Thursday, September 6. 2007
Sand Dunes
The Minshan Sand Dunes in Dunhuang seem to be quite low when the bus arrives to them at 6am. Have to get in at that time if want to catch the sun rise from the top of the Dunes...
Climbing a Sand Dune in the Taklamakan desert takes sometime. Even following the ridge line up, it is two steps forward and one back. Takes a good 20 minutes to get up. Then it is a case of sanding around waiting for the sun to rise.
It is a beautiful thing seeing the sun rise up over the the sand. The shapes of the dunes beginning to become more apparent as the sky gets lighter and the shadows starting to give the Dunes shape. With it getting lighter, can see it was actually quite a climb to the top of the Dunes.
Climbing a Sand Dune in the Taklamakan desert takes sometime. Even following the ridge line up, it is two steps forward and one back. Takes a good 20 minutes to get up. Then it is a case of sanding around waiting for the sun to rise.
It is a beautiful thing seeing the sun rise up over the the sand. The shapes of the dunes beginning to become more apparent as the sky gets lighter and the shadows starting to give the Dunes shape. With it getting lighter, can see it was actually quite a climb to the top of the Dunes.
Getting down from the Dunes is a whole lot easier. Can run straight down zig-zagging and sliding in the sand. Only a couple of minutes to get down.
From there it is onto camels for a bit of a wander on them through the Dunes. The Chinese do like to add extras to their tourist attractions, after a 15-20 minute walk are at an area where can go sliding down a smooth part of the Dunes on a big inner tube. Can get a good speed on a tube going down a steep sand dune. Then back on the camels for another 45 minutes or so.
The Mogao Grottoes today made for an interesting historical area to visit. The various Buddhist caves dug out from the cliff face. Some very beautiful paint covering the walls, all around 1200-1400 years old. Amazing how good they looked considering most of them had not been touched up...
Back on to another train this evening heading for Turpan. A short-ish train, only 12 hours.
From there it is onto camels for a bit of a wander on them through the Dunes. The Chinese do like to add extras to their tourist attractions, after a 15-20 minute walk are at an area where can go sliding down a smooth part of the Dunes on a big inner tube. Can get a good speed on a tube going down a steep sand dune. Then back on the camels for another 45 minutes or so.
The Mogao Grottoes today made for an interesting historical area to visit. The various Buddhist caves dug out from the cliff face. Some very beautiful paint covering the walls, all around 1200-1400 years old. Amazing how good they looked considering most of them had not been touched up...
Back on to another train this evening heading for Turpan. A short-ish train, only 12 hours.
Posted by Scott Walsh
in China, ExportFacebook, Travelling
at
18:24
| Comments (0)
| Trackbacks (0)
Defined tags for this entry: buddist
, china
, desert
, dunhuang
, minshan sand dunes
, sand dunes
, taklamakan
, trains
, travelling
, turpan
, xinjiang
, china, desert, dunhuang, minshan sand dunes, sand dunes, taklamakan, trains, travelling, turpan, xinjiangTrackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Site
Random Entry
Random Image
DSC00983.JPG
Date: 30/08/2007
