Local Mode of Transportation

Laojunmiao Inner Mongolia

Deep River Gorge- Laojunmiao Inner Mongolia

The building in the right of the picture was ancient and weathered - it appeared to be some sort of look out over the river gorge - we were the only ones there.

Old Archealogical Dig - Laojunmiao Inner Mongolia

We picked around here for a couple of hours, but did not find too much of great interest - that's not to say we didn't find anything.

Between Dunhuang & Mogao Caves - Gansu

Getting into the Taklimakan desert

Heading Towards Mogao Caves - Taklimakan Desert

Entrance to Mogao Caves Area

Mogao Caves

If you look closely you can see some caves behind the trees in the banks.

Interesting Hills

If you look closely at the foreground you will see some very old Tibetan Buddhist Monuments

Caves

If you look above the cave entrance you will see the remains of a coloured fresco - it is around 1600 years old.

Main Buddha Cave

Behind this facade is a 38 meter tall Buddha carved out of the sandstone. It has a reed covering that has many bright colours. Unfortuneatly his toes are falling off - but very impressive.

More Grottos/Caves

Another Fresco

Again above the entrance to this cave is the remains of a fresco - agaib it is about 1600 years old.

Looking across towards the Gobi Desert

A Yurt - I Think

Not sure what this was - we could not get close enough, but it looked like a large yurt, only probelm was we were over 1000 km away from those sorts of things.

Tibetan Monuments

More Monuments in the Desert

More Caves

These were the oldest of all the caves, unfortuenatly we were not allowed near thyem - security was very tight here, we were not allowed camears or bags of any kind into the caves complex.

Ancient Sandstone Monument

This was very old - over 1000 years. Thru my binoculars it looked every bit of its age. It was severely eaten away by continuous sandstorms that happen here.

Jonathan - Cool and Calm

Getting ready for the climb

Me. not so cool and calm

Local Desert Wildlife

Not Another Living Soul for a Long Way

Sand Dunes

The dunes were quite amazing - some were smooth, some were very sharp - quite incredible

Angles (not angels) In The Sand

Looking acroos the Gobi

Windblown Sand Patterns

Sharp Angles

Smooth Shapes

A Cemetery in the Desert

We came across a cemetery here - you can see the burial mounds in the background - there was easil 2sq KM of them - I wondered how long it would takes bodies to decompose in this dry hot place.

Looking Back to Dunhuang

Dunhuang is an oasis town that just springs up out of the Taklimakan /Gobi Deserts

More Shapes in the Sand

Even More Sand

Jonathan at the Top

Looking back from the top to Dunhuang

I Made It

It took over an hour and a half, but I made the 500 meter climb - the largest dune here is 1500 meters. It was two steps forward and one back.

At the Top - Hot and Wet

Hmm What's that Plant

This stuff grows everywhere in Xinjian and Gansu. The old men roll it up in newspaper and smoke it instead of tobacco. Its only hemp, so it has not much effect on you.

Desert Kids in a cart

Local Artisan

Dunhuang Night Markets

Crushing Marijuana Seeds

We saw this old guy in a market area, crushing kilos of marijuana seeds, for use in an aparantly very nutritious food.

Caught Drinking at 11am - It Was Damn Hot

Jonathan Asleep in a restaurant at lunchtime

Moonrise - Over the Gobi

This was taken from a moving car as we were crossing the boundry from the Gobi to Taklimakan Deserts.

Sunet Over the Gobi

Sunset Over the Taklimakan Desert

Sunset over the Taklimakan Desert

Sunrise - I think

Hazy Morning in Shaanxi

Hazy Morning in Shaanxi

Rice Paddy's

It was amazing how quickly the terrain changed from an inhospitable desert to lush green farmlands - it was almost a defined line - not a gradual thing.