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 was in town. They let us have our own room to rest, use the bathroom and shower, log in to the wifi, and the guy at reception helped us plan our day. He drove me on his moped over to the ticket office to one of the sites we wanted to visit. He called ahead and helped us get the timed tickets we needed. I can’t speak highly enough of that guy! Oh, and he gave us some local fruit to try! They were really nice.
After we had some breakfast, charged our phones, and freshened up, we headed out. We had about an hour to explore Dunhuang before going out to the grottoes. We ended up finding some cool shops and restaurants – even a North Korean restaurant! We got a coffee to kill the rest of our time before getting on the bus to Mogao Caves.
We were not prepared for this site. I don’t think I personally would have gone if I knew that you have to watch two videos about the history and details of the art followed by a compulsory guided tour of the caves with up to 30-40 people in each group. To be fair, we opted for the student tickets, which meant we could only get the tour in Chinese. The English tour could potentially be better.
The Mogao caves are nearly 1,000 years old and they are perhaps the best example of Buddhist art that I have ever seen. Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures inside the caves, but if you’re curious you can
look online.
My favorite part was the cave with the statue of the Buddha lying down, which I think was a portrayal of his death.
After we escaped from our tour group, we pretty much left immediately. There was another park we wanted to see in the afternoon and we were both so mad that the visit to the caves was so controlled and limited.
We got a taxi to the park, had a meal, and then headed in – but not before we saw a guy leading camels along on his moped!
The first thing we did when we got to the park was ride camels. It was something I had been wanting to do this year, and it was really different.
It was really hot with the sun beating down on us with absolutely no clouds or shade, but it definitely made me think about what it would have been like to travel along the Silk Road.
After our ride, we hiked up a giant sand dune to get a view of the little oasis, for which Dunhuang is famous. The water source is actually in the shape of a crescent!
The dunes looked stunning as the sun started to set.
The guy working at the hostel in the morning had offered to bring our stuff and drive us over to the the campsite. I still can’t get over how helpful they were!
So, like I said, we were staying at 敦煌国际沙漠露营基地. It’s listed as a ‘hostel’ online, but it’s actually a campsite. And a very nice one, at that. This is actually the coolest and most fun place I’ve staying in China. They are open to foreigners, but you do have to speak Chinese or have someone who speaks Chinese with you.
The tents actually seem like military tents. They were really nice and clean.
As soon as we got there, they offered to take us up in ATVs onto the sand dunes. We got on and the guy actually drove us around a bit. He was going so fast and we got off the ground at one point. It was so fun! I love stuff like that and it really got my adrenaline pumping.
Everyone staying there watched the sunset from the tops of the dunes and we stayed there until they called us down for dinner.
The big white tents I think were the kitchens. It turns out a full dinner was included with the price of staying there! We had hotpot, skewers, and unlimited beer. It was definitely a good dinner.
During dinner, they had this woman up on stage MCing the night. She sang, dance, told jokes, brought people onstage, and eventually started karaoke.
After dinner and a few rounds of beer, there was a campfire just under the big dune. We all ran around the campfire, then sat down and all sang
朋友歌, which is a song we sand at camp every day last summer!
And if that wasn’t enough, there were fireworks! This place was amazing.
We stayed up a bit longer chatting with people. Everyone who stayed there was super cool and nice to talk to.
We had to wake up at about 5am the next day to get our train to Jiayuguan. My alarm didn’t actually go off, but I managed to wake up in time anyway.
Dunhuang was the best day we had on the trip. I couldn’t have imagined a hostel that was so much fun to stay at – especially since it was all a surprise to us!
