Days 9 and 10 - Dunhuang to Turpan June 18-19

In Front of Magao Grottoes

Day 9 - Dunhuang

We started the day with a traditional Asian breakfast. Unfortunately, or fortunately, hot coffee spilled all over my lap. The traditional Chinese table is round with a very large turntable in the center, and very little room for individual plates and cups. My coffee mug was sitting next to the the turn table and when it was turned, a spoon handle sticking out beyond the turning table caught the mug knocking it over with all the contents dumped. It was not scalding hot thankfully, but it made a mess out of my clothing. I excused myself from the breakfast table which frankly looked quite unappetizing and went up to the room cleanup. I also took advantage of making a package of hot quaker oatmeal and a banana for breakfast.

We assembled as a group around 9:30 and headed out to the very famous World Heritage site of the Mogao Grottoes, built between 200 BCE to 13-14th century CE by Buddhist believers who either dug for themselves or if they were wealthy enough hired artisans to build for them grottos dug out of the sandstone cliffs.

The grottos number about 700. Not all, but many are elaborately painted with mineral colors still quite vivid today. In one of the grottos there was a large reclining Buddha and in another there was a 35 meter high Buddha, third largest in China.

Story murals, Buddha statutes and shrines fill the grottos. Many of the grottos were stripped of statues, murals and artifacts by western explorers in the early 1900's and are in British, French, and American Museums. Today the site is beautifully preserved with wooden walkways, iron doors in front of each of the artistic grottos, to prevent, light, sand, and human raiders.

We returned to the hotel after a lunch that included donkey meat.

 We gave it a try. Not bad. HawHee! During our time at the grottos, the wind kicked up and we experienced both a wind storm and rain showers. We could see black clouds hanging on the mountains. The rain is considered good luck. There is usually little or no rain here.

We purchased some playing cards representative of the Mogao Grottos art, and inquired of our guide Helen if she would teach us a Chinese card game. Yes she could, and yes she did. While we waited in the lobby for our transfer to the train station, Helen taught us how to play a three person game called Landlord. One of the players is the landlord and goes first trying to capture as many cards as possible and go out first. Its a fun little game but a bit different in terms of card ranks. Red Joker is highest card, black joker is next followed in descending order 5, 3, 2, Ace, King, Queen, Joker, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4. We now have a remembrance of Dunhuang, China when we play this game.

The group boarded the bus at 6:30 for a 130 km, 3 hour drive from Dunhuang to a shabby station in the midst of a shabby coal mine town, LiuYuan. As we drove, the scenery changed from the lovely oasis of Dunhuang to scrub desert to dune desert with wind farms. The rain in the mountains was playing havoc with the already bumpy road as water flash flooded down from the mountains across dry washes in the road. Fortunately, the water was receding from earlier in the day and we crossed all the washes safely. Some trucks that had been in the wrong place earlier in the day when the flooding was at its peak were buried in mud and sand up to their axels.

As the sun sank in the sky, the desert changed from sand to small mountains of tailings and coal. A volcanic moonscape stretched for miles in every direction. Old industrial buildings and soulless apartment buildings became more pronounced as we neared LiuYuan. This place looked like the coal mining province in the Hunger Games.

I found it quite depressing. Our train was to arrive at 10:30. It was now 9:30. We had an hour wait, but then we got word that the train, also because of the flash flooding, was delayed until midnight. Ugh! We were tired and sitting around in a packed, smelly station was not welcome. The train station did have a boiling water dispenser, so Russ and I fixed ourselves hot soup from our soup stash and called it dinner.

Our train finally arrived to take us to TuLuFan, a town 50 minutes or so from Turpan. It was almost 1:00 a.m. in the morning and the car, and berth room to which 3 of our group had tickets, already had one sleeping passenger. Quietly, we stowed our stuff in the dark, and fell on to our beds. Until last night when we slept on a box spring (traditional hard Chinese mattress), we thought the berths were not terribly comfortable. i guess everything is relative, because it felt pretty soft as we drifted to sleep only to get up and off the train by 7:15.

Day 10 - Turpan - Along the Silk Road

The scenery this morning as we awoke were mountains in the distance and oil wells in the desert. Russ and I ate some of our granola bars for our breakfast. We were met at the train station, by our new guide Serena. Getting off the train was easy as the platform was high and it was a small little ramp down, but it was a middle track which required us to go down two flights of steps, under a subway walk, and backup two flghts of steps carrying all of our gear, then up a cobbled street to the van, huff puff!

