My journey on the Silk Road

Came back earlier this month from a 9-day trip in China along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route used through various regions of the Asian continent. There were 10 of us on the trip, and we had our own private guides and drivers. Here are the highlights from the trip:

DAY 1: XIAN

-Army of terracotta warriors. It was a pretty amazing sight to see 6000 life-size warrior statues standing in battle position in the first pit of the tomb, each face different from others. Did you know that the soldier statues, 2000-years old and now mostly faded to gray, used to be painted with color?
(The photo on the right was taken of terracotta statues at a factory. Don't they look pretty much like the real thing?)

-Xian City Wall. Xian is one of the few cities in China where old city walls are still visible and open to the public.

DAY 2: JIAYUGUAN
-Wei Jin Tombs. We drove through the Gobi Desert, and along the way, visited one of the thousands of ancient tombs sprinkled throughout the desert. The inside of the tomb was covered in brick tiles with interesting paintings on them. No photos allowed.

DAY 3: JIAYUGUAN & DUNHUANG
Our anniversary day! As I wrote in my previous entry, we spent the day visiting the Jiayuguan Fort, then drove to Dunhuang, where we got to go camel-riding and sand-sledding in the sand dunes of Mingsha Shan. It was so much fun! Camels were surprisingly easy to ride, they were slow and steady. You just sit back between their humps, and bob up and down along with them. They're pretty gentle creatures with goofy smiles. Sledding down the sand hills was a little crazy cuz I have a fear of heights and the hills seemed really steep from the top... I kept thinking I was gonna flip my sled over and tumble down!

That night, we all stayed in a Chinese-style courtyard villa. There were 6 rooms surrounding one common courtyard in each villa, just like what you see in the old days Chinese TV shows.

DAY 4: DUNHUANG & TURPAN
-Mogao Grottoes - Hundreds of caves filled with mostly Buddhism-related artwork and statues dating from way back to the ancient Chinese dynasties, including the Wei, Zhou, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties. We were guided into 8 of the few open caves, where the artwork and Buddha statues were very impressive. No photos allowed.

-More camel-riding and sand-tubing. We loved the camel-riding so much that we went back for more! This time, we took a longer camel-ride farther into the sand dunes where we trekked to the top of a sand hill for an amazing view. Then we went tubing down the sand hill, where once again I screamed all the way down. haha!

-That evening, we took an 8-hour overnight soft-sleeper train ride into Turpan, Xinjiang.

DAY 5: TURPAN
-Turpan, a desert oasis, is the lowest and hottest spot in China. Luckily the weather was nice while we were there, but supposedly the highest recorded temperature was 49.6 degrees C (121.3 degrees F)!!

-Jiaohe Ruins - During the Han dynasty, Jiaohe was established as a town to defend the borderlands, but the town was decimated by Genghis Khan. All that's left to see are old crumbling ruins of buildings, but it was still pretty cool to see what's left.


-Visited a local Uyhgur family home. Uyhgur (pronounced "we-gar") people are one of the native Turkic ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Uyghurs aren't ethnically Chinese and look primarily European/Middle Eastern, so it was difficult to imagine that we were in a city considered to be part of China. Many even spoke Mandarin. Most of the Uyhgur people we met in Turpan were very friendly. We visited this one Uyhgur family's home where they served us delicious home-grown fresh and dried fruits, and we toured their grape vines.

-Sugong Mosque. Designed in a simple Afghani style and built in 1777. Uyhgurs are mostly Muslim, and this mosque was one of the few places of worship in the city.


DAY 6: TURPAN & URUMQI
-The Flaming Mountains - Along our 4 hours drive to Urumqi, we passed the famed Flaming Mountains, which are red sandstone hills that look like burning flames when the sun shines down on it.

The mountains were made famous in the 16th century Chinese classic novel ‘Journey to the West’ about Buddhist monk Xuan Zang’s pilgrimage to India. In the story, the monk encounters a wall of flames (the Flaming Mountains), and is able to extinguish them with help from his companion, the Monkey King.

-Heaven Pool - A beautiful clear blue lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains halfway up a mountain in the middle of a desert.
Our group hamming it up in Uyghur traditional costumes in front of the lake.


DAY 7: KASHGAR
Kashgar is a fabled oasis of the ancient Silk Road that still retains much of its exotic Eastern feel in parts of the city.

-Old Town - One of the best parts of the trip was strolling through the Old Town, where narrow roads are lined with Uyghur shops and homes. We saw many craftsmen still working their crafts, such as coal-oven bakers, horseshoe makers, cotton weavers, vendors selling fruits and vegetables from wooden donkey carts, knife and weapons makers. And the children! We saw so many Uyghur children and most of them are so cute, friendly, and curious. Many loved having their photos taken, and would giggle when we showed them their picture from our viewfinder.


(This man was very nice. He saw us taking photos of him, so he buttoned up his jacket to look more "presentable" for our photos. So cute of him!)


DAY 8 & 9: URUMQI & XIAN
Mostly free day before heading back to HK.

Overall, we saw some amazing sights, encountered many friendly faces, ate lots of delicious food, rode on some goofy-looking camels, and it was ALL a lot of fun and an amazing experience on the Silk Road! :)