Mogao Hotel Dunhuang

... eddies and settles in more or less the same place, so the dunes have kept their distinctive shapes for years. Dutti decided to climb to the top of the dunes to see if she could spot the Spring; but all she could see was more sand dunes!!


The rest of the day we just lazed and enjoyed being in such a nice hotel! Pintoo went for a massage.

21st October

We checked out and then spent ...

Dunhuang was our next stop along the Silk Road. It was a desert town where you could literately see huge sand dunes at the end of some of the roads. Our purpose there was to visit the Mogao Caves and although the caves that we saw were pretty impressive it was a bit of a disappointment. The caves were run in true Chinese tourist style. We had to have a guided tour, we could not take our cameras in and we ...

... so I'll take her word for it.

Our last night in Dunhuang we camped in the Gobi desert! And, of course, even though it hadn't rained in 6 months, it rained the night we were there. The dunes were just like the giant sand dunes that you see movies. After we set up our tent a bunch of us started hiking up different sand dunes. The dunes are really deceptive because there is no frame of reference when your in the desert; everything looks the same. A dune looks like it is ...

... of the caves and the encroaching sands of the Gobi desert effectively sealed the site for centuries.

Wealthy traders and important officials were the main donors responsible for creating the new caves as they stopped to pray before attempting the infamous Taklimakan desert wastelands to the west. There are some great photos on the web of these traders. Just use Google Images and the cave name. Even I was impressed as we were ...

... 1495;ות מ5 ס"מ של צעיף, אבל זו התחלה.
492;מצלמה מדהימ 92; ומוזר לחשוב שמה שהיה לפני שלוש שנ ...

Tues. 2nd Jun. Zhangye-Jiayuguan-Dunhuang. 614ks

Considering the size of Zanghe, it didn't take us long to leave town this morning. The school kids were already at school by the time we left town at 8am, and the fields were dotted with early starters. The road west took us to Jiayuguan where we toured the last/first fort of the Great Wall, and not the last remnants as we had read. Tomorrow we will see those about 50ks north of here. Nevertheless it was a very ...

... caminets erratics, per les arestes i a banda i banda; de tant en tant una emprempta de cos sencer, i sempre puntets de potes lleugeres que amb prou feines toquen terra. Els humans ni rodoloen ni voleien, ni deixem simples puntets de gravetat aigualida, pero podem baixar a la plana dibuixant els nostres camins pel sorral verge, corrent per pendents de 45 graus, enfonsant els peus nus fins a mitja canya, a la sorra fina i fresca de finals de tarda.

... wurde, aus einer langen Erfahrung in verwandten Branchen.Wir sind der Marktführer in China Zeichen der ...

... to the hotel, we had an okay night's rest. Our hotel room was pretty shabby, with communal toilets and showers, but what can you expect for like 20RMB/night? It did the job. Oct 1 - We woke up and met the driver (Shi Peng) and headed for Yumen Pass (Jade Gate Pass). It's not very interesting. Really just a big square building in the middle of nowhere, but it's an important historical location. It was crucial as a water station on ...

... carved into the rock walls and then filled with Buddhist artwork and statues from different time within Chinese history. There has been various amounts of damage done over the centuries such as flooding, earthquakes and then people. They were found by a monk in 1900 and he spent his life restoring them. Sadly badly in places. He also found loads of scrolls and paintings and sold them off to various people from countries such as England, France and Russia. He needed the ...