Another good article from National Geographic about the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang – Gansu province. Click here to view the article. We were there last November and felt like we had the province to ourselves which was wonderful – you can click here to see our blog entry. One of our photos from the Mogao Caves below.
Made with 26,000 images taken over two months traveling across Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Sichuan this video made by Abram Hodgens gives a great new take on traveling through these regions of China.
Silk Road Timelapse: Two Months Across Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunan, and China from inMotion on Vimeo.
A good read from National Geographic about the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route from China into Tibet. It starts “Deep in the mountains of western Sichuan I’m hacking through a bamboo jungle, trying to find a legendary trail. Just 60 years ago, when much of Asia still moved by foot or hoof, the Tea Horse Road was a thoroughfare of commerce, the main link between China and Tibet. But my search could be in vain. A few days earlier I met a man who used to carry backbreaking loads of tea along the path; he warned me that time, weather, and invasive plants may have wiped out the Tea Horse Road.” read more…
Shigatse is Tibet’s second largest city and almost always an overnight stop on trips outside of Lhasa 250km away. Originally known as Samdruptse it has always been an important trading and administrative centre in Tibet as well as the traditional home of the Panchen Lama. The Tibetan town rather than the new Chinese town is the draw for travellers.
The train to Lhasa can be taken from a number of cities in China. We took it from Xining in Qinghai province but it can be taken from Lanzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou as well. Arguably the most prestigious train in China Railways fleet and passing through some of China’s grandest scenery this rail journey has become the preferred way to go to or from Lhasa. This makes competition for tickets intense and that combined with the need for a Tibet Travel Permit means booking well in advance is necessary.
Much of the route is over 4,000 meters in altitude but the train is comfortable with oxygen pumped into cabins meaning that the real effects of the altitude (and the train reaches over 5,000 meters at some points) are not felt unless you get out at the short and infrequent stops. We had a soft sleeper berth which was better than the usual soft sleeper cabin on Chinese trains in that the berths were slightly bigger than normal. The dining car food was above average for Chinese trains and the staff kept things clean and made an effort to communicate in English which we appreciated.
The scenery is, needless to say, spectacular – especially a few hours before Lhasa. We passed lakes including Qinghai Lake, as well as 7,000 meter glacier adorned peaks. On board information keeps you updated on altitude, speed and, at this time of year, the sub zero outside temperature. Inside the train it was warm, perhaps too warm sometimes, and that combined with the oxygen supply made looking out onto the high Tibetan plateau in early winter a slightly weird experience.
We arrived in Lanzhou, Gansu province’s capital at 7am after a comfortable nights sleep on the train from Jiayuguan. The city itself is a bit of an urban hell – at least today. Pollution was terrible – toxic – you could feel it in your throat and mouth from the start. Thankfully the day was to be spent a long way outside of the city at the grottoes at Bing Ling Si. An hour and an half by car and a further hour by speedboat up the Yellow River takes you there through fantastic mountainous scenery. As with other places on this trip we largely had it to ourselves. Sadly, the main 26m high Buddha was damaged in the 2008 earthquake 800km away in Sichuan. It is now covered in scaffolding while repairs are carried out. There are scores of other smaller statues to see and the location up a small tributary of the Yellow River makes this a sight worthy of the journey. Next stop Xining, capital of Qinghai province and a step closer to Tibet.
Our next stop along the Silk Road has been Jiayuguan. The city itself is an industrial creation built in 1958 and focused around steel production. The history goes a long way back though as the main attraction in this area is the fort which was the gateway to China for centuries. If you were coming from the West then this was where you entered China. An artist would draw your face which would be attached to documents allowing you to travel in China – the first visas? It is also where you goods would be taxed.
Far more sinister was leaving to the West. It was considered a fate worse than death to expelled from the gate into the barbarian lands out of the control of the Chinese civilisation. Jiayuguan is also considered the start of the Great Wall system of defense that stretches all the way to the sea.
We reached Dunhuang by overnight train from Turfan. Exhausted we all slept well on the train. Our first day in Dunhuang was free to catch up on e-mails and relax and have a look around this pleasant oasis town. The second day we headed out to the Sand Dunes which are 6km outside of the city and were covered with snow – an unusual sight. To add to the weirdness there were camels thrown into the mix – not a creature normally associated with snow. Later in the day we headed to the UNESCO recognised Buddhist Grottoes at Mogao the scope of which was breathtaking. We left Dunhuang that evening by train heading east to Jiayuguan where the next update will be from.
We arrived in Dunhuang today which has given the first access to internet since we left Beijing. Xinjiang Province has had it’s internet cut off since the trouble there in July. The two days spent there are quite possibly the longest amount of time I have spent without internet for many years! Xinjiang doesn’t disappoint despite being very cold this time of year. We headed straight to Turfan, a desert oasis 3 hours drive East from Urumqi. The city of 200,000 doesn’t offer so much in itself but the area and sights around it make the visit well worthwhile. Below is a selection of photos from the last two days.
The vast majority of travelers to China arrive by plane, usually a long haul flight but that hardly matters as a flight is a flight and the inside of one plane looks very much like another. There are other ways to reach China though, in this case from the UK, and this post is part 1 about getting from the UK to China without using an plane.
A few years ago I took a Freighter ship from Southampton, a port on the South coast of England, to Shanghai on China’s Eastern seaboard. The trip took 26 days stopping for little more than half a day in Malta, Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Ningbo before finally reaching Shanghai.
Some might say that 26 days is a long time to be on a boat, a rather extreme way to avoid flying, but if I ever had the time free to do it again I would. The German officers on the boat allowed access to the bridge and were more than happy to share their knowledge of the seas and how the boat ran which included letting me steer the ship in manual around the gulf of Aden. The rest of the crew were Filipino and many a happy evening was spent in their mess knocking back the cheap on board rum!
The landscape and conditions of the sea vary enormously with each view rarely the same and the excitement of arriving in far flung ports, often frenetic with activity is hard to beat – there is definitely no better way to arrive in Hong Kong
So, if you have time on your hands consider the slow boat to China as an option for the ultimate trip to the Far East
Below is a slide show of photos from this trip or they can be viewed on Flickr here.
