Blogs from Jiayuguan, Gansu, China, Asia

No breakfast (or lunch) but an early start to Dunhuang station, which is modern, clean and beautifully ordered. The train was on time and we had 3 berths in a 2ndHard Sleeper for the 4hr journey to Jiayuguan; they were airy, comfortable and very clean, brilliant; and there was a very tempting restaurant car, which only Maghnus sampled (Kevin and Christa wolfed the fruit supplies instead). Tickets were about £12.00 a head; toilets and all facilities in admirable condition. BTW, that water beside the Jade Gate yesterday would have been the Shule He (river) which helped to feed the former extensive lake and marsh of Lop Nor, the atomic testing site in the 1960s. Sadly, Lop Nor is nowadays almost completely dry due to water abstraction upstream, but in its day it was key to the ... read more

We've made it to Jiayuguan, the mouth of China and the westernmost point of the Great Wall. This is the 2nd of our slightly longer stops, this time for it's longer for immigration reasons. We're going to be in China for ~40 days so need to extend our visas which are only valid for 30. This is a fairly straightforward, if Big Brotherish, process that works much more smoothly and quickly in small towns than big cities, that was certainly our experience here - applied on Tuesday afternoon picked up new visas Friday morning, we're now OK until late August. The sights here are a mixed bag. The Wei Jin Tombs are smallest and least popular but were our favourite, while the two biggest and most crowded - the Jiayuguan Fort and the Overhanging Great Wall ... read more

DESERT CAMP: 13 June 2014. 127kms distance. Today was my second day in the vehicle. Ok but you certainly experience China more when on the bike. The scenery changed from lush vegetation to desert terrain within 20 Kms. Dramatic change. When arrived at camp site it literally felt like desolation. But as the morning passed, it's beauty grew on me. Vast emptiness. Then the wind, cold and rain arrived, the temperature dropping 15C within 15 minutes. Very cold. 2 hrs later it cleared and the mountain range with snow caps appeared briefly before being hidden behind cloud again. The cyclists began arriving talking tales of woe about rain, headwinds, and cold. A little tent city grew, looking interesting. A subdued afternoon largely spent in the tent because of coolness. Prior to dinner, wind abated and we ... read more

I rode from JiuQuan to JiaYuGuan under the rain but it was a bit more than 20 kilometers. After 2 days of rest in JiuQuan watching the rain fall from my cozy hotel room, I was looking forward to visiting a new site and I kept my fingers crossed for the sun to show up. And it did! Jiayuguan is not the most exciting city but it was easy for me to find a hotel and to get oriented. My first afternoon there I rode around the city and then walked around the city center, strolling around the main street (with the same usual clothes shops we can find in every Chinese town) and some small market streets where each restaurant owner invited me in to enjoy some barbecued food. JiaYuguan didn’t seem very crowded to ... read more

The trains had been booked and the day had finally arrived, I was so excited, no matter how much I travel and to how many different places I still get excited by it all. It had been a busy couple of days before leaving and our train departed Lanzhou which was just over an hour away and 840pm. In the morning I had been at school and in the afternoon private tutoring, Ben was ready and waiting so as soon as I had finished tutoring we could be off to the bus station to leave for Lanzhou. Kindly Cindy, Daisy’s mum (the girl I tutor) took us in the taxi to the bus station as we had no idea at all where it was. And that was that the trip began. Arriving in Lanzhou we easily ... read more