day 267: 敦煌 (dunhuang) = 0km

I wanted the GPS-track that I had lost a couple of days ago (July 28th 2008), so we took a cab and got it back.

It’s a bit silly, I know that, but I just couldn’t stand the thought of my long red line showing a gap of 25km.

We rode back to 安西 (anxi) and came past the people selling melons by the highway:

And I learned something I didn’t know: as of 2007, 安西 is not called 安西 anymore, because the name (anxi = “peaceful west”) bears a strong resemblance to another Chinese expression: 安息 (anxi = “rest in peace”). Word has it that this was a decision by the central government in Beijing. Now the place formerly known as 安西 is called 瓜州 (guazhou = “melon place”), which I think is a much better name indeed.

We went south from 瓜州/安西 and crossed through the mountains. There were large green open spaces that looked very pretty:

Our cabbie pointed out some old city ruins called 踏实古城 (tashi old city), so we decided to make a stop there:

Then we continued on our way to our original destination:

The 榆林窟 (yulin grottoes):

This is a fairly large cave complex that features Buddhist statues and murals from as early as 400AD, much like 马蹄寺 (mati temple - June 25th 2008):

There were hardly any tourists there, so the caves that had been waiting here for more than a thousand years still had a very peaceful and quiet feel to them.

They were sleeping in a river canyon that was very beautiful…

…and overwhelmingly green:

We were not allowed to take our cameras inside, so I can only show you some outside shots of this amazingly interesting place:

These caves are considered 姊妹窟 (sister grottoes) with the world-famous 莫高窟 (mogao grottoes) of 敦煌 (Dunhuang), but in my personal opinion the visiting experience here in 榆林窟 can be much more rewarding.

It’s just more intimate when the busloads of tourists are not around:

…

We had to hurry back though.

We positioned ourselves on the roof of our hotel, then we got out our eclipse-staring equipment:

Ancient Chinese belief has it that a solar eclipse is in fact due to a mythical phenomenon called  天狗吃太阳 (the heavenly dog eating the sun).

Well here’s the dog taking a first bite at 18h23min:

We kept staring:

The dog’s chunk had gotten bigger by 18h50min:

…and there was nothing to do but stare…

…while the dog was slowly munching his way through all that white - 19h10min:

We got pretty excited:

But at 19h14min…

…we had to realize that there wasn’t going to be a total eclipse here in 敦煌.

The heavenly dog had sure been eating, but in the end he had failed to swallow the sun.

Damn dog!

Robozwerg says:

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’ve seen better!”

Soundtrack: Michael Jackson - “Black Or White”

—total: 3555,1km