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Published: March 16th 2018
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Had an excellent breakfast in our Jinjiang Inn (other travellers do note: despite very moderate charges, this establishment is clean, well-run and a very sensible choice, location is very convenient). We had bumped into a local English teacher last night who had offered to act as our guide, and she turned up as (vaguely) agreed at 10.30 so away we went, firstly to visit the “Wei-Jin Mural Tomb Scenic Spot”. For some reason this is not plugged in the guide books, and our driver had never been there (about 10 km northeast of the town centre), owing to the facts that tombs are inauspicious. The guide would not consider going in, but when we discovered the place it was in the desert, on the edge of the modern cemetery, and had full tourist-related infrastructure. Having paid the fee, we drove less than 1km along a paved track, then walked to a modest building. To our surprise, steps led straight down, maybe 30ft, and straight into three inter-connected brick-built arched and dome communal tombs. These are neatly paved and illuminated and the walls are inset with maybe 150 decorated bricks; by and large, these bricks depict in a naif manner the daily
Another replica funerary brick
Turns out that my estimate was low, there are 700 of them on display. life of the ancient community. They are very attractive; photography is not permitted so my attached pictures are of reproductions, but you get the idea. The associated museum and gift shop are both modest and unassuming, and the whole site is very well worth visiting.
Very pleased with ourselves, we the headed off to see Di Yi Dun, the final (or first) beacon-tower on the Great Wall of the Ming dynasty (14
th century). This is where the wall comes to an abrupt halt on the brink of a (150ft high?) cliff above the Taolai River. For Kevin this was a “must-see” spot, and in fact the cliff turned out to be pretty spectacular. The authorities have taken the chance to create a vertiginous viewing platform, a sheet of glass cantilevered out over the sheer cliff-face, good fun for three people but perhaps more nerve-racking with about 50 people in high season. The wall was very convincing, the beacon-tower (as expected) was a fairly featureless “Martello tower” made out of rammed earth. For all of us, a special highlight was the admission process – the ticket seller was either asleep or on another planet, when three people suddenly
Western end of the Ming Great Wall
Sorry it is on its side; the lump is a beacon tower; the drop to the river is about 200ft, neatly sheer appeared at his window, waving money. He really could not begin to imagine what we wanted, and eventually we had to get our “guide” to explain that we wanted to buy three tickets for admission to the facility for which he was the ticket-seller. An almost unbelievable Monty Pythonesque experience.
I should mention that our guide spent most of the time practising her (already very good) English, and also getting us to record little speeches on various subjects, for use with her students. We did a few, which we hope will be helpful; our own progress in Chinese is halting, to say the least.
Vastly cheered (despite a rather chilly wind and a dust-obscured sky) we headed on to our final destination, the “Greatest Pass under Heaven”, a Ming dynasty garrison fort built in 1372 and restored repeatedly with extraordinary enthusiasm over the last 300 years, evidently with ever-increasing ambition. Today it is scrupulously neat and clean, the perfect picture of what it might have been. In our view it is none the worse for that fact, it could so easily be just an abandoned, decaying heap of mud. As it stands, it gives
Western end of Ming Great Wall
The beacon tower is on the inner side of the wall; the extremity has not been "restored". a pretty good impression of how it might have been, or have been intended to be. Kevin was particularly keen to see it due to the associated legend of the perfect Quantity Surveyor. During the planning stage, the architect asked the Q.S. how many bricks he had ordered, and when he was given the answer wanted to know the amount of leeway it included for eventualities. The Q.S. had made no allowance at all, so was told to get busy and correct the omission. When the building (which is enormous) was finally completed the architect and quantity-surveyor went on a snagging inspection; the architect spotted that there was an odd brick lying on a ledge – “What’s that doing there?”. “Oh, that’s the additional material I was ordered to supply for eventualities”. The brick can still be seen, which proves it is a true story; and that at least once the Quantity Surveyor got it right!
An extra bonus was the chance to hire an electric scooter with huge fat tyres; a brilliant thing, pity we do not have them in UK. Having thoroughly enjoyed the Jiayuguan Pass, we elected to walk the 6km back into town
Electric scooter, Maghnus on board
Great machines; almost all scooters are now electric, the reduction in noise and fumes is amazing. and had a very light but excellent snack in a Muslim restaurant, embarrassingly good for only £2 between the three of us, including tea.
We plan an early breakfast tomorrow, 06.15hrs, with an 06.30hrs check-out, in time for our train to Zhangye (140 miles away), where we hope to arrive at 10.26hrs. As a result, merely ambled across the road to the nearest restaurant, £3 a head including 4 beers and really good, a splendid meal.
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