monochrome

Previously posted photographs

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Train station plaza, Da Tong

Tomorrow I'm back on the road, taking a morning train from Dunhuang to Jiayuguan. From there I'm going to have to kick it into high gear. My parents are flying to Xi'an, but I'm planning on spending a few more days in Gansu, visiting some areas around Lanzhou before I'm due to return to Beijing to help with a friend's wedding (and eventually attend it).

Yesterday, we toured some of the Buddhist grottoes at Mogaoku. Of the 62 caves that are open to visitors, the guided tours only lead you to around 10 of them. It was almost painful walking past the locked doors, imagining what was inside. Some of the "special" caves have their own admission fee. I asked how much it would be to see the 8 special caves that are currently open to tourists and was told that it would be an additional 1500RMB. That said, a lot of the cause for limited access is for the sake of protection. The hoardes of tourists that descend upon this area each year would make short work of the caves if left to roam free.

The above photo was taken in DaTong. Last year I took overnight trains there and back from Beijing to visit the Buddhist sculptures in the grottoes at Yungang. It was an exhausting trip, but well worth the effort. A few years ago, I also saw the caves at Longmen. It's hard to remember and compare all the caves having seen them so far apart, but they're not close enough together to see them all at once. If anything, the caves at Mogao reminded me of the Sri Lankan cave temple at Dambulla, what with every square inch being covered with art.

Incidentally, if anyone is curious enough to read more about my current travels, I keep a text blog here. I'm not updating that incredibly often (updates come in almost digest-like chunks) but it gives a better picture of what I'm doing and where I'm going from day to day.