Markuswelder wanders around Northern China.

[Markuswelder]

Right. Onwards. Gansu Province. We hired a Taxi & driver for the day, & headed out to the Yardang Geological park/area. And also had a bit of a look at a couple of other places of historical interest while we were in the area, that being the very beginning or start of the Great Wall of China, the Yanguan pass, Yemenguan pass, and Fangpan fort or castle.
We got caught in a pretty decent sandstorm on the way out, I'll admit to getting a wee bit concerned stuck on the side of the road in the middle of the Gobi desert, 150 kms from no where, with a visibility factor of about not being able to see the front of the bonnet of the Taxi
The vehicles over there must have great air filters, the sand & dust is exceedingly invasive, quite fine, and gets into everything. We were shaking sand out of our shoes, socks, clothes, camera bag etc etc etc for days and days afterward. Interestingly, none made its way into my Lumix 14mm pancake, Lumix 20mm pancake, Lumix 25mm f1.7, or GX8. All of which I still own today, all of which still work just fine. And using primes, I did swap lenses as required. So credit where credit is due there I say.
Anyway, enough waffle, some pictures. You can still see there's a lot of sand & dust in the air, a little bit annoying as i'd loved to have done a Helicopter flight over the area for a really good view, but you take what you can get It did get a bit better later in the day though.
There's one of those three wheeled vehicles again

Nothing stopping you from wandering off into the desert & getting hopelessly lost, use a bit of common sense.
Not easy to try and get a reasonable shot with all the dust around. I think it gives it a bit of atmosphere anyway.
We hired a little van to take us a bit further out into the desert area, only so far the Taxi was allowed to go. You can see how the Wife tried to wrap herself up & stop the sand getting into her hair and down her neck etc.

On the road in I think. Or out. Lol. Good thing about hiring your own vehicle & driver. You can stop a few times without earning the ire of everyone. Well, not counting the Wife that is. Especially if she's getting a touch hungry.

 

[Markuswelder]

As I alluded to a little earlier, we'd get to the Great wall The start of the Great Wall. Was constructed of rammed Earth, & I think reeds and other material sourced locally.

It's freaking desolate out here. This is along side the Silk road, i can't begin to imagine how hard it would have been to ply this route on Horse or Camel back.

The Fangpan Castle. From what I understand, it was basically a break in the Great Wall which served as a command post for the officials dealing with Traders travelling the Silk road. If you want more details, Google it. Otherwise this thread will start to rival the Encyclopaedia Britannica in volume

You can see the layers of rammed earth, a building technique that has stood the test of time, in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Despite one might think otherwise.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

It's freaking desolate out here.

It sure is landscape that puts us in our place!

Amazing views, Markus, and terrific shots. The sand adds greatly to the desolation. I’m seeing a side of China here that I haven’t seen before.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

You can see the layers of rammed earth, a building technique that has stood the test of time, in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Despite one might think otherwise.

I looked it up. Interesting. And it seems it’s being used again!

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

There's one of those three wheeled vehicles again

So they really are everywhere!

 

[greatgrandma]

That must be an anti-Communism American thing. I've never heard it called that before.

I'm guessing that there wouldn't have been a lot on display then, as they were only first discovered in about the middle of 1974. And they're still excavating now. I'd be interested to see just how much was available to see back then, compared to now. Well, now being 2016 when we were last there. Covid well and truly screwed up any plans for me regarding sightseeing trips the last few years. The Wife actually got stuck over there for 9 months as not long after she got there all the lockdowns started. I don't think she actually minded that much to be honest, ended up a nice, extended stay with her family Me, not so much.

I'm no expert, but it does look a lot like it to me. Very similar terrain to one of the sections we visited, outside of Beijing. I've got some more shots of it from out in the Gobi desert, in Gansu province. And it looks nothing like that, at all. But that's coming up in another post. Or two

Edit -the season/weather sounds right in being cold, their seasons are pretty much the exact opposite of ours, and our Summer is December to February, so they'd be into Autumn then.

Nixon had just opened up China not too long prior - my daughter was a little blonde hair, blue eyed, very fair skin, and my mother was a white haired lady with a Polaroid who gave out candy to children. Sometimes they were mobbed. There hadn't been that many foreigners there back then. Because they also went to Taiwan, they had two passports. This is my mother and daughter 0 I think in Japan

These are some pictures that might be from there - I don't seem to have any of the actual warriors

 

[Lyn]

As I alluded to a little earlier, we'd get to the Great wall The start of the Great Wall. Was constructed of rammed Earth, & I think reeds and other material sourced locally.

View attachment 15695View attachment 15696View attachment 15697

It's freaking desolate out here. This is along side the Silk road, i can't begin to imagine how hard it would have been to ply this route on Horse or Camel back.

The Fangpan Castle. From what I understand, it was basically a break in the Great Wall which served as a command post for the officials dealing with Traders travelling the Silk road. If you want more details, Google it. Otherwise this thread will start to rival the Encyclopaedia Britannica in volume

View attachment 15698View attachment 15699View attachment 15700

You can see the layers of rammed earth, a building technique that has stood the test of time, in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Despite one might think otherwise.

View attachment 15701View attachment 15702

Fantastic, great pics from places most of us will never see.

 

[Markuswelder]

So, we based ourselves in Dunhuang for a few days. Kind of central to a few of the hysterical, oops, I mean historical sites. A couple I've already mentioned. It's a town/city in the Gobi desert that the Traders using the Silk Road used to stop at, and replenish their supplies. Oasis in the desert so to speak. And where I ran into Red, or Black Tea. It's also quite close to the Crescent Moon Spring, as well as the Mogao Grottoes, or Thousand Buddha caves. Both of which have been quite commercialized.
Apparently, it gets as busy as all get out in Summer, queues for ages etc. We were late Winter, no such issues. I stood on a street corner, and shot photos of interesting things again, one morning

Then we headed out for a look at the Crescent Moon Spring and surrounds. Ming Sha Shan, or the singing sand dunes. I don't recall if I actually heard them singing, but it is real, it happens, there's a scientific explanation to it all as well. But by Crikey, did we get sanded up badly that day. If you read multiple reports about the area, many of them mention it (the fine sand getting into everything). My GX8 & lenses survived it all famously, we were a bit uncomfortable. Nothing wrong with Lumix weather protection at all. I went sand surfing down the giant sand dunes, only managed a few runs because (a) they're enormous, and (b) it's bl00dy hard work climbing giant sand dunes. And I'm reasonably fit.

 

[Markuswelder]

Continued..............

Dressed for the occasion

Wandered around a night market, fairly deserted due to the season. Pretty cold too. My Wife told me in no uncertain terms, not to ask for/order Pork dishes. Surprisingly, there's a pretty strong Muslim presence in the area.

 

[Markuswelder]

While we were there, we joined up on a tour & headed out to the Thousand Buddha caves/Mogao Grottoes. Photographically, I was disappointed, as photography was banned inside the caves/rooms, I pleaded with my Tour guide to get a shot or two as my camera doesn't even have a flash, but to no avail. So I refrained, as I'm not that keen on seeing the inside of a re-education camp, nor did I wish to see my pretty little tour guide get into any sort of trouble The rules don't seem to apply to the locals though, they happily blasted away with their phone cameras complete with flash, with reckless abandon.
Anyway, a few shots of the area. More sand storms, that's sand you can see swirling around on the road, not too bad this time.

You don't really expect to come across snow & Ice out in the Gobi desert, but there it was.

Apparently, they've come across around 500 caves out there. Sorry, only exterior shots, for reasons explained previously