Deserts, Caves, and more Trains...

China uses only one time zone (Beijing time) for the entire country, so at 9:30 am we stepped out of the train and into to the cold daybreak. A cheap taxi ride took us into Dunhuang city, only after a short detour to pick up the guide for a tour we had no interest in.  After finding a good room, we boarded a minibus to the Mogao Caves.

The caves are something to behold.  Over two hundred in number, carved over centuries into a desert cliff, they contain some of the most significant and rich Buddhist paintings and clay statues dating back to the days the trade routes held sway.  A few have been pillaged by turn of the century Western collectors, but what remains is impressive.  While some of the paint has oxidized black, the mineral lapis lazuli remains vivid.  The ceilings are painted with a thousand Buddhas and all is adorned with Apsaras and portraits of the Western Kingdom. Nowadays, the caves are cemented closed and locked up.  An attendant will let you see only about ten of them and no photography is allowed, though outside you can buy precious reproductions at prices to match.

Pictures

Dunhuang had warm days with clear blue skies, turning leaves, and cold nights. I saw few visitors and not a Westerner in 3 days.  Sites were uncrowded and admission rates were half off.  The town center felt still and not much was happening at the night market.  It was more difficult to order food, as the language barrier seemed that much higher.  A bowl of noodles looked appetizing, but I was tempered by guidebook description of noodles with donkey meat being the local specialty.

The next day, we were nearly the only visitors at another set of caves.  The work was interesting, but we were only shown 5 caves.  In town, we ordered dumplings and got the largest plate I have ever seen.  The highlight though, was the nearby Mingsha Shan desert dunes.  The towering dunes were simply majestic.  We rode camels around and on foot climbed up the steep sharp ridges, the sun-exposed sands hot and the others ice cool.  Then we slid down the tall face on wooden toboggans.  If they had not been charging, I could have done that all day. We visited the Crescent Moon Spring with the surreal pagoda in the desert and finished up with another climb up the tall mountain dune for some spectacular vistas.  The shifting sand and sliding down made the going tough, but the way down was pure bliss.  

No flights out of Dodge – so we’re taking the train back to Xi’an.  Same route the second time is at least twice less fantastic…