Yesterday a Polish girl I met on the train and myself headed out to the Cresent Moon Lake. What is most interesting about this lake is not that it is in the shape of a cresent moon, but rather that it is in the middle of a sandy desert.
Having left Jiayuguan by train, what there was of little artificially watered greenery soon gave way to flat monochromatic dirt land, that was technically a desert. So when one arrives in Dunhuang you are arriving to an oasis. It is lush and grassy, there are many trees. Almost as if it were a mirage. So when we headed out to the desert here in Dunhuang we expected to meet a lake in the middle of the flat desert, but what we were met with was nothing short of spectacular. You are walking on this flat road when all of a sudden these yellow sandy dunes rise up out of the middle of nowhere.
Apparently the dunes are 20 km by 40 km, which is actually quite large. After we paid a 120 yuan entrance fee, which was quite rediculous in my opinion, we entered into the desert. The Chinese tend act in a follow the herd mentality; they are quite similar to sheep sometimes. So if one person does something, that means it becomes the new norm, and they all must follow suit. So every Chinese person there dawned their bright orange booties and got into the little bus and headed out to the lake (a 40 minute walk away, we were told by the bus driver). Well needless to say we are not Chinese and declined both the small people mover that you would see at Disney World and the orange boodies.
After walking in the very hot sand we eventually paid the 10 yuan and rented the rediculous looking booties. But it turned out it was no more than a 15 minute walk on a gravel road to the lake. My polish friend was very impressed, but I was not. The lake looked artificially made to me. After stocking up on more overpriced water we took off walking. After several hard earned minutes we reached a sign that I think said 'please don't climb further,' but we played the naive foreigner card and decided to disregard it. We looked around for a minute before heading for the top of the nearest sand dune to see the lake from above.
After a couple photos and a water break we decided to head further out into the desert. So off we went, we walked on and off for close to 3 hours, up these sand dunes that were really quite steep. Imagine the extra effort it takes to run on a dry sandy beach, then turn that beach on a 35-45 degree angle and you can imagine it was slow going. But away from all the tourists, it was silent and amazing. In the distance you could see the city of Dunhuang and in every direction there was sand.
We looked for the highest peak and decided we would climb it for sunset, so there we were climbing this sand dune in the middle of china, of all places. When we finally made it to the top at about 8 o'clock we plopped down and waited. The best part about the peak was that on the other side the sand was shaded and cool, a nice change from the scorching sun we had been walking on for hours. A couple minutes past 9 the sun finally set behind the mountains, with slight pinks and oranges lighting up the sky. We put our cameras away and decided on the best course down from the top of this dune.
With the setting of the sun the sand was now cool to the touch, so we took of our orange boodies and sandles and started down the dune barefoot. We walked on the peak for a while and then when it became quite steep we decided to slide down a ways. As we slid down on our hineys this deep almost industrial sound started. The sand was actually moaning and while a bit scary it was probably the most interesting moment of the day.
Walking down took a lot less time than walking up, we reached the crest of the hill overlooking the crescent lake about 40 minutes later. just as the full moon came up over the far off sand dunes. We watched it for a couple minutes. Many Chinese people had also climbed up from the lake to watch, they were singing songs and it was very heart uplifting, there was this feeling of calm and contentment in the air. The Chinese people seem to value their time together. No matter which city I have been in, when the sun goes down and it cools the people come out in droves. They populate the city squares and watch movies projected onto large screens. They can be found on street corners and playing in fountains. They sing, dance, play, and laugh. It is a nice change from the western consensus of coming home and eating dinner and watching tv until the late news when one finally retires to bed.
We finally returned back to the city by way of a 1 yuan bus and went in search of water. Even though we brought 2 liters of water with us it was not enough and we were very thirsty. I am convinced that the only way that people crossed the desert historically was at night, while resting during the day. It is just too brutle otherwise.
We had dinner across the street from the hotel about 11 o'clock (hotel is 40 yuan a person per night, and I am sharing the room with the girl from Poland). I had sweet and sour chicken because I was craving a bit of protein and then we returned to the hotel room. I took a quick shower and then was asleep shortly there after. We both slept straight through the night until the maid knocked on the door at 10 for housekeeping services. We decided on a slow morning and here I am writing this message.
