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Published: September 16th 2013
While looking for places to visit around Urumqi, the place that struck me most was the Mogao caves near Dunhuang. Although mentioned as a 2 to 3 day trip, I figured if we go by the overnight train we should have the good part of one day enough to be able to see the caves. One image of a 9 tiered pagoda embedded in a cliff was enough to make me want to go there. We reached Liu yuan at 7 am
, the station seemed small and the weather outside was cool. After 'Unexpected Urumqi', I'd almost forgotten why I'd booked these tickets-to come all the way here. Looking at the available options for a ride to Dunhuang, we took the most inexpensive and fast option, a minibus. So, after a five hour plane journey across China the previous day, an overnight train, a two and half hour minibus ride to Dunhuang and from there, another half an hour to the caves! As we left the dusty transit town of Liu Yuan, I hoped with everything I had, that these caves we were going to see, are REALLY worth it. Dad with his usual, 'enjoy the journey and don't worry about the destination', brought my attention to the loud, screeching voices of the group of Chinese women sitting behind us. We were in the desert. The straight road we were on, cut across the nothingness. The desert changed intensities. The scrawny bushes changed into ones that had a lovely crimson glow about them. Dad called it a 'blush in the bush'. It made me think of the red cheeks of the people living in the mountains. It was almost like somebody had used a giant brush to touch up the bushes with a bit of crimson paint. We kept moving on that straight road, the chattering of the women, the occasional grunt of the driver and the smooth sound of the bus took a rhythmic quality. As dad and I crunched away on peanuts.
Soon the desert turned into an oasis, complete with poplar trees, we reached Dunhuang, a small city with extensive facilities. They have one of those typical Chinese night markets and English sign boards swarming the city. It seems like all possible efforts were being made to make it attractive for foreign tourists. After a brief look around, we got 
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Dad walking along a dune onto yet another mini bus for the last leg of our journey to the caves.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Magao Caves seem to have gained a lot of popularity in the recent years. The Chinese Government has yet again left no stone unturned to make this beautiful relic accessible to hordes of tourists. As we left the highway and turned towards the caves, we could see the caves far away like termite homes. The golden sand of the desert, had sandstone cliffs hidden in it and these cliffs when revealed had been dug into to make caves. This place was home to some 1400 Buddhist monks for many many years. The tourist centre is big and the exhibition/museum is a very carefully designed building. Its entrance embedded in a man-made sandstone cliff similar to the caves is impressive. It reminded me of the Egyptian temples we drew at university. Unlike the caves I'd seen from the road, the 'public' caves have been renovated completely. Made suitable for groups of about 20 Chinese tourists to visit conveniently, the caves look nothing like they used to. I have to say I was quite disappointed with what I saw. Despite the slight breeze and the poplar trees swaying with it, I was slowly losing the last bit of hope I had left for these caves. Everything was paved, there was no evidence of what these caves looked like in the older times. The eves were all new, a whole new facade seemed to have been pasted on the original caves. Fences, staircases, walkways, ventilators, doors, all so obviously new.
We waited about half an hour for the English tour guide to arrive. A French couple also came in the meantime and the five of us were ready for the tour. By this time I was aching for something to make all this effort pay off. And finally, finally it did. As we went from cave to cave, our surprisingly articulate guide, Nancy(her English name) did a brilliant job of revealing the magical world of the Magao cave paintings. She talked of the nuances of the statues, whether they had ever been renovated or were original, the differences that helped figure out which century they were made in, the expressions of the Buddha and the changes that were made to his appearance and why. The original caves
These caves that have been left alone are closed to public.. They are so far away from anywhere we are allowed to go, its impossible to get a good look. The Indian influence on the paintings. The bodhisattvas and how slowly they took a departure from the way they were portrayed in India to their Chinese counterparts. The apsaras and their swirly garments floating like clouds above Buddha. The colors, that were natural pigments and their sensitivity to atmospheric gases and fumes. Slowly i started forgiving one by one the various decisions taken to make the caves what they are today. The doors and ventilators that were necessary to avoid as much as possible the increase in carbon dioxide which has a negative impact on the paintings. The eves and frames made outside the caves to cast a shadow on the doorway itself to minimize the damage to the paintings there. She showed us how certain caves had been damaged beyond hope because of the forces of nature. I began to see why they had to do the things they did to protect these cultural wonders which, are no doubt an extremely rich source of history. I still don't agree with the extent of the intervention, but at the time I was truly engrossed in the beauty and wonder of this art work and was just happy I came.
