As the Sun Rises Over the Gobi

Last night we headed out for the Gobi Desert. We arrived at the camp site around 7-8pm and set up tents. We had to get some pictures in before the sun set so we climbed to a nearby sand dune and watched it set. Everyone was enjoying the sand. It reminded me a lot of the Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. Just imagine that (Uncle Bob, Aunt Sandy, Aunt Ana, Uncle Rob & Cousins) but a whole lot bigger. The Gobi has really big dunes, not small ones. I've seen sand dunes before, but these were just monsters. Of course, I had to keep camera #2 on tight control. Didn't want anything to happen again. So when I rolled down the dune to the bottom, I gave my camera and belongings to Devon. Rolling down a sand dune definitely beats running, walking, or sliding down. I was going so fast, I could barely stop myself at the bottom. When I stood up, I couldn't even walk because I was so dizzy. It was great.





Our whole group had set up camp near the edge of the sand, and most of our tents were near one another. A few kids had far away camps, but we were the only people around. As the sun set, the stars began to come out and it reminded me of backpacking in the mountains with my Dad and Uncles. But once again, the Gobi had to have the upper hand over Colorado. I don't think I've seen so many stars in my life. The Milky Way was a distinct cloud of clustered stars and it was crazy. I found 5 satellites, which for some people was their first satellite. As the night went on, the stars continued to come out and before midnight, there were too many for me to try and find satellites. The Beijing Center prepared a bonfire for us and we ate watermelon and another Chinese melon. It really cooled off when the sun set and we all just kinda layed around in the sand lookin up at the crazy amount of stars. It was awesome. We knew we had to get up pretty early, so most of us crashed around 11:30pm. The alarms went off at 4:15am and when I opened up my tent I was in awe to see that the stars were just as bright and plentiful as when I had fallen asleep. The crazy part was the fact that they had actually shifted significantly during the night. Orion, which wasn't visible earlier in the night, had risen over the horizon and Betelgeuse was bright red. It was awesome. And cold. And sandy.





Speaking of the sand, let me just give a heads up that rolling down the sand dune probably wasn't a great idea. I'm pretty sure I got sand in every place imaginable. Every place.





We packed up our tent, and headed back to the bus. The bus dropped us off at the camel place where we had to wait until 5:45am to get on. All the camel caravans were 5 camels, all led by a Chinese leader. A guy Jeremy led our group, followed by Jessica, Devon, Jim and myself. Gerald, my camel, was a pretty good camel. I'm pretty sure he was in the back of the bus for some reason because he tended to not follow in line and usually crowded up next to Jim. Sometimes, when we stopped, Gerald would put his head by Jimmy and just look at him. It was great. We begin our ride to the dune while the glow of the sunrise was barely lighting up the eastern sky. It was still to dark to get clear pictures and cold enough to wear a long sleeved t-shirt and hoodie.





When we got to the top camp, we had to climb further to the top of the dune. We got to the top and waited. By now, the eminent glow of the rising sun had lit the entire sky. The stars had given way to clear blue sky and we waited. Finally, the orange ball began to peek above the mountains and we watched it rise. I'm pretty sure this is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'll show you pictures. Of course, nothing would be fun without a little excitement, so we decided to airtube down the dune on the way back to the camels. We got on innertubes and went down a track, sand blowing in my eyes and face like no tomorrow. As if I didn't have enough sand in my teeth as it was. As always, living in the 99c store, we had to pay Y10 to usethe innertubes. It was worth it. It even came with a free sandwich.



We took the camels back to the base of the dunes and went to the desert oasis that Dunhuang is famous for. By this time, it was 8:30am and we had been sandblasted, sun scorched and pretty much Gobi-ed out. I was hungry and thirsty and couldn't wait to spend a solid hour finding out where half the Gobi Desert had sneaked into. We got back to the hotel before 10 and ate a Chinese breakfast (which made me crave American breakfast even more), and cleaned up. Many q-tips later, I was ready to take a nap.



We slept, ate lunch, and headed out to Mogao Grottoes. These are 1000 caves that are carved into thelimestone wall. Each has a representation of Buddha but due to earthquakes and mankind, over 500 of them have been destroyed. We viewed a few of them. One of them was the 2nd largest Buddha in the world. Because the Taliban has destroyed two of the largest ones in the world, the Buddha at the Mogao Grottoes is now 2nd largest. This was even larger than the wooden one I saw at the Llama Temple. No pictures were allowed, so here's a link to some pictures. Mogao Caves. It was pretty cool.



Other than that it was a great day. We went out for the night and enjoyed Dunhaung. This morning, we took a bus to Jiayuguan to see the last section of the Great Wall, it was pretty cool but the wall is the wall. Actually, you'll see pictures.