The Great Wall and Western Imperial Fortress of Jia Guan

As promised, our day started with a picnic breakfast at the wall-the wall of the parking lot behind the hotel :-).  We drove the short distance to the historical site and donned our hiking boots-we did a LOT of walking today.

The western wall was built by the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century.   Because the wall here is very low, easily scaled by even a man standing on horseback, and ends abruptly at the top, it is theorized that this portion of the Great Wall was built more to display power and authority more than for protection. In any regard it was quite impressive and for all but one of us, the first exposure to the wall.

Below the wall was the Hobe Temple. We visited the sanctuaries and holy places. The statuary, wall murals, and sculptures were terrific. All over the grounds were hundreds of prayer flags. It was a very quiet and peaceful stop. It was good for the mind and the body to simply enjoy the stillness of this place.

Next we visited the City of Jia Guan and the Imperial Fortress.  Begun in the 10th Century it was uniquely preserved having survived countless assaults over the centuries. We wandered the ancient city and then it's museum before succumbing to the heat and calling it a day.





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Along the Tibetan Plateau

We departed Dunhuang mid morning and headed east for Jiayuguan and the western end of the Great Wall.  The sculpture is of the Fei Tien, Buddhist angels, as depicted in the cave paintings of Mogao. It was so graceful and commanding standing some 80 ft tall.

Our drive paralleled the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Yep, STILL, in the desert. Rocky low rise mountains quickly backed by staggering snow covered cliffs-you can make them out in the distance. We will be skirting the plateau, easterly and then south, for the next few dayd, going up into the outskirts of Tibet just before heading east again to Xian. Excitement lies ahead!

We arrived in Jiayuguan late afternoon.  Another huge city in the desert expanding with major construction projects in every direction.  The parks, squares and boulevards were grand.

The Chinese emperors saw Jiayuguan as the end of the ancient civilized world. Beyond the fortress and Great Wall was barren desert and the barbarian hordes of the west! 

This city was the beginning of what we now call the classical Silk Road. From here to Europe began a system of caravanserai and oases linking the major cities of Central Asia (been there). Caravans of merchants said goodbye to what they knew as they ventured into the western desert in search of new markets.

We arrived too late to do any sightseeing and decided to settle in at our hotel a bit early. So...lots of photos tomorrow. Yeah, no bush camping tonight or tomorrow! 

For dinner we visited a local hot pot restaurant. The selection of fresh veggies, meats and fishes was great. They had a huge assortment of mushrooms-some I had never tasted before. The simmering pot in the middle of the table was shared by everyone. As usual the floors and toilets were disgusting. The food and utensils immaculate. So odd!  It was a unique experience. Similar to San Francisco but different. Ha-ha. Wonder why?

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Dragon Festival

Last night was the eve of the Dragon Festival (great timing again) and we went back to the night market for some more of those amazing Chinese chopped meat sandwiches and 50 cent beer. Roving karaoke vendors were everywhere selling songs.

There were two fellows at the next table and they were having a blast singing and dancing. Well...it wasn't long before Dave, John and I were up there with them, dancing and singing along.

I even tried my hand at Chinese karaoke. Don't know what I was saying but by the size of the local crowd that had gathered, I must have been doing something amazingly grand or amazingly stupid. Regardless of the content it was indeed a blast. Sure hope the video makes it on to the blog! Around midnight-yep, another late one-we all sang Old Lang Sien (didn't spell it right, I know). You just had to be there to appreciate how special the whole thing was!

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Bobbbie Note: There was a two-part video that Tom tried to send; it was probably stripped off in China.

Singing Sands Mountain

 We hit the disco last night after roaming the market eating "I'm not sure what on a stick!"  The place was called Baby Face. It was a basement disco packed with twenty-something's..mostly  guys...dancing to 70's disco.

There were three scantly clad young ladies on platforms. The music was pounding and the strove lights mesmerizing. We mixed in on the dance floor, towering over the crowd, and had a grand time. Back to our rooms just after 2am we attempted to get some sleep. Ha-ha!

9am came earlier than usual and we set off on rental bikes for the Singing Sands. Huge sand dunes, some up to 3500 ft surround a natural spring. This spot was teaming with Chinese tourists riding camels and climbing the dunes. It was hot, we were all hung over, and shade was a commodity!

A few hiked the dunes, the smart ones found a tree, some shade, and a beer. Later we biked back into town. I chose to ride around the old city for a few more hours. A few others arranged to visit a local high school and have an English conversation with some students.

For dinner we went back to the night market for Chinese hamburgers and beer. It'll be an early morning as we head for the Great Wall.

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Mogao Grottos

The grottos are 735 caves constructed into the sandstone cliffs beyond Dunhuang and at the vase of the Tibetan Plateau.  They were started in 336AD. We toured the site with a professional, well-spoken guide (refreshing) and then had free time to wander on our own. Our tour included 12 caves, including one with a 150ft Buddha. Amazing.