Now that I think about it, I am occupied with all these questions, is protecting the paintings from further damage more important that protecting the caves themselves with all their eroded beauty. And even if renovation was inevitable for the protection of the paintings, did we have to make them accessible to everybody? and therefore destroy the natural beauty of the exterior completely. I could imagine Indiana Jones type sequences when he has to really physically and mentally endure the ruins and the various traps laid to protect a treasure which is truly worth seeing and experiencing.. the community who it belonged to, lay every trap to ensure only a person worthy enough gets to see it. And then I woke up from my thoughts to the memory of the large Chinese tourist group piling into a cave we were already in, like a wave that could drown you inside that cave! The treasure was still there, but making it easy to get to has destroyed half the thrill. Every coin has two sides. How much is too much ?
Nancy took us to a cave with a 15 meter statue of Buddha lying No photography
Weren't allowed to click pictures inside the caves on the ground while he attained nirvana. There stood 72 people behind him witness to this. She explained that these people were actually put in later at a certain time in history when Buddha and Confucius were actually considered to be one person! And the 72 people were actually the famed 72 disciples of Confucius !
Not only this, there was even a time when unlike the stories I'd heard of the Taoists resisting the Buddhist monks with all their might, Taoist mythical characters actually helped Buddha. What a beautiful coming together of thoughts, ideas and stories. Nancy showed us paintings of the four Taoist gods of fire, water, rain and lightning alongside the Asura with four hands standing guard to statues of Buddha. I was wondering about how rare this cave might actually be and the beauty of it. Maybe this was just out of one artist's imagination who had been drawing Taoist images all his life and had now been commissioned to a Buddhist cave. But how beautiful the thought was, as against the fighting and bloodshed usually associated with Buddhism sweeping over Taoism through the middle kingdom. The final cave we
Buddhist caves with a Chinese makeover
While exploring the caves on the tour, we were constantly reminded of the Buddhist caves in India. saw housed the second largest Buddha, about 35 m tall! This being second largest in the area was less popular and therefore in a much better state than the largest. (Unfortunately the largest was closed for renovation, the one I had seen a picture of, because of which I'd decided to come here in the first place!!) As we entered the cave, the darkness slowly revealed two large feet. As I looked up to see the rest of the statue, I was awed by its monumentality. You can only see the statue while standing near Buddha's feet. You look up to see Buddha's gigantic body and hands and face. The statue has been carved out of the cliff and then layers of clay reinforced with reeds give curves, textures of clothes, details of dress and features.
Slowly as, we got over its size, we realized how stunning the patterns of the roof and walls of this cave were! There were appropriately large paintings of bodhisattvas in elegant postures and rich colours on either of the two sides.
Drunk with all the richness, dad and I ambled our way to the museum of the library cave. Apparently, some very valuable scriptures had been discovered in a hidden cave. And before the Chinese people could realise their significance, British, Japanese, Russian and American historians/explorers had taken these back to their own countries. Since India was under colonial rule at the time, some of these parchments are even lying in a museum in Delhi! By the time Beijing was made to realize the lose of their treasure, there was very little of it left. The craziest part is that even then, some of the parchments got lost on their way to Beijing, as they were gifted to Chinese Officials!
We ended our trip to the Magao caves with three bottles of delicious sweet yoghurt each. The cold delicious curd is really a life saver in the harsh landscape and it comes in a smart little glass bottle too. As we left the caves behind, I realised we have just enough time to see the Crescent Lake! The lonely planet description talks of one of the most picturesque dunes in the area! Even though we were tired and hadn't had a proper meal for more than 24 hours, we told the cabdriver to turn towards
the lake.
The dunes here, are the tallest in this part of the world. Panting and battling the urge to sit down, looking back again and again to see how far up we'd come, we climbed up to the top of a dune! On one side was the entire oasis of Dunhuang. On the other, the dunes and valleys of fine sand stretched as far as we could see. The forbidding, lifeless, engulfing desert. The idea of getting lost in that sea of sand where the dunes towered hundreds of metres above you, made me shiver! I cannot imagine how people travel across these for days on end. And I wish I knew what joy they would get when finally arriving at this point where you stand at the threshold of the oasis. On one side the fatal desert and on the other the life giving Oasis! Oh And I must not forget to mention the lake itself. A small, curiously crescent shaped lake partially hidden by the Chinese building made to highlight it!
We almost rambled down the dune on our way back. Taking a fraction of the time we took to climb
up but ended up with shoes splitting with sand ! As we sat pouring out the sand from our shoes one by one, the true nature of its fine grains shown through.
It was time to go back to Urumqi. First to Dunhuang, a quick meal of rice, chicken and that delicious yoghurt, then the ride back to Liu Yuan and the overnight train to Urumqi. What a longgg, mind blowing day!
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