Day 16, Dunhuang
Today we went to see the main attraction in Dunhuang, the Mogao Grottoes 莫高窟. There is plenty of confusion online as to how tickets for the place work: we got our tickets from the ticket office on the North side of East Yangguan road (阳关东路), perhaps
a kilometre East of the market place (there is a road sign pointing to it and large signs on the building itself). Passport must be shown, as the ticket is personal. The tickets cost 258 CNY per person for English guidance, Chinese is 20 CNY
cheaper, and include two films, shuttle bus between the Visitor centre and the grottoes and a guided tour of eight grottoes. Do note that you will have to make your way yourself from the ticket office to the grottoes - we took a taxi for 18 CNY,
as our tour started a mere 30 minutes after the moment of purchase. There is also a shuttle bus between the city and the Visitor centre for 3 CNY per person running a few hundred metres to the West of the ticket office, on the South side of the same road
(you will see plenty of green minibuses parked there).
The Visitor centre where you will start your visit with 2 films.
The Nine-Storey Pagoda. Inside there is an enormous, 36-metre buddha. Pictures are not allowed inside the grottoes, so you will just have to trust me that the grottoes are magnificent and google for images. Most grottoes were created during a 1000-year
period up to the 14th century by Buddhist monks. Once the overland Silk Road was discontinued, the activity subsided and the grottoes were abandoned until rediscovery in the 19th century.
Trying new Fanta flavours every time I find them! This one is Peach, yum!
The market/bazaar in central Dunhuang 敦煌 with food, souvenirs etc. As a city Dunhuang 敦煌 is one of the cosiest I have been to in China - streets are small and "quiet" (compared to Shanghai 上海), the market is a large pedestrian area
where one can stroll around and there is plenty of greenery.
Before coming to Dunhuang 敦煌 I was dying for a map of the four bus lines mentioned everywhere online - hopefully someone will find this post when googling, the picture should be legible if zooming in. The pink line is line 1, the red line
is line 2 (can be taken to the Mogao Grottoes 莫高窟 ticket office), the green line is line 3 (can be taken to Crescent Lake 月牙泉 and the sand dunes) and the blue line is line 4 (can be taken to the bus station for buses to for example
Liuyuan 柳园).
