Blogs from Dunhuang, Gansu, China, Asia - page 5

We are in Dunhuang tonight. This will be our third night in the hotel. It's been very restfull! We had a rough, long desert drive to get here. Here are out latest stats: 14 hotels 2 different campsites almost 1 month away from home Dunhuang is famous for the Mogao Grottoes. The caves are full of Buddhist paintings and sculptures. (No photos were allowed). Since we are getting closer to central Asia, the influence from India and Europe can be seen in the pictures. There are some Indian Budhhas and some Chinese ones too. You can even see the cross as Christianity was introduced from Europe. The caves were started in about 400AD. Here's the wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves The other cool thing we saw was Jaiuyguan fort. The fort was at the very end of the ... read more

After I finished the last post, i went down to the "night market" and had some dinner of chuanr (kabobs) and some bread, walked around some more, and came across this group of kids in front of a Dico's (Chinese KFC) dancing to this music. It was really funny, just watching them, and I got some pictures as well. Went back to the hotel, took a shower, helped out some Americans who were trying to communicate with the hotel staff, then went up to bed to chill, and relax. Turns out, the chuanr (i think) was a bad idea, so I wake up at 12ish with stomach issues, and 4 immodium later, I got a halfway decent night of sleep. Woke up at 5:15 to catch my train out of Jiayuguan to Dunhuang. The train ride ... read more

Happy New Year to everyone! While my New Years' may not have been the best I have had, I had other things to worry about and they are the two things that travellers definitely don't want to be worrying about: money and visas. Yesterday, after my day trip with the taxi driver I hired him for another day to see a few more of Dunhuang's amazing sights, however after getting back to my hotel I realised that I was a little short of cash, I had enough for the day trip tomorrow and the entrance fees but not enough for food or the next day's accomodation, bugger. I headed out to the bank. I have been using a Visa debit card (you use it like a credit card but you only use your own money instead ... read more

Dunhuang I arrived in Dunhuang this morning and it is easily the coldest place I have ever been to. My fingers froze during the 500m walk from the train station to the taxi and bus stand. Once again, good old winter has meant thant anything recommnedd in the LP by way of hostels, hotels or restaurants is closed. They should have two editions, a sumer one (which could just be the normal edition) and then a winter one, where they remove 90% of the thing recommended in the book. This meant that finding an actual dorm room was impossible and once again I am in a hotel, paying more than I wanted to but at least it is heated. I decided to have a few days here as there is a bit to see around Dunhuang; ... read more

Ahhh. I'm an old lady now, so I'm allowed to start this entry with "I remember when..." but since I've never been here before I can't compare. Tegan gave me a vegan Oreo cookie with a lighter flame that threatened to set the train on fire at about 6am on my birthday, mmm tasty. Dunhuang has been a mixed experience so far. The train ride here was relatively easy, hardly anyone on board we crossed the desert for another 13 or 14 hours. It was pretty bare out there, but we watched the desert change from brown to reddish to yellowy white then to stones, and finally to the apricot farms of Dunuang. Another windfarm, that's always good to see! We met two American girls on the train, had enough of working at home and up ... read more