After the group ate breakfast, it was time to bid farewell to Dunhuang and set out on a five-hour bus ride to the small city of Jiayuguan.
Instead of being seated on the edge of a desert like Dunhuang was, Jiayuguan was situated in a small valley between two imposing mountain ranges and barren wasteland, thus making it a perfect location for Chinese emperors of ages past to construct a massive stone fort to serve as the perfect endpoint for the Great Wall. It was an extremely impressive citadel from which one could defend against invaders riding in from the north … and its location made it quite the intensely lonely place where rulers could exile disgraced court officials.
(For a small fee, you could have a bit of fun with an elaborate set of costumes right outside the fort.)
Here we had a bit of a nasty windstorm .... plus skies so frightening-looking that they made you want to ruin your pants.
(In case you're wondering, these pictures of the fort are all horribly, horribly out of order)
This is either a unicorn, or a very, very sick cat....I have no idea.
Now, the fort and the and the adjoining museum was more or less the major event of the day, with little to elaborate at all on. Nighttime however proved to be quite the spectacle in of itself, though. While I wouldn’t expect a small city of such magnitude to exist in such a harsh environment in the first place, never would I have guessed that it could explode into life as it did once evening rolled around. As soon as the sun went down, Jiayuguan seemed to light up as bright as a Christmas tree.
And the park across the street was certainly someone else! Back in the United States, one would probably think twice about going into a city park after nightfall. In Jiayuguan meanwhile, it seemed like everyone was out at the park, all looking like they hadn’t a single care in the entire world. I don’t know precisely how harsh anti-crime laws over here, but out of fairness I should admit this much; they certainly get results.
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