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Published: July 13th 2013
On my last day in Dunhuang I got up early and I cycled to the edge of the city where the sand dunes can be seen. I also found a charming little youth hostel there, just at the foot of the desert. I dropped my bags and my bike there (40rmb a night) and went for a walk. I was surprised and annoyed that tourists were asked to pay 120 Yuan to “visit” the sand dunes. And the entire desert was surrounded by a fence! Do you believe this?! I am a bad tourist and I decided to walk farther down ( I mean WAY down!) to find a hole in the fence and snoop in. I don’t mind paying money to visit Buddhist caves and museums, or even lakes that need protection but sand???!! No Way! So I walked a good 30 minutes along farms. Yeah, that’s right, there are farms along the desert. Dunhuang is an oasis so thanks to irrigation local farmers can grow pretty much anything they want and 20 meters down, it’s all sand and dunes. I found a hole below the tall fence and I got under… I should have taken a picture! Shame on
me? Oh well, I ended up having to climb a huge dune and from the top, I had the best view over that ridiculous little moon lake that has become Dunhuang’s landmark: the Crescent Lake. I was all alone on this side of the desert but it was around 12pm and it got hot, very hot! I found refuge under a bush and spent more than 3 hours rotating under it to avoid the sun. I read a bit and I slept. Around 4pm I got up and went on towards the desert, far behind the lake. Once again there was no one else, no one to photograph or to take a picture for me. I actually like taking pictures of people or cars in the sand dunes because it gives a better idea of the scale of the desert. Sand dunes only look as amazing as they really are when we can compare them to the Jeeps or the buggies tourists ride around. I went from one big dune to another, emptying the sand out of my shoes every so often. The view was splendid, especially later on in the evening when colors change just before sunset. I met
2 girls from Japan who were traveling around the world for… 2 years! We walked 30 minutes together. I convinced them to climb up a dune. Asian tourists don’t really like walking. In the desert the bureau of tourism has set us a road and mini buses to take the tourists from the gate to the little moon lake… 500 meters! And then most of them ride a camel that takes them to one particular dune where they climb up quickly, take a few pictures and go back… Is it worth 120 Yuan? J The first time I went traveling with Becky, I also made her walk a lot and she was extremely surprised that I (foreigners?) like to go farther and farther to see what’s behind… but I was pleased when she told me that she liked it and that she would have never done it by herself or with her friends. So as usual, in Dunhuang, I walked all around, and up and down, and up and down the dunes… and for free! The funny thing is that back at the youth hostel when I sat down for dinner the backpackers around the table were all talking about
how they would like to find a way to get in the desert without paying… And I did tell them ;-)
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Alice Durano
non-member comment
awesome post :D
wow, the pictures of you on the sand are awesome! I would love to have my own trip to Dunhuang. I've been to Ilocos, Philippines. They have a desert-like sand but they don't have camels. It's like a sand within a city of soil. - Alice Durano, Bergville Accommodation