Blogs from Gansu, China, Asia - page 3

Hi All, So tried something I had never done before horse riding. We did it through Langmusi Tibetan Horse Trekking. It cost 270 rmb, which isnt bad really when 1 hour on a camel cost 100 rmb. We met in the morning at 10 am to be given a crash coarse in horse riding, although there are no helmets available, and then we lead our horses through the town before mounting. We followed the river out of town towards its source. We ventured through some jaw dropping scenery. We came across nomads, yaks, horses and other wildlife along the way, the peace and quiet was wonderful. We were accompanied by two Tibetan men who sang some Tibetan songs along the way. Once at the river's source we stopped to for about half an hour so that ... read more

Hi All, After a delicious lunch of mutton dumplings and a rest we visited the Sichuan Monastery which is huge. There are many young monks here studying at the various colleges within the monastery. Unlike the Gansu monastery in the morning where monks assembled to pray and we could view inside the temples here the temples were closed except one where a kind monk let us have a quick look round. Like this morning these monks appear to be of the yellow hat sect as we saw pictures of the Dali Lama. After wondering around we headed up to the hillside overlooking the town to watch the sunset. On our way back we popped into the small mosque just outside the monastery gates. The mosque has a wonderful Chinese style minoret and a small pray hall. ... read more

Hi All, With some time to kill before catching our train to Lanzhou we went to Dafo Si, Giant Buddha Temple, which has the largest wooden reclining Buddha in Asia. The temple itself is very big and was originally built in the 11th century. The Buddha itself is a sight to behold, although no photos were allowed, but it was the temple buildings themselves which steal the show. The intricate eaves and roofs are really wonderful and I almost fell down some stairs whilst looking up.. Our desert adventures are over. It has been great to travel down the old silk road and visit the oasis cities along the way . Highlights were the stunning artwork of the Mogao caves, The Ming dynasty Great Wall and the stunningly beautiful mountains of Danxia. A really beautiful part ... read more

Hi All, Only a four and a half hour journey from Dunhuang to Jiayuguan on the train, blimey this country is enormous. We stayed in the only Youth Hostel in the city, which was ideally located not far from the train station and close to some small restaurants and a market. The hostel is brand new so it was lovely and clean, although the showers were a bit of a nightmare with the water appearing to go everywhere but down! The hostel organised a guy to take us to the sights in his car for 80 rmb a person. The three attractions in the city, the fort, watch beacon and overhanging Great Wall are all covered by one ticket but they are rather spread out I enjoyed the day very much with the highlight being the ... read more

Hi All, I must say it was worth the trip all the way out here. The Mogao caves were something else. Getting a ticket wasn't the easiest of tasks, finding someone with correct information wasn't easy. I got a ticket through a travel agency but there were only tickets for non Chinese, Chinese tickets were booked up for 2 months!! The caves are easy to get to with the bus for the train station taking people there. Once inside the visitor centre I watched two films, one of the story of Dunhuang and the caves and another showing the inside of the caves. After the films it is a 5 minute ride on a coach to the caves themselves. There was only two English speaking visitors so we had a quite intimate experience. Our guide took ... read more