The Silk Road, Part 2: Dunhuang

Sorry it's taken me so long to get to Part II! We had midterms on Friday (which I fortunately did well on! It was tough going from the trip to the test in four days - there was absolutely no time to study), and now we're preparing for our huge presentations this Friday. On top of that, we're preparing for Halloween, and I'm a little sick. More on all of that in another post.

Before we went to Dunhuang, we stopped again in Linxia and Lanzhou (as we had to take a train in Lanzhou). In Linxia, we had the famous beef noodles (niu rou la mian) and visited a mosque.

Can I just be a food photographer? That would be an awesome job.

The mosque was interesting because it showed us a distinctive blend of Chinese culture with Islam.

From architecture...

... to incense...

... to silk...

... to art.

In Lanzhou, we got lunch (whoops it was KFC) and visited the Yellow River.

Here's a bridge!

We took the train overnight from Lanzhou to Dunhuang. This one was a hard sleeper. The cots are a bit smaller and less comfortable (I found out later that the middle and top ones are so short that you can't sit up) and there are no doors. I was a bit worried, but it was absolutely no big deal. Soft sleeper isn't really worth the extra money.

Yeah, I took this one on my phone. Sorry about that.

It looks exactly like what it is: A little train station in a little desert town.

We arrived the next morning in Dunhuang. It was the first outdoor train station I saw (other than outside my window), and it looked so much like the kind you see in movies or in certain black-and-white Oscar-winning animated short films.

Something about Dunhuang struck me as American. It was about the size of an American city (reminded me a little bit of Tulsa but smaller), and the buildings sometimes had space between them and weren't built very high.

I've never seen giant dunes outside my window in America, though.

The first thing we did was visit the Mogao Grottoes. They're famous caves carved out by travelers who wanted to make places to worship. People used to pray here when about to cross the desert or after they had safely made the journey. The caves have influences from China, India, and Greece. It's absolutely fascinating to see. You'll have to look up pictures of the insides elsewhere, as photography is not permitted inside.

The paintings are delicate, so the grottoes will actually be closing some time next year, as visitors damage them just by breathing.

The gardens were beautiful as well. Here stand the

Prophets of Feipanism: Daniel and Joey. (Yeah, we founded a religion during our trip. Who doesn't?)

We went to dinner by the Night Market. It was a really interesting experience. There was this courtyard full of tables with men and women urging you to sit down. You would order from their menu (every couple of tables had a different owner), and they would run around the market buying you food.

Emily and Mary (the other Alliance bloggers!) and Daniel

Elizabeth, Joey, and Allison

Lena and Shelby

Donkey meat (on the plate with the cilantro) and some rather tasty noodles.

Donkey meat is famous in Dunhuang. Unfortunately, another group of students ate at a different table and got donkey meat from a different restaurant. It appeared to make them sick, although that's awfully quick work for food poisoning!

There was this really cool stage with light-up ads behind it (which you can see in one of my pictures), and I made the mistake of mentioning out loud how cool it would look if someone were to go up there and dance.

Emily loves to push me into doing things, and this time she had Joey to help her.

Yep.

The courtyard was packed with locals, many of whom started filming or taking pictures. There was also, coincidentally, live music. A lot of people tried to talk to me after.

After my little adventure, we decided to walk around the Dunhuang Night Market.

So pretty.

Typical fare.

There were a lot of people who did crafts like wood carving. One guy in particular caught our eye.

He was kind enough to let me take his picture.

He hand-painted the inside of glass bottles using a traditional painting style. His work was exceptionally beautiful.

The next day, we went to see the Gobi Desert.

These trees are tough. Not only do they live in the desert, but they also live for a thousand years.

And then take another thousand to fall. 

And then another thousand to break.

This is the Jade Gate - a famous pass along the Silk Road.

The original Great Wall, built way before the famous one! It's from the Ming Dynasty.

That night was a real adventure.

We rode camels!

Look at us. Look at those dunes.

We rode the camels to the dunes and then scrambled up. Once we got to the top, we scrambled up even higher, up to a peak. It was quite the struggle because the sand was so soft.

You know me. Have to dance everywhere.

... Even if the sand disagrees!

One of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Sun setting over the dunes.