Turpan is another Oasis city, and is where the Silk Road forks north or continues west to Kashgar. This city has about 200,000 people who live in one of the hottest, lowest deserts in the world. But there is water here so it is habitable. The province is autonomous from the rest of China, but not really. It has relaxed restrictions due to its rural and remote environment. Because it is a farm community (sweetest grapes in the world), young people can marry here at 18, instead of 20 and can have 2-3 children to help with the farming.

Our van descended from the train station 155 meters almost 450 feet below sea level to reach Turpan. I could feel my ears popping as I acclimated during our descent.

The group was eager to check into our hotel rooms at the Turpan Hotel.

It is going to only be in the low100s today, but the air conditioning in our hotel seemed to be struggling. Since our group would not gather until 1:00 pm, we had the rest of the morning (3 hours) to do as we pleased. Russ and I did some laundry, took cold showers, and went out to lunch.

Today, we visited a mosque built in 1777, an ancient underground irrigations system which tapped snow melt coming down from the Celestial mountains (Xinjiang Karez),

Irrigation wells to underground river complex

and visited the ancient city of Yar,

which was an extensive city made of mud (the first Turpan), 200 BC to first century BCE. It was hotter than heck!

 I decked myself in a wet sarong over my head, looked like a hajib. At the finish of or day in the desert, we feasted on sweet watermelon.

Tomorrow, we leave for Kashgar.

All isWell with the Worrall Travel Rs.

Days 7 & 8 Xian to Dunhuang

 Sunday June 15, End of Day 6 - Night Life in Xian

We spent our last night in Xian at a cultural dinner theater where we enjoyed song and dance with performers dressed in lavish costumes representative of the Tang Dynasty.

Our meal as promised consisted of 30 different types of dumplings with shapes symbolizing the stuffing of each. Our favorite was the duck dumpling, and of course, these dumplings were in the shape of little ducks.

After dinner and the performance, we walked back into the ancient walled city of Xian where the city was alive with people strolling and shopping on a warm summer evening. The walls, guard towers and gate were lit up with lights adding a magical aura to the city where the Silk Road ended for eat bound travelers, and is the beginning of the Silk Road for west bound travelers.


















WE BEGIN THE SILK ROAD,THANKFULLY NOT BY CAMEL

Days 7 & 8 Train from Xian to Dunhuang (dune wong)

Monday, June 16

We boarded our west bound train at 1030 am. Our 4 berth room consisted of 2 upper and 2 lower berths. A small table extended into the aisle from the window covered with a white brocade table cloth, red silk rose in a glass bud vase, and stainless steel thermal water pot. At each end of our car there was a toilet. The front of the car had a western seat toilet and the backend of the car had an eastern squat toilet. There was also one 3 sink washroom and a boiling water dispenser....all the comforts of Silk Road travel by rail. There was a dining car as well, but we had brought our own noodle bowls, so we only needed the boiling water.

We traveled many miles before we left the city of Xian. The suburbs with high rise apartments and cranes raising even more apartments stretched out for as far as the eye could see, and finally gave way to farm fields in valleys where mountains began to rise up and were etched with active and remnant terraces for gardens, crops, and erosion control growth. As the mountains rose into cone shapes like a Chinese hat our train either snaked along a large river or plowed through numerous tunnels that had been dug through the mountains. Evidence was everywhere that the Chinese are industrious people, building bridges, more elevated rails for high speed trains, and roads.

 Once we had passed through the mountains and mountainous valleys, the land flattened out and where there was still water, cultivated land and small family compounds became more prevalent. Adobe type structures with walls and very slight pagoda one sided sloped roofs predominated. The major cities where our train would stop to pickup and unload passengers were densely populated with high rise apartments, but the farther we traveled from Xian, the housing looked less attractive and more industrialized. We passed massive industrial complexes that were mining or refining petroleum and gas products.

While the scenery passed us by and the land grew drier and sandier, we read, chatted, and played cards.

Tuesday, June 17, Day 8 Gobi Desert

I woke up early this morning and took advantage of the quiet time to freshen up in the washroom. The scenery changed dramatically from dry farming to desert lands. We had entered the beginning of the Gobi desert. The desert is dryer than the Australian outback and there is nothing here to burn, just sand and a thin layer of black coal ash. Huge wind farms have been built to capture the desert winds, and solar farms to capture the desert sun. The sky is hazy here most of the time.

