Dunhuang

Dunhuang is a small town on the southern edge of the Gobi Desert – made famous as a stopping place on the legendary Silk Road. It's a fairly modern place, with a very laid back and easy going feel. Trees line the main road in town, and there's green everywhere you look – a real contrast to the desert that entirely surrounds the town.

While the Silk Road is now a thing of the past, Dunhuang still draws people, mainly to see the desert dunes, and famous Mogao caves – said to be the greatest and finest repository of Buddhist art in the world.

Arch at the entrance to Dunhuang:



The main roundabout in town:



When I'd been in Chengdu, Jennifer had told me about a camel trek she'd done through the desert to the caves – and had shown me the amazing pictures of the route. And on arriving in town set off to find a place to stay and then book the tour.

There's not much in the way of backpacker friendly places in town – and after some wandering around, headed to Charley Jhong's Cafe, where you can book the camel treks. It turns out that they have a place out of town – Charley Jhong's Dune Hostel, and it was way better than anything else in town.

It's an amazingly peaceful place – set in apricot plantations on the edge of town right by the dunes. The hostel is a traditional style house with a beautiful courtyard with swallows nesting in the eaves of the roof.

Having settled in, I ran into Abe from the Netherlands, and on discussing the camel trek, we decided to arrange to do the tour for the next day. And it turned out to be both a real adventure, and one of the highlights of my trip.

That night we headed into town and had amazing food in the local night market. Here's a few photos of just some of the incredibly hilarious things on the menu:













And then an early night was needed to catch up on the lack of sleep from the long train journey.

Next Episode: Gobi Desert Adventure...