Asian_Geographic_Issue_4_2017

IMAGE © MICHAEL LEE

Dafo Temple – which translates to

the “Giant Buddha Temple” – and

it’s certainly deserving of its name:

It houses the largest indoor reclining

clay Buddha statue (34.5 metres long)

in China, depicting the Gautama

Buddha’s attainment of Nirvana.

From here, we drove to the

Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological

Park, famous for its rainbow “layer

cake” mountains. Having only ever

seen pictures of these iconic rock

formations before, I was under

the impression that the orange-

hued mountains had been overly

photoshopped, and I was prepared

for an anticlimax. Imagine my

surprise when we arrived to see that

these rock formations were just as I’d

seen in photographs. The rain had

cleared much of the dust from the

air, and we were treated to a clear,

full-blown Technicolor view of these

spectacular landforms.

The next day, we visited the

Overhanging Great Wall. Built in

1539, this was a key strategic point

in the Jiayuguan military defence

system. Climbing to the peak was

quite physically demanding, and

made us appreciate the manpower –

and stamina – that would have been

required to build it.

After a 10-minute bus ride, we

arrived at the Jiayuguan Fortress,

which was built even earlier, in 1372.

This was the primary transportation

node linking the East and West along

the ancient Silk Road. All travellers

passing through here had to retrieve

a special exit pass from the officer on

duty – much like your passport for

international travel. Today, little has

changed: Each of us had to acquire a

special pass to exit the fortress gate.

IMAGE © MICHAEL LEE IMAGE © SYLVIA YONG

The colourful Jiayuguan officer

The Tiandishan Grottoes are some of

the earliest grottoes built in China

Yueyaquan Lake, Gobi Desert