across the arid desert. At 38°C, it was
the hottest day of the year when we
visited, but a gentle wind – the same
force responsible for the gradual
erosion of rock into the remarkable
geological structures – swept through
the park, and provided a welcome relief
from the oppressive heat.
We then ventured to the Yumen
Pass, also known as the Jade Gate.
This gateway once provided passage
for travellers along the Silk Road,
connecting Central Asia and China.
The “library cave”
houses 40,000 scrolls
that have provided
historians with a richer
understanding of the
Silk Road
A LABYRINTH OF HISTORY
The Mogao Caves (莫高窟) – also
sometimes referred to as the Caves
of the Thousand Buddhas (千佛洞) –
consist of a network of 492 temples,
with some 2,100 coloured statues and
45,000 square metres of murals.
The “library cave” houses 40,000
scrolls that have provided historians
with a richer understanding of the
Silk Road. UNESCO reports that the
first caves were founded in 366 AD
by Buddhist monks, establishing
Dunhuang as an epicentre for Buddhist
learning, attracting many pilgrims to
the city via the Silk Road. Photography
is not allowed so as to preserve
the caves, which house artworks
contributed by the Turks, ancient
Tibetans and other Chinese ethnic
minorities. Sadly, some of the murals
and scriptures originally found were
illegally excavated and transported to
museums abroad.THE SINGING SAND
We then visited the Echoing Sand
Mountain, a series of the Gobi Desert’s
sand dunes that tower around Crescent
Lake. The name of the former is
derived from the echoes that can be
heard as the wind whistles across the
dunes, often called the “singing sand”
phenomenon; the latter’s name is
derived from the shape of the oasis.
The Chinese government has
developed tourism in this area,
and plenty of activities are on offer,
including camel rides, paragliding and
buggy rides. We clambered up the sand
dunes to get to a better vantage pointleft Tourists climb the series of
steep steps along the “Overhanging
Great Wall” in Jiayuguan
above The Mogao Caves –
also known as the Caves of the
Thousand Buddhas – a system
of 492 temples housing hundreds
of years of Silk Road historyIMAGE © SHUTTERSTOCK