dun huang. gansu. china. may 1st – 6th. 2009

we board yet another train and say goodbye to Sichuan Province and enter Gansu Province on our trek ever further into Northern China. a vital point on the ancient Silk Road, the gateway to Lhasa and India, the edge of the Gobi desert, the far end of The Great Wall of China. our train ride shared with a mother and her young son. no shared language but a meaningful exchange and shared experience with a reluctant goodbye when they get off the train just before we do. we opt to stay 20 minutes out of town in a beautiful hostel literally on the edge of the desert, we catch site of stunning sand dunes on our way in. after settling briefly we head straight to the park and catch sunset amongst crowds doing the same yet somehow it is a uniquely personal experience. and breathtaking. we never make it further into the desert then this, we miss the camel ride and night in the desert under the stars.      

there is a day trip to the stunning Yadan landforms, another landscape used by Zhang Yimou in 'Hero', He Cang city and the outlying remnants of the Han Dynasty Great Wall, there is something starkly beautiful about this barren landscape that is magical and reminiscent of the ancient history of this place. our time here is dotted with something as of yet undefined but clearly concerning for me but we pack our bags, get on a bus and spend the next 17 hours making our way further along The Silk Road to the most landlocked city on the planet in the far north west of China.

laurel's dun huang photos on flickr

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