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Published: October 1st 2007
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Sand Dunes in Dunhuang
Such beautiful, smooth sand... I headed over to Gansu Province to meet the rest of the tour group. The aiport was quite busy on Saturday, as it was the beginning of a holiday week! I had to transfer flights through Lanzhou and got to sit next to these two young Nanjing girls. They looked 25 years old but both were working professionals in their mid-30s and each had children over 8 year old! Sheesh. Anyway, it was fun for them to talk in English, and good for me to practice my Mandarin. They both said that they dreamed that their English was as good as my Chinese. 😊
I arrived Dunhuang very late at night. Turned out I was the only Shanghai-er on the tour. The local guide picked me up at the airport and we headed to the Dunhuang Silk Road Hotel. Hotel was nice, but not super. Supposedly it's the best hotel in the city. Given the size and location of Dunhuang, I guess it's pretty nice.
Woke up and went to the airport with the tour guide to pick up the rest of the 25 Beijing tour participants. I am the only Chinese-American, and the youngest, aside from the 4
Mogao Caves
Caves from the outside - photos not allowed inside the caves. children that are under 9 years of age. The other couples, singles, and pairs of friends are mostly European. There are three other solos on the tour, four including myself. Phew. Not as bad as I worried it would be. Everyone is very nice. Most people work for their home country's embassy, state department, etc. A handful of English teachers too. I can't say I have anything in common with anyone, but it's great to interact with new people. What's weird is that I feel Chinese"again. Such an odd experience for me.... when in China I usually feel "American", but on this tour with a bunch of Europeans (aka white people), I feel Chinese again. It's just a matter of context.
Anyway, it almost never rains in this part of Gansu province. Our local guide says that it rains only a few times a year, and it happened to rain the day we were there! Sheesh. What luck. It was slight rain, but the guide kept saying "how hard it was raining". Guess it really doesn't rain for him to describe a hard drizzle as "pouring". Anyway, we went forward with our sightseeing, visiting the Mogao Caves first. These
Mogao Caves
From the outside - caves are from the 4th Century caves were carved with Buddha sculptures in 360 AD, along with murals and frescoes. Amazing how well it's been preserved. No photos allowed in the caves. It is so fascinating that these paintings and carvings were done so long ago, in the dark, by hand.
The caves close in poor weather, for safety and to protect the clay. We went through 75% of our tour and then we got kicked out since the exhibits had to be closed. Oh well. I had a good idea of what it was all about. Nonetheless, my clothes were slightly wet and shoes were quite soggy. I wore the only sweatshirt AND fleece vest I brought on the trip. We headed to lunch and then went to the Singing Sand Dunes and Crescent Moon Lake. This area was the entire reason I wanted to go to Dunhuang... and it was raining. I was pretty disappointed. AND rain in the desert just doesn't really fit what I had in mind.
I insisted that I wanted to go anyway - despite the rain. The other 18 people on the tour asked for an alternative activity, and opted to visit the Dunhuang Museum instead. The
seven rain troopers went ahead to the sand dunes. I pulled out my umbrella, rented the sand boots (10 rmb, see picture) and was on my merry way. We first stopped to see Crescent Moon Lake, which is a moon shaped lake in the middle of these sand dunes. Quite interesting that there's an oasis in the middle of the sand.
The sand is so smooth and the wind makes these beautiful dune formations. It's quite spectacular. You can rent camels to ride up and around the dune area, but the thought of a soggy smelly camel did not appeal to me/us. So.... we hiked up! Pretty steep, but an easy climb up since the sand is pretty soft. I'm afraid of heights, but it was fine. I figured that even if I fell it would just be on sand and not rocks or into a ravine. Anyway, the sand is so beautiful and I wish my camera took better photos or I had better photography skills. The rain let up and we walked around quite a bit. The camels in the background add some caravan/desert feeling to the area. Really nice. It stopped raining and I was glad
Crescent Moon Lake
Oasis in the middle of the sand dunes. I chose to see the dunes and not the museum. The bus came back for us and since the rain had stopped, the rest of the tour now wanted to go to the dune area. So then I hiked up the dune again for a second time. I liked our visit there and I was happy to spend more time there.
We then headed to the Dunhuang train station to transfer to Turpan. We took a 8:20 pm train and arrived Turpan 8:30 am. The ride was bumpy and noisy. I was in a sleeper cabin with another tour member (Carol) and two Koreans who were part of a Korean tour group. The beds were OK, a little small, but I basically was half awake the entire time. The toilet on the train was ick.
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Linda Fang
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Gio han yu gai lin
The rain to local people is the best thing happened in a long time. a lot of places if it doesn't rain they will prey for the rain. To tour people is just the opposite. gio-han- yu -gai- lin that means when it is drought then it rains so the farmer is so relieved.