Dunhuang Is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jiuquan City, located in the northwestern part of Gansu Province. Famous for its Dunhuang Grottoes and Dunhuang murals, it is known as "the temple of Buddhist art in the world" with its exquisite mural painting skills.
On October 5th, at two o'clock at noon, we took a bus from Jiayuguan City to Dunhuang City, which is about 370 kilometers away from Jiayuguan, and the road conditions are very good. The bus stops at a place that seems to be called Guazhou, where many vendors are selling local specialties, mainly various dried fruits. Fresh cantaloupe can be eaten casually, the local cantaloupe is really delicious, very sweet, I was embarrassed to eat it for free, by the way bought a few bags of dried cantaloupe, the taste is not bad.
Arrived in Dunhuang city is already in the evening, the tour guide picked us up, directly to the hotel, in the evening to visit the night market, feel nothing special, so early back to the hotel to rest.
On the morning of October 6th, a visit to the Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring Scenic Area was arranged. After breakfast, the scenic spot is located in the south of Dunhuang City, where sand mountains and springs coexist, which has always been known as "desert wonders" and is one of Dunhuang's business cards. When the wind and sand are everywhere, Mingsha Mountain will make a gust of wind and sand, and the name of Mingsha Mountain will also come from this.
Here you can not only climb Mingsha Mountain, overlooking the crescent spring, but also enjoy the sunset of the desert on the top of the mountain, and feel the desolation and vastness of the northwest desert. At present, the scenic spot offers a variety of amusement projects, such as: camel riding, sandboarding, desert motorcycles, helicopter tours, etc., of which camel riding and sandboarding are more popular with tourists and are worth experiencing.
All visitors entering the scenic spot are required to wear sand-proof shoe covers (free of charge). On the way to the scenic spot, the tour guide said that you need to ride a camel or take a shuttle bus to reach the crescent spring (these are additional charges). We chose to ride camels. Since it is a National Day, there are many tourists, and there are long queues. A man worker is responsible for five camels, the camels are connected by a rope, according to the route specified by the scenic spot, the whole road is camel next to the camel, riding on the camel will not be afraid nor exciting, but the formation of a camel caravan walking on the desert, or quite spectacular.
For 100 yuan per person, camels can ride to the top of the mountain to get down for tourists to take photos and play for a while. Then ride to the crescent spring. When we arrived at the crescent spring scenic spot, we understood that in fact, the crescent spring is not far from the gate of the scenic spot, and it is completely possible to walk over. Fooled by the tour guide and felt a bit pitted. But for people who haven't ridden a camel, it's worth it to spend money to get a feel.
Crescent Spring is one of the most unique landscapes on Mingsha Mountain, the crescent spring is small in scale, but it is famous for its crescent shape. It is located under the Mingsha Mountain, surrounded by sand dunes, because of the relationship between the terrain, when the wind blows, the sand does not go down the mountain, but flows to the mountain, so the crescent spring is never buried by the sand, known as the "Eye of the Desert". We spent more than 3 hours in the scenic area and overall felt good.
The Great Northwest is darker than late, want to see the sunset of the summit of the sand mountain can be, do not look at the sand mountain is not high, climb up very hard, with the help of sand ladder will save a lot of effort. I also heard that there are colorful lights in the scenic spot at night, the night view is very beautiful, due to the time relationship, we are playing in the morning, there is no chance to see.
Warm reminder for scenic spots:
First, when riding a camel, you should listen to the arrangements of the camel lead or the tour guide, and do not feed or tease the camel at will to prevent accidents. Do not get near the camel's hind feet or head to prevent it from kicking you and spraying you with its mouth.
Second, when climbing the sand mountain, please follow the signs of the scenic spot, carry out activities within the mountaineering range specified in the scenic spot, and do not play "adventure" alone outside the area, so as not to endanger your own safety.
Third, there are two best angles to appreciate or photograph the crescent spring: one is to climb to the top of the sand hill and overlook the crescent spring; the other is to look at the crescent spring at close range.