Running back down. See where we left the camels?

The next day was our last in Dunhuang. We packed up and checked out, and then we went to our guide (Wangjie)'s in-law's family farm.

Cotton is a major industry in Dunhuang.

Picturesque

We helped pick cotton; they made the most delicious lunch. Oh man were we spoiled.

Picking cotton was surprisingly satisfying.

I started to say that Dunhuang was the most adventurous part of the trip, but that isn't quite true. You'll see pictures from a lot of hikes in beautiful scenery in my next post!

At this point, I was feeling a bit ill, which prompts me to give you all a piece of advice that seems obvious:
When you're in dry climates, drink a lot of water! I fell a little bit behind, and boy, did I regret it.

Stay tuned for Part III, the final chapter in the great journey!

The Silk Road, Part 1: Xiahe

Our first day of the trip was taking an overnight train to Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. I shared a soft sleeper (four slightly-more-comfortable beds in a room with a door) with Mary, Shelby, and Orion. I fell asleep quickly but then woke up and stayed awake.

Soft sleeper - pretty comfortable!

I decided to look out the window to take in the orange-washed, polluted city that we were inevitably passing.

Before I could even open the curtains, I realized that was not the case. I could see a couple of big bright white lights. I wondered if we were passing an oil refinery.

I opened the curtains.

Surely not.

I put on my glasses.

They were stars.

I have never seen so many stars in my life. Big, bright, stretching all the way to the horizon. Thousands of them, just inside that little square of window. I stared for almost half an hour. It was the most amazing way to start the trip.

We arrived in Lanzhou in the morning and ate breakfast at a hotel (I refuse to say "an hotel" because the "h" is voiced) and then took a long but pretty bus ride to Linxia for lunch. It was the first of many Muslim restaurants, and it was delicious.

Linxia is a little town (okay, so it's a big city, but it's not as big as Xi'an or Lanzhou or Urumqi) on the Xia river (the same one that gives Xiahe its name) and it has the highest population of Muslims in China. It's famous for beef noodles, which we had on the way back to the Lanzhou train station a few days later. Pretty good stuff.

Pretty bus ride.

Goats!

Xiahe has a large Tibetan community, and is in fact known as "Little Tibet." It's somewhere around 9,000 feet above sea level, and it's the smallest city we saw. We all loved it and couldn't explain why. It was chilly and sometimes even I spoke better Chinese than the locals. It's also the smallest town I've seen for a long time.

Cows in the road stopped our bus. The first time. Not the last.

Our hotel room! I roomed with Shelby again. Nothing broke this time.

Fabric on the ceiling.

We were on the third floor, and breakfast involved going across that outdoor section of the fourth floor. Both are pictured.

Our room was cold, but there were extra blankets.

That first day, we visited Labran Monastery. It was beautiful.

One of many buildings.

It was beautiful and surrounded by mountains. Even at this elevation.

Yak butter sculptures! It's a tradition in this area.

Our second day - after a satisfying breakfast of yak's milk yogurt, bread, honey, jam, fried eggs, and instant coffee - we visited a temple that belonged to the Bon religion, which is commonly considered to be the indigenous religion of Tibet. It was a long and bumpy bus ride, and the first thing we did once we got there was hike up to the top of the hill behind the temple for a picnic.

These locals were nice enough to let me have a picture. The monastery was behind me when I took this picture.

At the top of the hill overlooking the monastery.

Our guide got us these little slips of paper. You release them and it's good luck.

Our picnic. Look at these wonderful, wonderful people.

After the picnic, we toured the monastery. They let us take pictures, which was an honor.

The goddess (which is used loosely - the gods are gender neutral) of wisdom.

Young monks! (They also gave us permission to take photos.)

In the afternoon, we met a living Buddha. It was a really cool (yeah - that's an understatement) experience. We were allowed to ask him questions, but he only spoke Tibetan, so the language barrier was nearly insurmountable.

Yak's milk tea, which is not to be confused with yak butter tea, is delicious.

A wonderful traditional Tibetan noodle dish.

Xiahe felt simple and old and different from both China and America. It really felt like seeing more of the world. It was chilly in a bright way and the people wore beautiful colors and we saw monks at restaurants and it was the perfect way to start our adventure.