Having left Jiayuguan by train, what there was of little artificially watered greenery soon gave way to flat monochromatic dirt land, that was technically a desert. So when one arrives in Dunhuang you are arriving to an oasis. It is lush and grassy, there are many trees. Almost as if it were a mirage. So when we headed out to the desert here in Dunhuang we expected to meet a lake in the middle of the flat desert, but what we were met with was nothing short of spectacular. You are walking on this flat road when all of a sudden these yellow sandy dunes rise up out of the middle of nowhere.
Apparently the dunes are 20 km by 40 km, which is actually quite large. After we paid a 120 yuan entrance fee, which was quite rediculous in my opinion, we entered into the desert. The Chinese tend act in a follow the herd mentality; they are quite similar to sheep sometimes. So if one person does something, that means it becomes the new norm, and they all must follow suit. So every Chinese person there dawned their bright orange booties and got into the little bus and headed out to the lake (a 40 minute walk away, we were told by the bus driver). Well needless to say we are not Chinese and declined both the small people mover that you would see at Disney World and the orange boodies.
After walking in the very hot sand we eventually paid the 10 yuan and rented the rediculous looking booties. But it turned out it was no more than a 15 minute walk on a gravel road to the lake. My polish friend was very impressed, but I was not. The lake looked artificially made to me. After stocking up on more overpriced water we took off walking. After several hard earned minutes we reached a sign that I think said 'please don't climb further,' but we played the naive foreigner card and decided to disregard it. We looked around for a minute before heading for the top of the nearest sand dune to see the lake from above.
After a couple photos and a water break we decided to head further out into the desert. So off we went, we walked on and off for close to 3 hours, up these sand dunes that were really quite steep. Imagine the extra effort it takes to run on a dry sandy beach, then turn that beach on a 35-45 degree angle and you can imagine it was slow going. But away from all the tourists, it was silent and amazing. In the distance you could see the city of Dunhuang and in every direction there was sand.
We looked for the highest peak and decided we would climb it for sunset, so there we were climbing this sand dune in the middle of china, of all places. When we finally made it to the top at about 8 o'clock we plopped down and waited. The best part about the peak was that on the other side the sand was shaded and cool, a nice change from the scorching sun we had been walking on for hours. A couple minutes past 9 the sun finally set behind the mountains, with slight pinks and oranges lighting up the sky. We put our cameras away and decided on the best course down from the top of this dune.
With the setting of the sun the sand was now cool to the touch, so we took of our orange boodies and sandles and started down the dune barefoot. We walked on the peak for a while and then when it became quite steep we decided to slide down a ways. As we slid down on our hineys this deep almost industrial sound started. The sand was actually moaning and while a bit scary it was probably the most interesting moment of the day.
Walking down took a lot less time than walking up, we reached the crest of the hill overlooking the crescent lake about 40 minutes later. just as the full moon came up over the far off sand dunes. We watched it for a couple minutes. Many Chinese people had also climbed up from the lake to watch, they were singing songs and it was very heart uplifting, there was this feeling of calm and contentment in the air. The Chinese people seem to value their time together. No matter which city I have been in, when the sun goes down and it cools the people come out in droves. They populate the city squares and watch movies projected onto large screens. They can be found on street corners and playing in fountains. They sing, dance, play, and laugh. It is a nice change from the western consensus of coming home and eating dinner and watching tv until the late news when one finally retires to bed.
We finally returned back to the city by way of a 1 yuan bus and went in search of water. Even though we brought 2 liters of water with us it was not enough and we were very thirsty. I am convinced that the only way that people crossed the desert historically was at night, while resting during the day. It is just too brutle otherwise.
We had dinner across the street from the hotel about 11 o'clock (hotel is 40 yuan a person per night, and I am sharing the room with the girl from Poland). I had sweet and sour chicken because I was craving a bit of protein and then we returned to the hotel room. I took a quick shower and then was asleep shortly there after. We both slept straight through the night until the maid knocked on the door at 10 for housekeeping services. We decided on a slow morning and here I am writing this message.
Hope all is well at home. Ash.
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