Still the most amazing camel ride from yesterday!

This was a driving day of over 400kms. Very lunar landscape …flat desert like to start with and then rounded hills…almost gravel-like. One wild camel was spotted…alas not by me first as we were tail end Charlie for the day which meant we were last in the line.

It was very hot and both our morning tea and lunch stops offered little shade. There were very few places one could pull off the road and no trees at all …so little choice here.

We had 2 police checks on route and on entering Hami city we were met with a third police check. This delayed us close to an hour as our passports were checked and eventually the police escorted the 8 cars to the hotel.

Very pleased to be checked in to the hotel.

This morning was a relaxing one. A late breakfast which was really brunch….followed by some printing of documents and a visit to China post to courier them …with the hotel’s car! A great help!

At 1.20 we assembled to drive to Magao caves for the two films. Very interesting!

After returning to the hotel late afternoon, Ian and I returned to the sand dunes to ride camels. This was my wish and Ian accompanied me! A great end to the day!

On our way to Dunhuang we went off the motorway for a while and came upon a mosque together with a Chinese pagoda with muslim symbols on the roof. The two cultures blending together!

The landscape changed and the arid landscape also was home to hundreds, even thousands of wind turbines. This area of China is known  for this.

Arriving in Dunhuang we checked into the hotel and then went to the singing sand dunes. The wind was still so they were quiet but it was fascinating and beautiful to walk up the dunes. Emptying sand out of our shoes several times and running/sliding down the dunes was our alternative to riding a camel. Fascinating scenery.

Driving this morning on motorways made us realise how wonderful our drive through the mountain pass was yesterday. It was the Jiayuguan fort and the Overhanging Great wall which was our destination. The scenery was harder to photograph on the motorway but Ian had some success while I was driving.

Again we passed some interesting trucks and a fast train….

We arrived at the fort  and with 2 hours (including lunch) thought that would be enough before moving on. However when we got inside there was a great deal to see…stairs to climb, wall to walk around, displays showing life in the day (built in 1372) all of which was lovely. We even managed to visit the museum showing the history of the Great Wall before getting back to the car.

The Overhanging Great Wall was in a reconstructed state and was not as interesting as the part of the Great Wall we had walked near Beijing. However we climbed to the top of it and enjoyed the scenery. Especially interesting was the Silk Road monuments.