Blogs from Gansu, China, Asia - page 7

Geo: 36.0757, 103.679We woke up still on the train and it was dark.We gathered all of our belonging and off we went to find our tour guide.Another bus and off we went for breakfast. Noodles, baozi, soup and tea. Perfect.Back on the bus and off to Jiayuguan Pass.Jiayuguan Pass is the first pass at the west end of the Great Wall of China.The day was a little overcast but the Wall is amazing. It is hard to believe that people actually lived within these walls. Life would have been very difficult.There where so many camels and the kids also did some archery.Back on the bus and we went into the city for lunch. We walked around in search of food. Some of us ordered chicken. Yes the whole chicken arrived. Yes it was cooked and cut ... read more

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 ... read more

Pour ma 2e journée à Dunhuang je me suis rendu dans le désert en direction du nord-ouest pour aller visiter la région de Yadan ou gisent des monticules de roche sablonneuse qui datent de … millions d’annees ? Cette région se trouvait alors sous l’eau et les sédiments ont formé des blocs compacts que le vent et l’érosion ont sculptés avec le temps. Imaginez un désert de sable gris, tout plat, recouvert de minuscules cailloux bleus et marron d’où émergent de gigantesques monticules jaunes. Le tout sous un ciel bleu a l’infini d’où provient une lumière blanche aveuglante, et vous avez Yadan. Le site se trouve à 180km de Dunhuang et au beau milieu du désert, c’est pourquoi il m’était impossible d’y aller en vélo. Je n’ai pas l’habitude de voyager en groupe organisé mais c’était ... read more

In YuMen I asked my host Xubo about the road to Guazhou. He laughed and showed me with his hands that it was up and down the whole way and that the road was in extremely bad condition. I sighed… Riding to YuMen had been so difficult I knew I had to get ready for another tiring day of cycling. But then Xubo told me I could try to get on the expressway, the G30 I had been following for many days. He said cyclists weren’t allowed on it but if I rode very fast at the toll gate, no one would stop me… So I did ride fast and I got on the expressway as early as I could (I think it was 7am). As I said in my previous blog entry, I usually think ... read more

How policemen forced me to move from my hotel room at 11pm in Gao Tai, and how I got very wet riding to JiuQuan for 200km… From Danxia (and its beautiful rock formation) I rode to Gao Tai (about 70km) in one afternoon. The sky was grey but I avoided the rain so I was pretty pleased when I got into the city. However, after 2 and a half hours of cycling along every single street Gao Tai has to offer and NOT being able to find a hotel, I started to get pretty cranky!... Most hotels would not take foreigners. They simply didn’t apply for the license that allows them to host foreigners. I can understand this as Gao Tai is definitely not a tourist destination for anyone, let alone foreign backpackers or tour groups. ... read more