My travel to the silk road----part four

On September 26th,2002, with excellent preparation, we started for another new trip , a 900 kilometers trip from Yining directly back to Urumqi. We arrived in Wushi city at 11:00pm, although it was very late through a long hard journey, we were still tail up and visited the night view of “5.1 squares”. The night bazaar of “5.1 squares” is pretty big and special, neon flickers during the whole night, starriness irradiates in every corner of the city. The booths on the both sides were full of jollification. Our eyes were full of beautiful accouterments. Fresh and tender roast reeked fragrance. There were many special floret hat of Uigur minority. And the voice of peddlers reverberated in the air through the fume and smoke, canvassing tourists from all over the world.

September 27th, 2002. We had busy trip today，which includes visiting the flaming mountain in Turpan, Ancient city Gaochang, grape growing valley, and Karez Well. We needed to take train K890 back to Wushi city.

As time going, it became hotter and hotter in the car. We saw the flaming mountain in front of us, which is just the flaming mountain portrayed in the famous work”Journey to the West”. When the sun irradiates shiningly in mid-afternoon, the red rocks on the crisscross gullies and ravines reflect and the heat is intense as if the hillsides were engulfed by tongues of fire, hence the name.

Picking grape is much more interesting than eating it. We entered the grape growing valley, only paid 3 Yuan for one person and ate freely. Moreover, we could take one kilogram of grape out. It was 47C that day, we had heavy breath. I just picked a little bit under the airproof grapevine, reached the channel and had a wash. I felt sweet into my heart when I ate the cool grape which I put into the water.

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There are too many beautiful things in the Tian Mountain pearl—Turpan. It turned to 5:00pm in an instant. We posted off Wushi city by car till 8:00pm. After dinner, we rushed to the train station of Xinjing and headed for Gansu province.

It was on September 27th, 2002, with rumble of the roadway, the train drove in Gansu province carrying full of our dream. We got aware of reaching Liuyuan town when we waked up at 10 in the morning. Then we were arranged to transfer by microbus, heading for Dunhuang County which is more than 200 kilometers away from here.
Today's highlight was a visit to the remarkable Mogao Grottoes, also named Thousand Buddha Cave, locates on the eastern slope of Ratting Sand Mountain (Mingshashan). It was built up in 366 A.D, but still with the best protection. Due to the 492 frescoes as well as the 2415 painted clay figures in existence with 45,000 square meters inside the grottoes, Mogao Grottoes is not only one of the three noted grottoes in China, but also the richest treasure house of Buddhist art in the world.
Dunhuang is the west end of Hexi Corridor, the famous part on the Silk Road. It eventually formed a 1680-meter long south-north complex. The complex has two areas, the south and north. The 492 caves in the south were for a worshipping purpose. The 243 caves in the north were for monks to live, for a religious practice and a tomb yard. There are no color sculptures and frescoes.

Dancing images in Dunhuang frescoes are a brilliant gem for all human beings. There is a reversed pipa-playing status in the city center of Dunhuang, which is the symbol of Dunhuang. This reversed pipa-playing pose stimulated the idea for Silk Road and Flying Deities; it is a dance drama highly successful in and outside China.

We were reluctant to leave Mogao Grottoes. We set out from Dunhuang at 8:00am next day. After a journey of several hours we reached the Jiayu Pass city. It is located in the middle of the narrowest part of Hexi Corridor, and also the western end of the Great Wall, hence the name. “Jiayu” means “admirable valley”. The Jiayu Pass is not only the western end of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but also the vital passage of the famous Silk Road. china transportation
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