dunhuang

dunhuang and xinjiang have always been such evocative names - the former once regal and majestic and the latter an intoxicating mix of images: the old silk road, the boundless desert, bountiful fruits, colourful carpets, a whole other culture at the westernmost end of china.
we were received at the airport by a young chap and greeted at our arrival at the hotel with the still smoking husk of a short-circuited car. the triple (255) in a 2 star hotel was clean enough, though the bathroom was unaccountably dark and the hot/cold water controls were mislabelled.
found out that the young chap was the son of the sales manager of the hotel (bossDH2008@126.com). (no lift, no key either, of the holler-for-an-attendant variety.) he was studying tourism in lanzhou and came back home to help during the hols.
settled on a package for 500 rmb for the next 1.5 days to go to the mogao caves, mingshashan, yueyaquan, yumen gate and yang gate.
but first things first, lunch. went to a food court type place where we tried 浆水面 (3.5), cold noodles in a vinegary soup and introduced to 杏皮水 (apricot skin drink), the perfect antidote to the summer heat. 肉夹莫roujiamo (4 each) was freshly made and tasty.
ubiquitous: stuffed camels in all shades and sizes.
first stop was mogao caves, home of famed frescoes and sculptures, remarkably preserved and dating back to the 5th/6th centuries AD. the sheer detail and vividness of the colours was impressive, even in the 10 open-to-the-public caves we saw (100 rmb for a 2 hr tour.). (a few more restricted caves are accessible at the right price.) as the guide trained her torchlight in practiced swoops about the darkened caves, we caught glimpses of 飞天 (flying apsaras), buddhas, generals, sutras, and entire storylines. it was pointed out that the elegance and grace of the original sculptures eclipsed the pale repairs.
the viewing experience though left much to be desired. the place was packed with herds of about 20 people and shepherded from cave to cave by the site’s guides. given there was no strict route, u sometimes ended up with 2 groups in 1 cave with our guide trying to make herself heard and then rush on to the next cave before it got too crowded. kudos to our guide for fiercely bearing down on those who tried to sneak in a photograph or two. the closed in caves amplified chatter and made it hard to hear the guide at times. further irritated by presence of an annoying mother/father/child combo who were guilty of ugly behaviour, brattiness and bad fashion sense.
the site museum had some artefacts along with full-scale reproductions of a few caves. at least here there was peace and quiet, though there was no guide. still prefer the yungang grottoes, where the emphasis was on sculptures rather than frescoes.
back to hotel after that to escape from the scorching heat and searing light. we set off for yueyaquan/mingshashan at 6. any earlier and the sand would have been too hot to handle. yyq is an oasis in the desert, but it’s looking less impressive these days with the water level down to a measly 1m. oft-repeated fact: dunhuang gets 400-600mm of precipitation in a year; 2468mm lost to evaporation. the sand dunes made for a dramatic backdrop for the buildings though.
took off our shoes to trek uphill but quickly learnt that it takes more effort than u think. there was certainly a sense of achievement when i made it, crossing over from the slope in shadow to the ridge which straddled light and shade. there were lots of activities going on: camel rides, archery, sand dune sledding (didn’t get any momentum on my attempt), aerogliding. and the water truck spraying to the tune of ‘santa claus is coming to town.’ left at about sundown at 9.30 pm.
dinner with xiao hu and shen shifu. tried 驴肉黄面, donkey meat yellow noodles. the meat went well with a chilli sauce mixed with garlic and vinegar and the noodle were reminiscent of spaghetti. drank the plain and floury water in which the noodles were cooked in. the meal for 5 came to 73.
noodles are the key staple here and shen said that if they did not feel like cooking, they would buy half-processed noodles home as opposed to making them from scratch. shen farms cotton, with the cottonseed oil for their own consumption. had seen the neat rectangular plots ringed by stalks of corn coming in from the airport. he has 20 mu and harvests once a year, with an annual income of 40,000 rmb. (this can’t be right. maybe 4000 rmb?)