Asian_Geographic_Issue_4_2017

IMAGE © MICHAEL LEE

IMAGE © SYLVIA YONG

The next day’s visit to the Mogao

Caves was the definitive highlight of

the trip. From the outside, they look

perfectly ordinary, set in a slab of

drab, brown rock. But upon entering

the dry, cool caves, it’s as though

you’ve been teleported into another

world: It’s a labyrinth of ancient

artwork with 45,000 square metres

of murals and statues, making it the

world’s largest collection of Buddhist

art. Much of the original pink-

coloured paints have turned black due

to oxidisation. Our guide told me that

the painters spent much of their lives

painting in the near-dark, guided only

by shards of natural light and dim oil

lamps, and as such, most went blind.

From the dank darkness of the

caves, we stepped into the blinding

light of the Gobi, with a view of the

Yueyaquan Lake, nestled in the

desert bowl, for an afternoon of

sandboarding and camel rides –

Silk Road style.

Thankfully, the journey back

opted for a more modern mode

of transportation, and we were

all aboard a sleepover train back

to Lanzhou, settling into our

comfortable bunk beds within their

purple and gold Apsara-motif cabins,

and gently rocked to sleep.

We ended our trip by crossing

the Yellow River in rickety rafts made

from sheepskin. I was quite nervous

that I was going to fall in, but I stayed

comfortably dry. In the middle of

the river, I was struck by a sense of

Zen: It was peaceful, stranded in this

limbo between banks. Our boatman

hummed a Mongolian-Chinese

song – Mother in the Dream. It was

a melancholic but fitting ending, as

the Yellow River is also called the

“Mother River of China”.

The expedition saw many firsts

for me: I ate exotic meats such as

camel hooves, stir-fried donkey,

and Lanzhou noodles with yak meat;

I experienced a sandstorm, rode a

camel, and a sheepskin raft, and –

hilariously – had to abandon any

delicate sensibilities when I visited a

ladies’ loo without a bathroom door!

I learned an extraordinary amount

about the Silk Road, but, moreover, I

got to explore this part of China with

a great group of like-minded people.

Ultimately, the people you travel with

make or break an expedition. ag

Clockwise from top left: Explorers Jenny, Chee Tiong,

Sylvia and Serene on the train ride back to Lanzhou

The Expeditions’ group outside the Yumen Pass

For more information on Asian Geographic’s forthcoming Silk Road

expeditions to Uzbekistan and India, visit http://www.asiangeo.com/expeditions