Dunhuang prospers and travels westward - My travel notes to Dunhuang (Part 2)

The driver who chartered the car was a cheerful and kind-hearted Dunhuang local . I met him through the youth hostel owner , who sent me there on the day of desert camping. The one in the camp.

The people I met in Dunhuang were all very nice , and a big reason why I enjoyed my trip to Dunhuang was also because of the lovely locals I met.

(Before the renovation of Yulin Grottoes, photo source: Du Niang)

From 4, 25 to 6, 20, 2018, Yulin Grottoes will be temporarily closed to the public for infrastructure renovation. It was the day before " retreat " and there was dust everywhere

The ticket office is also in a small room , It is in sharp contrast with the tall digital exhibition hall of Mogao Grottoes . It should be completely transformed after the renovation is completed , Looking forward to it meeting.

Yulin Grottoes is also known as Wanfo Gorge,The sister cave of Mogao Grottoes,.It is built along the Yulin River,It is named after the forest of elm trees on the river bank.

Probably due to geographical factors , Walking into Yulin Grottoes , The weather is fine , Direct sunlight , A refreshing coolness hits my face. .The interior of Yulin Grottoes is also colder than Mogao Grottoes and West Thousand Buddha Cave , Go in and stay for a while , It feels like you are in an ice cave .

Cave 2 and Cave 3 are works of Xixia period , Cave 25 was the Tubo occupation of Guazhou (AD 776 After the year), and caves were built to be larger than 2, 3 caves .

4The cave is TantrismThe content,I am not very interested ,In addition, I have communicated with the instructor before,The other party is also It is not recommended to visit this cave , so I visited the three special caves 2, 3, 25 , and the total cost was 450 yuan .

(Special Cave 25: Observing the Transformations of the Infinite Life Sutra, picture source network)

Because I had the experience of swiping a credit card to see the special grottoes in Mogao Grottoes , I didn’t have any cash with me , when I bought the ticket I learned that you can only pay in cash when visiting the special grottoes ,Cannot swipe cards or make electronic payments,

I found Mr. Bian , the driver , and the staff at the scenic spot scraped together 450 yuan , and it was almost done. The biggest regret of this trip.

If Mogao Grottoes is shocking, Yulin Grottoes is subverting imagination. subverts my understanding of the creativity of the Xixia period ,

2The Water Moon Avalokitesvarais cleverly conceived,is noble and elegant. 3The cave The landscape scenery on the Manjusri Transformation is fantastic and ethereal, 25 The View of the Infinite Life Sutra Changes is rich in details , is harmonious and natural .

(Special Cave 3: Manjusri and Samantabhadra Transformation, Picture Source Du Niang)

The Manjusri and Samantabhadra in the picture above are just a small picture put together here. In fact, they each occupy half of the stone wall at the entrance of the cave.

I was just a small person in front of the huge mural. I came with no knowledge, but I was shocked and moved without reservation.

When painters paint, do they think that someone will look at the same painting with them thousands of years later? The long and distant time in between, the cultural and regional differences, at this moment that I can see with my own eyes, are compressed into less than half. meters distance.

After the visit , met with Mr. Bian and Miss Huang , and they also learned a lot , shared their experiences on the way to Suoyang City . Everyone was chatting and laughing along the way,

Mr. Bian did a good job in traveling homework,collected a lot of information about Yulin Grottoes,sent them to me to share before departure.Ms. Huang loves traveling, Well-informed , Been to many places . Both of them are gentle, mature and tolerant , Getting along with them is like a spring breeze .

(Digital Dunhuang official website homepage)

Compared with the one-day tour on the western route that can be seen everywhere with group tours.the eastern route is relatively unpopular, you can only charter a car and go there by yourself.

On the east line, in addition to Yulin Grottoes , there are also East Thousand Buddha Caves and Suoyang City . East Thousand Buddha Caves It is also one of the Dunhuang Grottoes , due to its remote location , it is not managed by the Dunhuang Academy , but belongs to Guazhou .

There is also a distance between East Thousand Buddha Caves and Suoyang City , There is no bundled sale , But tickets for East Thousand Buddha Caves can only be purchased at the Suoyang City Attractions Ticket Center Purchases , can be paid electronically . Due to time constraints on the day , we did not visit the East Thousand Buddha Caves .

The original name of Suoyang City is Kuyu City , and it is the ruins of an ancient border city . It has the most well-preserved ancient military defense system and ancient farmland water conservancy and irrigation system in China ..

