| After an overnight train and a 2 hour drive through the
Gobi desert, we arrived in semi-green Dunhuang. This is a Han
Chinese city. We ate lunch in a small cafe, gesticulating and
pointing at food on other tables to make our order since no one spoke
English. We ended up with a great tasting fish that cost us 50 yuan
($6), a fortune! That's what happens when you order seafood in the
middle of a desert. Later in the afternoon we visited the Mogao
caves which contain murals and statues dating from the 3rd to 9th
century AD. At this place the "foreign devils of the Silk road"
(foreign archaeologists) plundered thousands of manuscripts and
paintings at the beginning of the 20th century. The plundering done
today is at the ice cream stalls and gift shops where everything is
marked up at least 50%. |
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| Train ride scenery through the Gobi desert.
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| We biked to the White Horse Pagoda, built in the 9th
century. Being cheap tourists, we circumnavigated the $1.20 entrance
fee and snuck around to the back door.
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| Giant sand dunes surround Dunhuang. We'll climb them
tomorrow.
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