Cave at Mati Si

Thousand Buddha Caves and etc… In the past week I realised I have seen quite a lot of Buddhist sites on the Silk Road; almost as performant as a pilgrim! And actually I could say that I have been religious sites hoping accross the Silk Road. It all started with the big Mosque in Xi’an, and then Tianshui with the cliff full of huge Buddhas, then Zhangye, with its 35 meters sleeping Buddha, Mati Si, a temple carved on another cliff somewhere in Gansu, and finally the cherry on the French Toast: Dunhuang!

So I went to one of the most famous sites on the Silk Road: the Mogao Caves （莫高窟）。 I was quite sceptical of this big tourist attraction. I had even read somewhere that it was quite disapointing.

But the night I arrived in Dunhuang is worth a short summary:
I arrived at a hostel, which I had been dreaming about for days! A real hostel with dorms, a courtyard, some backpackers and even some foreigners!!! Fantastic! Among the people I met was a French couple, travelling with a Jeep Cherokee, and coming from Beijing. Quite cool. And the best is that they had Pastis de Marseille, the wonder drink. So we drank, and some Chinese travelers joined us, and we played Chinese drinking games, and at 3 a.m we decided to climb the enormous sand dunes (150m) that’s just behind the hostel, see the stars and finally the sunrise. That was quite fun. I went to sleep at 8 a.m.

But the point was that Daphnee, the French girl, told me I still should go and see the paintings, as they are suppposed to be amazing even though you have to follow a group with guide. And that was true. The painting are actually amazing. Some flashy light blue color dates from the Tang dynasty, 1300 years ago… Really impressive.

Apart from the caves DUnhuang itself is quite pleasant. It lies in a oasis in the middle of the desert, with lots of grapes, water-melon, and tons of other fruits. People are so chill! It’s all tranquillo! Great. And from everywhere within the city there is the ubiquitous presence of the sand dunes that lies right on the borders of the town. Very nice!

I should write again after my camel experience, and then I’ll be going to Xinjiang…