(Overlooking a corner of Suoyang City)

Guazhou is known as the wind outlet of the world,The wind in the scenic spot is not that strong,The commentator wearing a small bee on the car explained while driving,Blurting out The voice was blown to pieces by the wind ,

Miss Huang, who was sitting in the back seat, and I couldn't hear clearly what was said many times , Mr. Bian, who was sitting next to the commentator, turned into a " microphone ", The commentator's words are repeated loudly for us to hear .

Suoyang City has experienced many wars in history , the religious activity sites here " Kumbum Monastery " have also been destroyed a long time ago ,But the general structure is still complete

I saw a continuous black area in the distance and asked the commentator where it was. He was told that it was a group of tombs. Some of the former residents of Suoyang City sleep there, right next to this already deserted city.

It took less than two hours to visit Suoyang City , I walked to the exit car and opened the door and saw an orange cat lying under the seat , I don’t know where it came from. , I took the opportunity to pet the cat again , During my trip to Dunhuang, I petted cats and dogs wherever I went .

After returning to Guazhou,Miss Huang and Mr. Bian will go to a new destination,They plan to stay one night in Guazhou and set off directly from Guazhou the next day,I returned to Dunhuang with the driver.

The group said goodbye in Guazhou , After returning, they remembered that they had taken a lot of scenery photos along the way , but they forgot that everyone took a group photo together . This is rare Destiny , I didn’t leave a group photo to commemorate , there are some small regrets here.

(There should be a photo location here)

After returning to Dunhuang , the driver took me to drink the local authentic apricot peel water , before , I had drunk a few Ready-packed ,

When I bought it on the first day, I stupidly asked the supermarket owner if it was made at home , and the supermarket owner actually admitted . Later, I saw it in almost every supermarket and canteen. This apricot skin water.

(Spicy Tomato)

In the evening, we visited the Dunhuang Night Market and bought some souvenirs and specialties. While we were eating, drinking and having fun , our trip to Dunhuang was coming to an end and it was about our last day in Dunhuang .

The last day of the trip to Dunhuang was very relaxing. I walked around the city casually, looking at the streets, pedestrians, and urban museums...

In the morning, I walked from the youth hostel to Dunhuang Museum. When I passed the night market, I saw that the stalls full of goods last night had turned into old businesses, repairing watches, carving seals...

There were very few people visiting the museum that day, only a few people. The originally quiet atmosphere was quickly broken with the arrival of a group of aunties and tour groups. Everyone asked questions actively and loudly.

In addition to foreign tourists, there are also foreign tourists. By the way, this trip to Dunhuang saw very few foreign tourists, but met many compatriots from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

(Dunhuang Museum entrance + ticket display)

The Dunhuang Museum displays cultural relics related to local historical development, which is more regional than the museum in Mogao Grottoes.

Although Dunhuang is small, everything is orderly and everything is done to impress the visitors.

(Shared bicycles arranged in order)

(Trash cans on the streets of Dunhuang are decorated with different pictures of local scenery)

(Passing by the entrance of a kindergarten, I took a random photo of the sticker)

(Small advertisements are neatly posted)

I left the museum and walked around the city for a while, then returned to the youth hostel to pack my things. I felt sleepy after shopping all afternoon, but I had already checked out because there were no new guests checking in, so I asked the guy at the front desk if I could take a rest.

After getting the consent, I slept beautifully on the small bed before getting up and going to the train station.

While waiting at the train station , I saw the ticket check was about to start and went to the toilet , When I walked to the door of the toilet, I remembered the album I bought at the Mogao Grottoes but I didn’t take it,In less than half a minute,the picture album on the seat disappeared.

Immediately called the police and left contact information , After boarding the train, I also asked the flight attendant to help broadcast , nothing happened , there was no news . Call I cried while calling a friend on the phone , I have never lost such an expensive thing . After all, I still couldn’t let it go, and later I bought it again.

Here I would like to thank Dunhuang brother for sending me a message specifically saying that he could help me buy it. Although it was not through him, I am sincerely grateful for this thought.

(Album repurchased)

The soft sleeper I bought from Dunhuang to Lanzhou, opened the door of the four-person compartment and took a look,The three uncles, were quite embarrassed about each other, Before I entered , they offered me to ask if anyone wanted to change beds .

Taking a step down the corridor , I happened to meet an older brother asking one by one if there was anyone willing to switch with him . By coincidence, there were three girls in his room .

After discussion, happily changed . The girls in the same room were all very nice , chatting and laughing , taking care of each other ,

The next morning I chatted with them for a few words , and learned that they came from Shanghai and the company organized a group outing , which has now ended Return.

