Jiayuguan
Monday, October 22nd, 2007Took the sleeper bus from Lanzhou to here, arrived 6.30am. Jiayuguans claim to fame is its the beginning of the great wall so spent the day checking out sights.
The Jiayuguan Fort interesting enough, fine displays with a good museum of great wall history/ silk road history and nice views of the Gobi desert and mountains in the background. The Great Wall parts themselves provided good photo ops and a bit of exercise but built in the last few years so not exactly authentic.
The city itself modern, spacious and decent parks to wander around with good hotels and food so a nice chance to relax and enjoy some decent sunshine. After the bitter cold of the high mountains great just to be able to wear a t shirt and enjoy blue skies and even wash clothes that would never dry elsewhere. In all like being in a different country to the Tibetan plateau, no more lamas, monasteries, nomads and yaks and something I am sure others would wish for.
Tomorrow off to Turpan
petefurlepa