We checked into our hotel at 10:00 am in Dunhuang, a green oasis of a city about 3,000 feet elevation intersecting the Gobi and Tengery Deserts, had one hour to freshen up, go to the ATM, and buy some lunch to take with us on a three hour drive through the desert out to the Yardang National Geological Park. Along the way both coming and going we will be seeing many sights including remnants of the Great Wall, As we drive there is a green fence that runs endlessly through the desert to keep the wild camels protected. Our day guide estimates there are 100 camels. Seems like a lot of fence to protect 100 camels, when the seas are being fished to extinction.

A yardang is similar to a sandstone hoodoo found in Bryce National Park. After having been a lake 70,000,000 years ago, the sandstone has been eroded by cold moist temperatures in the winter and sandblasting by the winds. Using your imagination or that of others, we could see the guarding Gate Lion and the sphinx.

Our next stop was the earliest attempt of building the Great Wall in the Gobi desert by Han Dynasty in 169 BCE. It is made from mud, sand, mortar and reeds. Some of it still stands, most has collapsed and been reclaimed by the desert.

Our last stop of the day was the castle or west gate of the silk wall, a place where Marco Polo most likely crossed through on his way to Xian. Very exciting to see.

After our National Park stops headed back to Dunhuang with a stop with a short hike through the sand dunes to Crescent Spring Lake, a place where Silk Road travelers could drink sweet .

Shades of Sand

Water in the desert. We have just returned to our hotel to wash the San from our feet and will be meeting in the lobby in at 8:30, 15 minutes from now to go to the night market and have some dinner.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's

Day 6 - Xian Terracotta Warriors

Warriors Rising

End of Day 5, June 14, 2014

Between the time we returned from the Great Wall and the time we boarded our overnight train to Xian, we hung out in our hotel lobby.  We were  hot and sweaty from our Great Wall walk, but had already checked out of our rooms earlier that morning.  Russ and I had bath wipes with us so we took advantage of the hotel lobby restroom to clean up and change clothes before boarding the train at 8:45 pm.

The train was made up for an overnight.  We shared a very tidy and nicely decorated 4 bunk room with Paul and Rachel from our group.

Upper and Lower Bunks, Small Space for Four People and Our Luggage

By the time we got our gear stowed, I was definitely ready to crash.  Our car was the second one on the train behind the engine which was thankfully electric and very quiet in that respect, but not quiet from the horn that blasted a every street crossing, which seemed to punctuate the quiet every other minute.  Despite a sleeping pill and earplugs, my night was not an easy one.   Russ on the other hand said it was the best night sleep he had since we left home.  Oh well, it's about the experience!

I was the first one up at 5:30 and took advantage of a quiet and clean washroom to ready myself for the day.  I made myself a cup of coffee with my cup, Starbucks Via  packet of Columbian roast, and boiling water dispenser at the end of our train car, and returned to  our compartment where everyone except for Paul had awakened.  For another hour we sat quietly watching the scenery pass.  It  was very foggy/smoggy in the early morning.

By 8:30, we  had successfully disembarked from the train and registered in our hotel.  We had an hour to shower and cleanup before heading to the World Heritage sight of the Terracotta Warriors.  

Day 5 - Another check on the bucket list

From our Silk Road Dossier " The glittering city of fabled wealth at the end of the Silk Road or the 'Golden Journey', as travelled by Marco Polo. The extraordinary buried army of some 6,000 life sized terracotta figures must be seen to be believed. We then board the train for the journey to Dunhuang."

We met our guide Linda who took us out to the World Heritage sight, via a stop at the terracotta factory where replica, full size,s half size, and quarter size terracotta figures our made to be used in movies, museums, and private homes and gardens.

Original Warriors Were Colorfully Painted.  Pigment however does not last when exposed to air.

Unlike the original figures that were made by hand, the ones at the factory are casted for mass production.  After our tour, we headed out to the Heritage sight, but had lunch first.  Many of the farmers that were displaced by this massive archaeological  site, now have nearby homes where they prepare meals for small groups.

We had a terrific lunch, with some specialties we have not seen elsewhere,  very long flat noodles, marinated crunch potatoes julienne, and sweet potatoes carmelized in a sticky, peanut brittle type sauce.

After lunch, we took a couple of hours to explore the site.  First we saw a short movie explaining the origins of the soldiers over a 38 year period in 200 BCE, their destruction during a rebellion by factions trying to  gain control after the Emperor's death, their discovery 2,000 years later by some farmers digging a well in 1974, and the archeological pits still being excavated, and figures being put back together.