There was only half an hour's transfer time before my next train , fortunately I found the train and boarded it as soon as I got off .

I bought a hard sleeper on this trip,The bed is at the highest place,It’s a little troublesome to climb up,I don’t want to sleep all day,I threw my luggage away Went up , and sat on the stool in the passage to charge and look at the phone .

(Donkey meat yellow noodles)

I originally thought that I would read novels on the way back , but I had another " adventure ", first an Lanzhou old lady Sitting across from me and chatting with me . She told me that this was her first time traveling alone , She had never traveled alone before . Going to Chengdu to visit old friends ,Play for a few days.

I told her about my experiences along the way , we chatted from morning to noon until she went to eat and take a nap .

She is in her seventies,about the same as my grandmother.Thinking quickly and speaking smartly, if it weren’t for her appearance,the way and feeling of hearing her speak, will make people think that they are chatting with a friendly big sister .

After the Lanzhou old lady went to rest, a big brother sitting behind me took the initiative to strike up a conversation with me. He introduced himself as , a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences , with the surname Jia (I don’t know whether it is Zhen or Jia). His research field is nuclear I still can’t remember what kind of accelerator it was.

(Mogao Grottoes-related elements can be seen everywhere in Dunhuang city)

Most of the time it is a pattern of me asking him and answering , like a real-time interview with a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

I asked some very curious questions, such as the relationship between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education, the treatment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, whether the Chinese Academy of Sciences is short of people, and all kinds of nonsense.

Mr. Jia told me about some of his previous experiences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States. They had nothing to do with academics, but were all about life.

When he mentioned it, I didn’t know what Oak Ridge was. I thought the name was special and I remembered it. Later, I went to Baidu to search it and I fell in love with it.

He said that the mobility between laboratories and research institutes in the United States is very strong. If a researcher is working on a project, if the project does not need him temporarily, he can go to a laboratory in another university to work on it. Other research will not be wasted at all.

The chat with Mr. Jia broke some of my stereotypes about the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

(Mogao Grottoes Cave 254: Conquering the Demonic Transformation)

Mr. Jia is very talkative, and in fact, top scientists are quite talkative. Because I also need to share my academic opinions with others, communicate and so on.

He also complained about the inability of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to recruit people, and that many times there was a battle for people between the tutor and the institute. The rest of the chat was more than a month old, so I can’t remember it clearly and am not sure, so I won’t repeat it again.

In short, I spent the whole trip from Lanzhou back to Chengdu just chatting. Mr. Jia was going to Chengdu for a meeting. After returning to Lanzhou, he was going to start teaching graduate students for the first time. After we arrived at the North Railway Station, Saying goodbye to each other at the subway station.

At this point, my trip to Dunhuang has truly ended

If the second half of this travelogue were written a few days after returning from the trip, it would probably have a sensational ending.

But more than a month has passed, and a lot of things have happened in the meantime. This is no longer a record, but a look back.The excitement during the journey has faded away, and I look back at the tenderness they brought me calmly, restrainedly and with goodwill.

Friends who have read this, if you have some curiosity and yearning for Dunhuang and the Silk Road civilization because of this travelogue, here are some "homework" I did before departure that I would like to recommend to you.

It’s good whether it’s to help you understand or to broaden your horizons.

Documentary "Dunhuang": Dancing girls, businessmen, painters and other perspectives look at ancient and modern Dunhuang

 

The first and second episodes of the documentary produced by Japan's NHK TV station

 

Documentary "Hexi Corridor"

 

A journey to find your roots. Compared to the above films, this one is the most relaxing. Those who don’t like documentaries can watch this one.

for me

Was it a temporary idea to go to Dunhuang? Yes, I chose her after considering several destinations.

Is there no reason to go to Dunhuang? no

The indissoluble bond with Dunhuang was forged long ago. From the performance of the Central Chinese Orchestra to the documentary "Xuan Zang's Journey to the West", the Dunhuang exhibition at the Sichuan Provincial Museum

Although I watched it casually every time, not specifically for Dunhuang or Mogao Grottoes, I just simply like history and art culture, but step by step it helped me learn more and more about Dunhuang, Mogao Grottoes, and the Silk Road, and finally I took a step walk up to them

Among all the solo trips I can count on one hand, Dunhuang has given me the greatest beauty and surprise. I don’t know where my next destination will be, but my trip to Dunhuang will definitely be a Benchmark , used to compare with other journeys in my travel notes.

Thank you to every friend who has read this long travelogue and tolerated my verbosity. I will continue to share my travel experiences with you when I have the opportunity, and I wish you all the best on your journey! See you next time~