After an odd breakfast prepared by staff who were only familiar with Chinese breakfasts, we set out for the Mingsha Sand Dunes. These are red sand dunes hundreds of feet high with a small lake in their midst with a Buddhist shrine that was visited by caravans both for water and to ask Buddha for safe journey onward. We took an hour dude camel ride on two-humped Bactrian camels up to a point several hundred feet up, then came back by another route. The Bactrians had a much smoother gait than the one-humped camels in the Middle East. The watering hole after the Crystal Lake was in 30 km. Most travelers on the silk road made that distance in a day.
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| Off we go.... |
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| Shedding camels aren't too attractive |
We had a sumptuous 10-course Chinese meal at a local farmhouse. We took many pictures so we would be able to show the guide the food we liked best and get the name in English and Chinese.
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| Even a vegetarian would have been happy! |
We then visited UNESCO World Heritage site of Buddhist caves at Mogao with wall paintings and statues dating from about 380 AD through about 1400 AD, a period encompassing 1,000 years. The caves number over 750 and stretch along a cliff face in three "stories" for
about a kilometer, and include one of the largest Buddha images in China, at 113 feet tall. We had a very knowledgeable guide who spent two hours explaining these magnificent works of art. An amazing place.
After dinner at our hotel, we drove two hours to the train station at Liuyuan, but our train was over 1 1/2 hours late, not arriving until 11:45 PM. We were cold and exhausted, but were lucky to have the 4-berth soft sleeper compartment all to ourselves for the overnight journey to Turpan.
about a kilometer, and include one of the largest Buddha images in China, at 113 feet tall. We had a very knowledgeable guide who spent two hours explaining these magnificent works of art. An amazing place.
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