major military installations built back in the day that still exist to date are for economic control/ cultural influence purposes, not too different from the present. Old habits die hard.

We are flying to Kashigar in a couple of hours, where internet access is shut down and international phone calls are barred, given the recent ethnic conflicts. It's going to be a very beautiful and interesting place to be. Stay tuned until we come out of Xin Jiang in 5 or 6 days.

Look forward to hear y'all thoughts.

Ming

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Photos

Ya Dan Geographic Park
almost got fined for climbing to the top of one of the mounds

MuoGao Grotto
photos allowed from far far away

Great Wall of Han Dynasty
>2200 years old

The Beginning of Silk Road
The view is from east to west, walking away from Middle Kindom into the Western Territory

Comments

[Kato]

Moon Shaped Oasis
The moon shaped oasis is amazing. No chance to read through the entire entry yet, but I will tomorrow. Looks like quite an adventure as usual my friend. -Kato

[anonymous]

Minger, These are great pictures and interpretations. We wish you and your team have a safe travel in XinJiang. We are waiting for your next BLOG. Best wishes! Dad and mom

[Joanne]

toe
You just had to make the camel comment, didn't you!

[Aaron Yang]

Hi
Good information, nice photos. Who were with you? See you in Boulder soon. ^_^