From Datong, I wanted to take the train to Dunhuang, about 10 hours to the West, but the millions of Chinese tourists on vacation during National Week had other plans. After a few days stuck in Datong with no available trains for the week, I had to make a change of plans. I took the miserable hard seat on the train back to Beijing, meaning that from 11 pm to 5 am, I was squashed between a table and a herd of locals, hardly able to even move, let alone try to get a bit of sleep. From there, I went straight to the airport to catch my flight, again being affected by National Week. I had a flight booked for 8:45 am, but thanks to the pleasant Chinese custom of completely ignoring lines, I was pushed back and back long enough for me to miss my flight. Not a common flight, I was lucky to find one leaving that night, so I waited 12 hours in the airport, finding a bit of comfort in a Burger King ice cream cone. I eventually made it to Dunhuang, an interesting town built up in the middle of the desert. The main attraction for me here is a place called Crescent Moon Lake, a tiny pagoda and a little lake in the middle of a massive sand dune. I climbed the huge dune in the morning, rested under the shade of my newly acquired cowboy hat (ever popular with the Chinese) and enjoyed the view. I also made friends with two very nice women who owned the local noodle shop. Though they didn't speak a word of English, they seemed to really enjoy the fact that I was there, as they apparently don't get too many tourists in that place.
(The Mogao caves - another warehouse of Buddhist carvings and murals. This one was a little more regulated and built up, only being allowed in with a tour guide, and the guides are only allowed to open certain doors...maybe they don't actually have carvings in all of the rooms. Who knows?)
(The entrance to the caves. They don't actually allow you to take pictures inside, so this is as close as all of you travelling vicariously through me can get.)
(The main road outside of Dunhuang ends nicely into the massive set of sand dunes.)
(Climbing the ridge early in the morning, I beat many of the numerous tour groups who filled the place during the late morning.)
(And there's Crescent Moon Lake, accessible by walking or by taking a cheap plastic sled down the hill. I opted for the free option, despite pleas of workers telling me to do otherwise.)
(If you look closely, you can see the bright orange booties that you can rent at the entrance to protect yourself from the sand. Quite stylish...though not as stylish as a fake Chinese cowboy hat. You'll see.)
(Calm water before the big groups came and screwed everything up.)
(I was again a celebrity on top of the hill, with a few people lining up for photos with me. Seeing this guy's cowboy hat, I couldn't help but put my new purchase back on. Pretty nice, huh? Practical and stupid-looking, I was quite proud of it. It actually has a little bull etched on the front, though it's luckily not that obvious.)
(Another view from the other side of the park, where I got yelled at for crossing some imaginary line. Oh well, I just pulled the old 'shrug your shoulders, walk away and don't speak a word of the local language' routine. That one works quite well, even sometimes in the office.)
(Inside the pagoda, taking a break from the hot sun. I also met a nice girl from Beijing here. That's all.)
(Enticed by the sign that was translated underneath in English as Dun Huang Pull Fried Noodles Rice Fry The Vegetables Gruel Steamed, I found two very friendly ladies who were quite nice and interested in watching me eat. I simply pointed to the first item on the menu and got what I think was the featured dish of the restaurant. I even got extra noodles at the end as an added bonus. In the picture, you can see the lady on my left trying to pull me down because I am too tall. Fortunately, my cowboy hat did not make an appearance here.)
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