Throughout my blog I'll try and include some historical information to go along with the pictures and observations, so if you find history boring or a complete waste of time, feel free to skip any section labeled "historical context."
Historical context: The Silk Road
Beginning during the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), and flourishing in the Tang dynasty (619-907), the silk road exposed China to the influences and styles of the outside world all the way through the 1400s when travel by ship became more efficient. The name "Silk Road" was coined by the Romans, who called it "Seres" - the land of silk.
Day 1 &2: Dunhuang
If you wikipedia Dunhuang, you'll find that it's classified as an Oasis town, which couldn't be more accurate. From within the city you can see that you are surrounded by nothing but sand dunes in all directions. The city seems like it really only exists nowadays for the few tourist attractions nearby, most of which we got to visit:
The Gobi Desert
We spent the first night camping out in the Gobi desert. Having never really spent any time in a desert before, I wasn't really sure what the big deal was. Man, was I in for a surprise. The trip getting there was interesting enough. We took two tour buses down a long dirt road. Unsurprisingly, the dirt road wasn't made to accommodate tour buses, so the bus ride felt like a small boast in choppy waters. Once we arrived we were told to put our tents somewhere in the vicinity, which some interpreted differently than others. Most people setup little neighborhoods near where we were dropped off with a clear view of civilization on the horizon. But a few people decided they'd push it a little further and wonder out into the Gobi to setup camp. I went what I thought was a reasonable distance out and setup camp with my roommate, dan. Yes, as roommates we even got to share a tent, which clearly wasn't designed for two 6ft Americans. Anyway, a few people wondered out even further and if you know anything about the desert you'll know that it gets pretty windy at night, especially if you setup camp on top of a dune. A couple girls found this out the hard way:
We found their tent the next morning in an irrigation canal about a quarter mile from where they originally setup camp.
We had a couple hours to kill before dark, so we decided to go for a little hike. We went to the highest dune we could find, then started doing what anyone would do.. flips down and off the dunes!
Probably one of the coolest things about camping in the desert is that there's no light pollution for miles around: perfectly clear skies! I had never seen so many stars in my life. We could see all the satellites passing overhead, and every once in a while we even saw a shooting star.
[Picture by Andrew Hargrove]
It was such an unbelievable experience that I thought that sleeping in a tent just wasn't worth it (plus it was pretty cramped). So I grabbed my sleeping bag and setup right outside the tent, with my backpack as a pillow. It was rumored that all the bugs and animals come out at night (scorpions?). Stupid or not, I slept outside anyway. And it was totally worth it.. until around 3AM when the sand storm hit. Not only was it FREEZING, sand was getting.. everywhere! I almost moved into the tent.. but at that point I was committed to sleeping outside, so I put my hood on, dug down deep into my sleeping bag, and stuck it out. It wasn't a huge deal, because we had to get up at 4:15AM anyway to see the sunrise.
Camel Ride at Sunrise
So we were told that we were going to wake up at 4:15 and take a camel to the top of the nearest dune to see the sunrise. We were not told that that meant packing up our tents and sleeping bags in the pitch dark desert so we could take a bus some where else for the camel ride. With some minor problems (including fishing the tent out of the irrigation canal), we were off. We got to the new destination with plenty of time before the sunrise, but little did we know that camels aren't nearly as well-tempered as horses or other comparable animals. They keep the camels in groups of 3 or 4 tied together, so if one's having a bad day none of them move. The first two camels i got on happened to be the one that refused to go, despite our guides yelling at them in Chinese. So I got on my third camel, and he seemed a little better, he went just fine. The only problem was that I didn't get my foot in the stirrup before we took off. So as we were going along I kept trying to get my foot in, and every time I tried he would try and buck me off. Needless to say, i never got my foot in the stirrup, which made for an uncomfortable 30min ride up the dunes, but it was totally worth it.
Once we got to the top, or near the top, we had to walk the remainder of the way on wooden stairs built into the sand. It doesn't look far, but trust me, dunes can be deceiving.
That was a bit of an excursion, but we made it to the top, did the whole sunrise thing, then mounted the camels and made our way back down. We then rode our camels to
Crescent Moon Lake
This is a small freshwater lake that formed inbetween sand dunes. It has been a vital source of water for thousands of years. Now it is little more than a pond, but its still kind of a big deal because its a lake in the middle of the desert.
Crescent Moon Lake
[Photo by Andrew Hargrove]
If you look closely there is a "TBC" spelled in people on the lower left side of the picture. TBC = The Beijing Center (my study abroad program). I'm the top part of the C.
Later that day we went to the:
Magao Grottos (caves), or "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas"
We aren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was essentially 450+ caves that were carved into the mountain by people who traveled the silk road, especially Buddhist Monks. Most of the caves were covered in Buddhas, with thousands of little Buddhas about an inch in size carved into the walls, hence the title "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas" - actually a bunch of caves with thousands of Buddhas.
Historical Context:
After about the 11th century the Mogao Caves were forgotten, until 1907 when Sir Aurel Stein discovered them. He excavated the caves, and among the findings was the Diamond Sutra, the world's earliest printed book. For the next few years many westerners came and "excavated" the caves - stealing everything inside with little awareness of what it was and taking it back to their home countries.
That's pretty much it for Dunhuang. Next we're off to Jiayuguan, a 5 hour bus ride away.
Picasa Album for Dunhang Day 1 &2
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