Please read from the bottom...This is the second post from my trip. I still have a few more days to update.
I got on the road around 4am to cross the Gobi desert (from Dunhang city to the Mogao caves – shortest way to cross the desert) in hope to see the sunrise. But nope, it didn’t happen because the wind never stopped from the previous day! So in the end, I didn’ get to see neither the sunset nor the sunrise in the desert…argh?
There was just endless desert... nothing else... I definitely had a lot of time to reflect on things but didn't accomplish much because it was freezing and my brain was numb -_-
The experience was amazing. I was in the desert…alone (well there was a camel guide who came with me but still) riding on a camel…for almost three hours.
Even though I went prepared, it was still freezing cold, as mentioned earlier. I wish I brought a pair of gloves. Other than that, everything was fine.
When I first entered the desert, for a while, all I could see was Chinese style graves. But (according to movies I’ve seen such as 倩女幽魂, ghosts usually start returning to 阴间 (the other world) around 5am, so I kept telling myself that it was okay. Still kind of scary though because it was dark for a while. I didn't take any picture in the dark, I'm usually not superstitious but didn't want to risk anything!
The wind was very very harsh. I thought my face was going to be ruined once I came out of the desert. It definitely felt like knives cutting through my skin. I just kept reminding myself how I always longed to be in a desert and really…I asked for it. I can get plenty of facials afterwards but I cannot buy an experience like that, right? :)
Here's a video. You can hear the wind blowing in the background.
Then once I got to the other side, I visited the most famous Buddhist heritage site in China: the Mogao caves! They prohibit people from taking cameras inside the caves so I unfortunately didn’t get to take any pictures. But here are some pictures of the outside of the caves. The doors were of course built in later, not from the ancient times. There are 495 caves currently (used to be over 1200 but most have been destroyed either by weather or people). The oldest caves here date back to at least 1000 years ago.
You have to follow a guide who takes you to only 10 caves. You could follow another guide to see more caves (each guide usually shows different caves) if you want to see more. I ended up following two guides.
If you want to visit the caves, you should do it now. People who work there told me that in 2 or 3 years the government will prohibit people from actually going into the caves in an effort to preserve these wonders.
Here’s a brief history of the caves from Wiki: According to local legend, in 366 AD a Buddhist monk, Lè Zūn (樂尊), had a vision of a thousand Buddhas and inspired the excavation of the caves he envisioned. The number of temples eventually grew to more than a thousand.[3] As Buddhist monks valued austerity in life, they sought retreat in remote caves to further their quest for enlightenment. From the 4th until the 14th century, Buddhist monks at Dunhuang collected scriptures from the west while many pilgrims passing through the area painted murals inside the caves. The cave paintings and architecture served as aids to meditation, as visual representations of the quest for enlightenment, as mnemonic devices, and as teaching tools to inform illiterate Chinese about Buddhist beliefs and stories.
The murals cover 450,000 square feet (42,000 m²). The caves were walled off sometime after the 11th century after they had become a repository for venerable, damaged and used manuscripts and hallowed paraphernalia.
The most famous cave is the cave where the Buddist manuscripts were hidden (藏经洞)．When this cave was first discovered, there were at least 50,000 rolls of manuscripts. However, the Taoist monk (王道士）who discovered the cave was illiterate and did not understand the value of these manuscripts. So he picked the nicest ones to sell in exchange for money to maintain the caves (good intention though). Since most of the manuscripts have been sold to or stolen by people from England, USA, Japan, Russia, etc., all there is left in China is about 8000 rolls of less valuable ones…
Dunhuang is famous for its grapes. Since it’s not the grape season yet, raisins will have to do. These are the best raisins I’ve ever had!
Having a drink with the woman who made the raisins herself! The drink was made out of 锁阳 （Songaria Cynomorium Herb）, really good for men apparently ;)
Not the season for grapes but definitely the season for other types of fruits. Yum!
Souvenirs I got. Dunhuang is famous for its “ink jade, 墨玉” which comes from the Qilian Snow mountains. Ever heard of the poem "琵琶美酒夜光杯"? Yep, that's what these are for. I'm going to try pouring wine in these and pretend I was one of those romantic literatis, lol
Post cards! These are all photos of things from the caves, ranging from all different dynasties. Enlarge to see the details or google Mogao caves to see more!
Flying apsaras. I overheard a girl calling these "cheerleaders." I think it fits perfectly because this is what they do!
Yummy food I had on that day… Leah I made sure to take pix of all the food just for you! :)
凉皮 weishi ;)
What's inside? Pork and scallon. You dip these in spicy sauce
These dumplings were so good that I had to go back to the restaurant for a second time.
Visited a local camera repair store to fix my digital camera. The inside of my camera was covered in sand when the girl opened it up…
OK, more to come later.
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