First steps on the Silk Road
Trip Start
Jul 17, 2011
1
13
17
Trip End
Sep 09, 2011
Where I stayed
What I did
ate great food; visited the Gansu provincial museum, tombs, great wall, fort, buddhist caves, Tibetan memorial
Lanzhou, Gansu, China
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
After satisfying our physical needs we turned to the pleasures of the mind. The Gansu Provincial Museum is a treasure trove for history buffs. One fascinating section of the museum deals with paleontology and fossils in Gansu, which was once covered by an ocean. The museum also boasts several dinosaur skeletons and the skeleton of the ancient Yellow River elephant.
It was at the Gansu Museum that we took our first step on the Silk Road by paying homage to ancient scrolls and statues, silks, bronzes, pottery and crafts transported over the old trade route. Lanzhou lies at the entrance (or exit) of the Hexi Corridor, which is a string of oases in between the Tibetan Plateau to the south and the Gobi desert to the north. This route was the only way to get to Chang'An (now Xi'an), China's capital during the Tang dynasty (618-907). Though the Silk Road predates the Tang dynasty, it was in this time that trade along this route really got going. The Tang dynasty was a golden age of cosmopolitan culture with ethnicities of Persia, Central Asia, Japan, Vietnam, Tibet, and India living in Chang'An, while green-eyed, blond-haired dancers attracted visitors to its many inns.
Our next step on the Silk Road took us to Wuwei, home of the Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow. The horse is a masterfully crafted bronze by an unknown artist, made about 2,000 years ago and found in a Han dynasty tomb. We visited the tomb in Wuwei, but had already admired the horse at the Gansu Provincial Museum, where basically all of Gansu's treasures are kept. This also goes for all movable parts of the buddhist sculpture caves at Tiantishan, though the giant, 15-meter high Sakyamuni buddha carved out of the mountain side was still there to wave at us.
Further along the Hexi Corridor we visited Jiayuguan, where the Great Wall of China ends and an old fort looks out over the Gobi desert. Jiayuguan was also a key point on the Silk Road. Today it is best known for its steel industry, making Jiayuguan city a dreary place we don't much like to look back on. The desert awaited us.
Train from Lanzhou to Wuwei (K9661, dep. 20:38): ¥47
Train from Wuwei to Jiayuguan (T9203, dep. 18:07): ¥108
Combined entrance ticket to Great Wall Jiayuguan, Last Beacon Tower, and Jiayuguan Fort: ¥120
Wei & Jin Dynasties Tombs (Jiayuguan) entrance fee: ¥31
Comments
Is heimwee naar iets waar je niet woont/ woonde ook mogelijk? Heb ik een beetje... Veel plezier nog! Geniet!!!!
Gr,
Sander