Dunhuang Things to Do

A spectacular point to see the Great Wall, not only because it marks the very western end of this world famous landmark but also because Jia Yu Guan has an uncommon double wall design. There's an outer wall and an inner wall; in fact, the entire complex is very well-maintained so you can walk all around and explore on your own, unlike certain parts of the Great Wall that are sealed off from the public.

Jia Yu Guan Pass was built in the Ming Dynasty (14th century) and its name was derived from the fact that it was located at the Jia Yu Highlands. Although this part of the wall was abandoned at a point, it was later rebuilt and reinforced in the 16th century.

For those interested in history, look out for a little building to the side of the wall-- that's the Jia Yu Guan Great Wall Museum.

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First of all, you have the opportunity to climb into some fetching day-glo orange protective footwear (a good idea if you are planning on climbing up the sand dune, but not necessary if you just want to go and look at the Crescent Lake).

Once through the entrance, you can opt to ride a camel out to the dune or take a ride in a 'cartoon bus' instead.

For a sand dune, it is surprisingly green. As well as the natural spring-fed Crescent Lake, there is another artificial lake.

The building at the Crescent Lake houses some exhibitions on calligraphy and the history of the area as well as some refreshment kiosks. We sampled ‘apricot water’, made with the local dried apricots, which was very pleasant.

There are lots of activities at the site, from climbing the dune and sliding back down again, to parachuting and microlighting, and even archery.

For a thousand years, pilgrims and travellers had temples and shrines dug out of the cliff and in order to ensure a safe journey. The caves were adorned with paintings.

At the turn of the 20th century a huge cache of manuscripts was discovered by 'Abbot' Wang, who subsequentlly sold a large quantity to Western scholars such as Aurel Stein in order to fund the restoration of the caves.

There are almost 500 caves in total in this complex, though a typical guided tour will include around ten.

Highlights include giant Buddha statues (caves 96 and 130), giant reclining Buddha (cave 148) and some wonderful paintings, and of course the 'library' cave.

There is also a small museum showing facsimiles of manuscripts now held in London, Paris and other cities, and a bookshop.

Photography is not permitted inside the caves. If you want to remember the paintings you will need to buy a book or at least some postcards. Note that postcards are sold in packs and a pack may not include many of the actual caves you visited.

The caves may be closed to protect the paintings in the event of a sandstorm (or rain).

There are over 1,000 caves here, of which 600 survive in a recognisable form. Now before I say they are all based on Buddhist texts, teachings and life stories of the Buddha and you all switch off, within these caves is contained an entire history of Chinese art (through each of the dynasties) and influences including Indian, Persian, Central Asian and even Western. Started alledgedly by monk Lie Zun civilisation, it's position on the Silk Road ensured that this spot became a melting pot of thoughts and ideas. The different groups that controlled this spot from time to time, including Tibetan, Uygyr (pre-Muslim) and Mongol ensured a rich mix of ideas.

Each cave style depends on it's creator (cave numbers shown). The first caves are Northern Wei (a turkic group of people) - caves 101, 120N, 135, 254, 257 and 428-101, 257 and 428 show a western influence. Following this are Sui (150 and 427), Tang (1-above, 51E, 70, 96, 130, 139A, and 148) and Tibetan influenced Mongol/Yuan (465) style caves. Tang caves 96, 130 and 148 contain the really big Buddhas.

The caves were abandoned towards the end of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, but avoided damage inflicted to other 'Thousand Buddha Caves' by Muslim invaders. There was some Muslim damage done, but this was early 20th Century by Muslim White Russian troops who found themselves camping here. More damage was done by the attention brought on them by archaeologist Aureil Stein who removed many works of art from these caves (including manuscripts brought back from India by the famous monk Xuanzang), after handing over the equivalent of £130 pounds to self-appointed curator / Taoist monk Wang Yuan Lu. Wang had taken it upon himself to look after and try to restore the caves (no easy task with 1,000 caves to look after).

After this, to cut a long story short, many Qing government officials decided to help themselves to much of what remained.

The Mogao caves ironically were left untouched during the Cultural Revolution, possibly under the orders of Mao's protégé Chou Enlai.

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World Heritage Site, 1 of the 3 major grottoes in China (the others are the Yungang Grottoes at Datong, Shanxi and Longmen Grottoes at Luoyang, Henan). Photos are prohibited in the grottoes. A tour is compulsory and included in the ticket price. 100 RMB for Chinese-speaking tour and 120 RMB for English-speaking tour; students get half price. In summer it's 160 RMB for English-speaking tour; I think Chinese-speaking tour is 120 RMB or so. Note that the grottoes are liable to be closed during rainy weather in order to protect them from moisture.

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Singing Dune Hills and Crescent Moon Lake (Ming2 Sha1 Shan1 and Yue4 Ya2 Quan2) admission 20 RMB (off-peak), usual price is 120 RMB (in non-freezing weather...!). Taking a ride on/photographing with a camel is 30 RMB per camel. The scenery was quite amazing, though we almost froze going there at 0730 trying to wait for the sunrise. Never do this in winter... brrrr! The Crescent Moon Lake was frozen and a bit underwhelming as well. There's a man-made lake closer to the dunes at the entrance, don't mistake THAT for the real thing. If you're afraid of heights, be careful when you climb the sand dunes.

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Lanzhou is the capital for Gansu province. Wanghe River runs through the city. Huanghe River is the mother river for Chinese culture.

The city of Lanzhou looks no different to the city of Nanjing (also same as the city of Urumqi).

Lanzhou is famous for its snacks and beef noodles. Yes, I had the best beef noodles soup in my life! The resturant is call "Ma Zi Lu" beef noodle soup. Only 5 yuan you can have a wonderful lunch. I believe there are other places in Lanzhou that has excellent beef soup too.

Another place to visit in Lanzhou is the water cart. It is delicately designed to utilize the flush of the river to mow the rice.

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JiaYu Gate is the western start of the great way. If I were to rate my travel highlights, JiaYu Gate is rated No.2 after Bayibruk grass land.

When I walk around the millitary town, I am thinking of the many peoms I studied to describe the mode of Soilders being sent to the remote place, far away from home. The millitary town is not big at all in today's view and many soldiers spend their entire life in such a place.

Studying the construction of the millitary town is also very interesting such as "Wen Cheng" which is a 90 degree turn to stop the empty from getting directly in. There is also an opera stand for soilder entertainment with naked woman painted on the ceiling.

There is also a great wall museum built inside JiayuGuan nowadays which is worth visiting.