The colors were original and the statuary unique. I especially liked the entrance guardian standing on demons. There were not a lot of dragons, but plenty of elephants, dogs, and tigers. The buddha statutes were unique in that their was a blending of the early Indian culture with the later reformed Tang, Liang and other Chinese dynasties.  As we were leaving the site a horizontal RSI is appeared over the museum. I'd never seen one before. Enjoy the photo!

We had a free afternoon to explore Dunhuang. A very pretty and beautifully maintained city with grand night markets for food hunting. I wonder what oddities we'll be asked to try tonight!

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On the road again...

We left Turpan at 6am for our drive to Dunhuang.  Instead of driving halfway and bush camping for one night, we opted to do the whole drive in one day and add an additional hotel night in the city. Yeah! 

600km of smooth sailing on a beautiful divided super highest lay before us. Mile after mile of rock and sand, black gravel coveref mountains, and sandy bluffs passed by almost endlessly. An occasional windfarm dotted the horizon here and there.  Snow covered mountains rose high to the north-quite a contrast.

Today we left the Tutpan basin and crossed into the southwestern Gobi Desert. One hundred miles north was Mongolia.  By noon we were heading south in the direction of the Tibetean Plateau. So far we have covered about 2800km (1750 miles)-more than half the width of the USA!  And it's pretty much all been desert!

We reached Dunhuang a 6:30pm and settled into our hotel with a view of the Tibetean Plateau. We will spend three days here exploring the oasis and the famous Magao caves.

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Ruins of Jiaohe and the Karez irrigation canals

For our full day in Turpan we visited two historic sites.  We passed a lot of markets on the way, the most interesting being the string bean collective. We've been cooking and eating these wonderful beans for a few weeks now and there were millions of them in this street market.  The vineyards were huge and widespread, these being one of the best grape growing regions in the country. 

The ancient city of Jiaohe was built between 700-800 AD. It is a fortified city with a natural river gorge on one side and a manmade canal on the other-both providing excellent protection from invaders. The city was carved out of the soft sedimentary mud and clay and fortified and further developed with mud brick. The city housed 8,000 and was a major commercial stop on the Silk Road. What you can't see from the photos and what we were not allowed to visit was the system of underground tunnels connecting the rooms of many of the buildings. It was hot yet dry. I likened this site to Petra in many regards. The monastary and Buddhist temple is the largest of this period in all of Xianjing province. 

After an ice cream and musk melon break we headed to the Karez exhibit. A "Karez" is an irrigation system of an underground channel, vertical access shafts, an open canal, and a collecting pond. There are over 5,600km of underground channels in the Turpan Basin.  The water source is the Tian Shan mountains. 

We toured the display facility where we were shown how they dug the vertical shafts, the channels, created the slope and collection systems. This process, all done by hand dates back to the 1st century. 

Today roughly 1/3 of the original Karez are in operation and there are no visible signs of conservation. Interesting!

 

 

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Turpan

The oasis of Turpan is located in the Turpan basin, second only to Death Valley, California in elevation below sea level. Returning from Urumqi we were once again in the desert depression. It was 95^ at 2pm and the wind was blowing pretty hard-another dust storm...yippee!

We stopped just before the junction for lunch. Then, guess what?  Our guide missed the turnoff. We were now headed in the wrong direction on a fenced and divided tollway.  Ten kilometers down there was police turnaround. We made an illegal u-turn and were back on track.

Out of the bleak desert sand and Rock sprang a huge, modern oasis city. Where an irrigation canal reached, it was lush and green.

We stopped at the museum for an overview before going to our hotel. It was an amazing museum, beautifully oriented and presented. The mummies were outstanding. With a grand overview of the area, we settled in for a great test bro morrow we tour the ruins, tombs, and irrigation system.

Our hotel, BTW, for the first time on this adventure, was a true "budget" establishment making even the best Motel 6 look and smell like a sultan's palace. Ha-ha!


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Heavenly Lake (Tian Chi)

Once out of Urumqi our destination was a mere 45km east. Tian Chi (heavenly cloud in mountain) National Park is a major local tourist attraction. The lake is at 7,000 ft and requires a series of transfer busses and then an electric trolley to access. 

We parked Sura, readied nm overnight pack of what we would need for our stay and boarded the transfer busses. Up a steep and winding access road for about 30 minutes brought us to the transfer station where we got on electric trolleys for the last leg. As we arrived at the lake it started to rain and continued until we left the following morning. 

We were met by our yurt hosts and taken by truck to the camp where we settled in for some free time relaxing. In between showers we walked to the lake and toured the temple and monastery. A bus load of brides arrived, along with their grooms in tow, for picture taking. At one point we counted over 100 of them, flouncing around in beautiful gowns and umbrellas. Each followed by a photographer and a stager. Very amusing!

We all shared on yurt, enjoyed dinner of rice and veggies, and slept through the night amidst snoring and raindrops. 

Morning was no different. Yet even with the rain and low hanging clouds it was still quite beautiful and peaceful. We packed up around 9am and headed back to Sura for our six hour drive to Turpan. 

Google "heavenly lake Urumqi" for some amazing photos I wasn't able to take due to the weather. 

 

 

 

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