Most of the warriors looked like this before being pieced back together.  An Amazing Puzzle!

Head dress, armor, facial expressions, tell from what province a warrior came.

Our biggest surprise was the immense size of the dig and the utter destruction of the figures.  Only a small portion of the estimated 6,000 figures have been excavated and pieced back together.  When originally found the figures are colorfully painted, but very quickly oxidize losing their coloring when exposed to the air.  Consequently, until the scientists can figure out how to expose the next part of the dig without jeopardizing the coloring, most of the dig is still covered.

The figures and the immensity are staggering, and have been coined the eighth wonder of the world.  This is really a highlight for us as was the great wall.  When I can post the pictures, I know you will enjoy them.

We are headed back to our hotel to relax, attend a special dumpling dinner where we will sample 30 different types of dumplings.  The contents of the dumpling are known only by the distinctive shape in which they are made.  Afterwards, we will be attending a cultural, Han Dynasty performance at the theater.

We leave in the morning at 9:30 for a 23 hour train trip to Dunhuang.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Xian

Day 5 - Check the Great Wall off the Bucket List

End of Day 4 - Meeting up with our tour group

After resting in the cool of our hotel room for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, it was time to meet up with our tour group at 5::00 p.m.  Our guide is a young woman from Russia, Katya.  She does not speak Chinese, but she does speak the language of the Krygkys, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Russians.  She will serve as our escort through all of the countries and troubleshoots our daily needs and logistics.  Katya/Sundowners arranges for local guides at each of the cities to which we will tour.

Our tour group consists of Russ and I, and three others from Australia (Paul and Rachel, ER Physician and Teacher respectively in Alice Springs), and Ben (mining geologist in a gold mine in Perth).  We are a very small group.  After short introductions, we walked into a section of Beijing where Katya had arranged with a Chinese friend, Alice and her husband Charlie to prepare a meal for us at their tea house.   Alice used to work in an antique shop, but as antiques became scarce, her boss started to pass off artifacts claiming them to be antiques.  She could not in good conscience, continue to work for someone dishonest.   

She and her husband opened a Tea Shop on a small street that caters primarily to local people, not tourists like us..  Her husband is an excellent cook, and served us a lovely meal.  After dinner, Alice introduced us to many teas and we got to sample each as she told us what their benefits were and stories behind the ceremonies.  The evening was relaxed, delightful, and interesting.

We returned to our hotel and retired to our rooms to pack and ready ourselves for hotel checkout,  a hike on the Great Wall in the morning and early afternoon and our train trip to Xian in the evening.

Day 5 - Great Wall

Up by 5:30, breakfast at 6:45, checkout 7:45..  We met our day guide Jerry.  He speaks excellent English which he learned in China, and to listen to him, you would probably not guess that he was Chinese.  He is fluent and has hardly an accent.  Very impressive.  By 8:00 a.m., we were on our way to the section of Great Wall that is about 2 hours out of Beijing Mutianju.  First Lady, Michele Obama and daughters, were to this section of the wall a few weeks ago when they were in touring in China.  

Great Wall Snakes Over the Mountain Tops

We rode a cable care to the mid section of the visible wall that snaked over hills, through valleys and over steep mountains in both directions as far as one could see.  The Wall is a masterpiece.  Truly worth a visit!  Hard The car we rode up on had  a sign on it saying that President Clinton had ridden in this same car when he was here.  We are following in some fine footsteps.

Today is Saturday and the  place had a lot of people, mostly local and some American student groups out for a walk on the Great Wall.  The real crush will begin in July when the Chinese school year  ends in June.  We purchased round trip tram tickets.The wall in the mountains are not as tall as the ones in the flat lands.  Jerry explained that the walls only had to be high enough to stop the Mongol horses.  The temperature is in the low 90's today, so it warm and there is little shade on the wall with the exception of the periodic guard houses.  

The five of us and Jerry walked a section of the wall, just long enough to wake up my blisters from our Thursday Wall walk, take some photos, return to the bottom in a cable car, and walk back down through the tourist vendors, before going to a lunch at a local restaurant of Chinese chestnut chicken, carmelized eggplant, stir-fried green beans, and fried rice. Best food yet.

We are now on the trip back to Beijing, and like everyone else except for the driver, I am going to close my eyes for a little siesta before we return to the hotel and our train trip.

All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs