Bingling Si Grotto
Bingling Si Leaving Xiahe, we drive to take a boat to Bingling Si. The caves which are on the Yellow River have been partially flooded due to a dam built across the Yellow river creating a large lake. Our guide Lydia knew of a dock closer to the temple that would require shorter boat ride and lower cost. To find it, we had to navigate an unpaved, rutted dirt road off the main road.
To Lanzhou and Beyond, Xiahe
Bullet train from Zhangye to Lanzhou. Lanzhou is a large city, a hub for transport to western China or Tibet. Train station was new and fortunately had escalators. No lugging baggage up and down stairs. My back appreciated the rest. Concern is that the station is so large that we will not find driver.
The Power of Hello - A brief story about a special person
The Power of “Hello”
Joann is quite a unique person, having agreed to this journey along the silk Road, sharing my vision and accepting my assurances as sufficient to embark. Still, as a reasonable person she began with some concern. It had not passed in Urumqi, and by Kuqa she had gained some confidence that the plans were working. Hotels, while not perfect were more than adequate, we were finding restaurants, and the sights were more than we had imagined.
Jiayuguan
Another early wake up to catch an 0730 train from Dunhuang to Jiayuguan. Lucy and driver picked us up at 0700 and we got to the station with plenty of time. Joann and I who want to get places with plenty of time to spare were panicked. We cleared the security at the terminal and were on the train at 0730.
Uighur Hat on Rich
There have been some requests to see what the Uighur hat looks like on a person.
More Mogao Caves - A Second Day Tour
Mogao Caves - Second Day I was invited by our guide Lucy to give a brief slide show of prior caves visits to the English speaking guides at Dunhuang. I fortunately had photos from this trip but also stored photos on my computer from prior trips. They could identify each of my photos, from Dunhuang and beyond. They really do study their craft.
Camel Ride
Fun in the Desert - In the afternoon of we took advantage of another of Dunhuang attraction, the sand dunes and a camel ride.
At first look they are an intimidating beast. Tall, very angular bodies, long snouts and big teeth. There were literally hundreds of camels in the pen in no particular order. We had the ticket and wandered into the pen as directed and stood around with no one paying particular attention.
Western Thousand Buddha Caves - Dunhuang
Western Thousand Buddha Caves. Yulin caves were on the agenda today, but due to road problems we changed to this grotto. We think these caves are parallel to the Mogao, but this is not clear. Met the director Mr. Fan.
Dunhuang and Mogao
Our ten days travelling have been a Dunhuang prelude. Mental and physical efforts in preparation for the enlightenment awaiting. In early times Dunhuang was the nexus of the Northern and Southern Silk Roads, and was a bowl which blended the ideas and people passing through the city. In more recent times, Dunhuang benefitted from its isolation from modern society and had not suffered some of the recent depredations of society. Today Dunhuang is a most complete historical record of Dunhuang, Buddhism and Buddhist Art of the 4th to 10th centuries.We were very fortunate to have the benefit of some resources of the Dunhuang Foundation and the Dunhuang Academy to guide us through the Mogao Caves and the Western Thousand Buddha Caves of Dunhuang.
From Turfan to Dunhuang
On to Dunhuang. As usual for us we are leaving the TuHa Petroleum Hotel in Turfan early to catch the train to Dunhuang. Even though we planned to leave at 9 AM for a 1040 train, leaving over an hour to get through security, we still had breakfast and caught a taxi at 8:50 and arrived at the station at 9:15. As before, the line for security to gain access to the station was long and noisy. In this case, more westerners that locals.