(Please back date to 1/28/13)
I’m going to start off today with another fun fact to accentuate yesterday’s Mogao Cave experience. I had a great time yesterday at the caves but I had no idea in regards to some of the history that these caves possess. The Mogao caves, as stated yesterday, are a series of man-made rooms dug into the side of a cliff to house monks and relics in isolation. One of these rooms acted as a library for the monastery and housed a very valuable collection of ancient Buddhist manuscripts. One of the manuscripts in this library is one of the original printed copies of the Diamond Sutra. Instead of having one, all encompassing book, like the Bible in the Christian religion, or the Torah or the Koran, Buddhism relies on a series of books called sutras that are collections of conversations the Buddha had with his students, the Bhoddisatvas. The Diamond Sutra is one of the most famous and important sutras in the Buddhist faith. It also just so happens that this copy of the Diamond Sutra is also the oldest printed book in existence, having been printed in 868 AD. I sort of glazed over this interesting tidbit of information during my required guided tour the caves which is what I get to agreeing to a tour in Chinese. I just happened to read that fun fact today....
Today was dedicated to doing one thing: seeing the desert at all costs! I have been traveling for two weeks now in and around the Taklamakan Desert and the only real desert scenery I have been able to see has been out of train windows which is nice but a part of me has been seriously longing to walk into the quiet solitude of a big, open desert. All throughout Xinjiang Province - famous for its desert landscapes - I have been forced, mostly due to the winter season, to remain in the cities that I visited without ever venturing too far outside of town. Most of my time was spent wandering through the bustling Uighur bazaars and old town alleyways. The main reason I came all the way out here to the isolated settlement of Dunhuang is because I heard that, even in wintertime, you can get a real, genuine desert experience. Dunhuang is a tiny village and really only famous because of its proximity to the caves and the nearest city is hundreds and hundreds of miles away in any direction but this town is literally buried in the desert. From the center of the town you can look in almost any direction and see the monstrous sand dunes in the background - sand dunes the size of mountains. And beyond these sand dunes lie nothing more than miles and miles of more desert. This is what I have been waiting for and longing to see since I left Chengdu. So I and my Czech friend and a Chinese girl went to a place just on the edge of town called the Singing Sand Dunes (probably called that to increase tourism). But seeing as it is winter, we were the only tourists. These dunes are made of soft powdery sand and I am not kidding, they are the size of mountains and they slowly shift over years from the winds that blow across the Taklamakan. You pay an entrance fee (they treat this place like a national park) and then you are free to roam about the dunes for as long and as far as you like. So we did. All day long. Not only are the dunes a pristine example of genuine desert, but there is also no pollution hovering above Dun Huang like there is in every other Chinese city so the sky today was crystal clear and a deep blue color which contrasted really nicely with the tan color of the sand. It was an incredible day and I finally satisfied my need to see the desert. Ultimately I did nothing cultural and I met no one new. But I did play in the sand and it was great. We even caught the sunset over the dunes - another rarity in China. So to make up for my lack of text, I added a lot of photos.
Tomorrow is my last day in Dunhuang before I hop a bus (or train, whichever is cheaper) to Jiayuguan about three hours away. I’ll probably spend it relaxing and wandering about the town and catching up on some trip planning. I’m still finalizing some of the details of the Russian part of this adventure...
I’m going to start off today with another fun fact to accentuate yesterday’s Mogao Cave experience. I had a great time yesterday at the caves but I had no idea in regards to some of the history that these caves possess. The Mogao caves, as stated yesterday, are a series of man-made rooms dug into the side of a cliff to house monks and relics in isolation. One of these rooms acted as a library for the monastery and housed a very valuable collection of ancient Buddhist manuscripts. One of the manuscripts in this library is one of the original printed copies of the Diamond Sutra. Instead of having one, all encompassing book, like the Bible in the Christian religion, or the Torah or the Koran, Buddhism relies on a series of books called sutras that are collections of conversations the Buddha had with his students, the Bhoddisatvas. The Diamond Sutra is one of the most famous and important sutras in the Buddhist faith. It also just so happens that this copy of the Diamond Sutra is also the oldest printed book in existence, having been printed in 868 AD. I sort of glazed over this interesting tidbit of information during my required guided tour the caves which is what I get to agreeing to a tour in Chinese. I just happened to read that fun fact today....
Today was dedicated to doing one thing: seeing the desert at all costs! I have been traveling for two weeks now in and around the Taklamakan Desert and the only real desert scenery I have been able to see has been out of train windows which is nice but a part of me has been seriously longing to walk into the quiet solitude of a big, open desert. All throughout Xinjiang Province - famous for its desert landscapes - I have been forced, mostly due to the winter season, to remain in the cities that I visited without ever venturing too far outside of town. Most of my time was spent wandering through the bustling Uighur bazaars and old town alleyways. The main reason I came all the way out here to the isolated settlement of Dunhuang is because I heard that, even in wintertime, you can get a real, genuine desert experience. Dunhuang is a tiny village and really only famous because of its proximity to the caves and the nearest city is hundreds and hundreds of miles away in any direction but this town is literally buried in the desert. From the center of the town you can look in almost any direction and see the monstrous sand dunes in the background - sand dunes the size of mountains. And beyond these sand dunes lie nothing more than miles and miles of more desert. This is what I have been waiting for and longing to see since I left Chengdu. So I and my Czech friend and a Chinese girl went to a place just on the edge of town called the Singing Sand Dunes (probably called that to increase tourism). But seeing as it is winter, we were the only tourists. These dunes are made of soft powdery sand and I am not kidding, they are the size of mountains and they slowly shift over years from the winds that blow across the Taklamakan. You pay an entrance fee (they treat this place like a national park) and then you are free to roam about the dunes for as long and as far as you like. So we did. All day long. Not only are the dunes a pristine example of genuine desert, but there is also no pollution hovering above Dun Huang like there is in every other Chinese city so the sky today was crystal clear and a deep blue color which contrasted really nicely with the tan color of the sand. It was an incredible day and I finally satisfied my need to see the desert. Ultimately I did nothing cultural and I met no one new. But I did play in the sand and it was great. We even caught the sunset over the dunes - another rarity in China. So to make up for my lack of text, I added a lot of photos.
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| Singing Sand dunes outside Dunhuang |
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| Camel caravan in the valley below the dunes |
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| Even with snowfall once per year, the snow remains all season |
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| Some hikers on a dune |
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| My companions - a precarious route |
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| A rest after a long hike |
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| Another sunny day over Dunhuang |
Tomorrow is my last day in Dunhuang before I hop a bus (or train, whichever is cheaper) to Jiayuguan about three hours away. I’ll probably spend it relaxing and wandering about the town and catching up on some trip planning. I’m still finalizing some of the details of the Russian part of this adventure...
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