Jiayuguan – the End of the Great Wall

We got into Jiayuguan from Dunhuang around lunchtime, rested for a bit, then went to see the end of the Great Wall! We got to the park, bought our tickets, and quickly spotted the wall. We quickly realized that the site is completely reconstructed. Everything looks pretty new.  They had a lot of cultural events…

Dunhuang and the Best Hostel in China

We arrived in Dunhuang around 7am from Zhangye and headed into town to find our hostel. We actually found out that where we were staying that night didn’t open until 6pm, but they had an affiliated hostel, where we could go first. They were so nice there! We were staying at 敦煌国际沙漠露营基地, but the other hostel…

Dunhuang and the Best Hostel in China

We arrived in Dunhuang around 7am from Zhangye and headed into town to find our hostel. We actually found out that where we were staying that night didn’t open until 6pm, but they had an affiliated hostel, where we could go first. They were so nice there! We were staying at 敦煌国际沙漠露营基地, but the other hostel…

Zhangye and China’s Rainbow Mountains

We arrived in Zhangye in the evening. We arranged a driver to take us with some other tourists to both the Rainbow Mountains and to Mati Temple.  We left pretty early in the morning and made it to Mati Si (Horse footprint temple) around when it opened. It’s a Buddhist temple carved into the side…

Xining and Qinghai Lake

After the long bus ride from Xiahe, we finally made it to Xining.  We got the bus to our hostel and decided to take the whole afternoon off from sight seeing and public transportation. While I was reading or something, the guy who was working reception made me some tea and we chatted for a…

Xiahe, Gansu Province

We woke up just after sunrise and found a completely changed scenery. Farm fields had been swapped for arid land and sand dunes. We arrived at the Lanzhou train station about 6am and were trying to make a bus to Xiahe at about 7. While we were on the bus, the landscape transformed even more….

Revisiting Xi’an

We headed from Huashan to Xi’an to spend a night there and celebrate Louisa’s birthday. On our first afternoon there, we showered and did some laundry, which definitely needed to happen after Huashan.  We basically did all of my favorite things I did the last time I was there. I even found the same jia…

Luoyang and the Longmen Grottoes

After being on the train all afternoon and evening, we finally made it from Qingdao to Luoyang. It was about 10 or 11pm when we made it to our hostel. We were pretty hungry and James had already scouted out a street food market, so we headed there for a late night meal.  This place had some…