Fourth, the sunlight radiation here is very large, ultraviolet rays are super strong, and you need to pay attention to sunscreen and ultraviolet rays at any time.
During golden week and the "sandboarding festival" in June, the number of tourists here will soar, and it is recommended that tourists stagger their peaks. Every year from July to August, it is the hottest time in Dunhuang, and Shashan will be hot by the sun, so try to avoid going at this time.
After lunch, drive to visit the Mogao Caves. Mogao Grottoes, also known as Thousand Buddha Caves, is the most famous of the three famous caves in China, with magnificent momentum and rich content. It is located 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, carved into the cliffs at the eastern foothills of Mingsha Mountain. It is about 1600 meters long from north to south, arranged in five layers, high and low, and lined up one after another, shaped like a beehive pigeon loft, spectacular, and the murals and statues in the cave are dazzling and unforgettable. It is the largest, longest-lasting, richest and best-preserved treasure house of classical culture and art in China, and it is also a world-famous Buddhist art center. It was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in December 1987.
The Mogao Grottoes Scenic Area is composed of two parts: the Mogao Grottoes Digital Exhibition Center and the Mogao Grottoes Grottoes, which adopt a joint ticket system and are not sold separately. I heard that since September 11, 2014, the scenic spot has implemented a reservation system, and tourists must first reserve tickets by phone or online, and visit according to the time period of reservation, with a limit of 6,000 people per day.
After collecting your tickets, you need to go to the Mogao Grottoes Digital Exhibition Center (you can't go directly to the grottoes, otherwise you won't be able to enter) to watch two movies about Mogao Grottoes, each 20 minutes long. A "Millennium Mogao" introduces the history and culture of Mogao Grottoes and helps tourists to have a deeper understanding of Mogao Grottoes. Another "Dream Buddha Palace" is a dome movie, showing many grottoes that are not open now, or quite wonderful.
After watching the movie, take the scenic shuttle bus to the Mogao Caves to visit the scenic spots. Although there are many caves in Mogao Grottoes, few are actually open, and since we still have to take the train back to Lanzhou at night, the tour guide only took us to visit five or six. There are many people on National Day, every time you visit a cave, you have to wait in line at the door, you can't stay too long when you visit, and the tour guide will follow you to leave after speaking. Each cave here is numbered, and it is said that the Maitreya statue in Cave 96, 33 meters high, is the largest Buddha statue in Mogao Caves and one of the largest clay statues in the world. It's a pity we didn't visit as there were too many people waiting and we also had to catch the train in the evening. In addition, in order to protect cultural relics, photos are not allowed inside the cave, so only some photos of the exterior can be taken.
Our play time in Dunhuang was relatively hasty, and it was a bit sloppy. It is recommended that you stay in Dunhuang for 2 more days and visit the wrong peak, so that you can slowly appreciate the large-scale and rich grottoes and mural art, and also understand the development history of Buddhism in Dunhuang for thousands of years through explanations and film displays, which is a must-visit place for tourists to visit Dunhuang.
On the evening of October 6th, we took the train back to Lanzhou, and on the afternoon of the 7th, we reluctantly flew home and ended my trip to the northwest happily. Of course, due to time constraints, the place I have been to is only the tip of the iceberg in the Great Northwest, and I will go again in the future. What other attractions do you think are worth going to in the Great Northwest, can you recommend it to me?
The aircraft was photographed with a mobile phone over Lanzhou
Here to remind everyone, there is still an epidemic in Gansu, please do not travel. I went on National Day in 2019, if you also like the vast land in the northwest, as well as the culture and scenery here, I will travel after the epidemic is over in the future.
So far, my northwest trip series of articles, a total of 6 articles have been shared with you. Thank you again to my toutiao friends who have been supporting me! Your support is my motivation to continue writing, although it is not well written, there is no gain. But I'm still happy because I met you guys here!