Sand

Dunhuang, Gansu, China 敦煌

After a month in the highlands and mountains of Greater Tibet, arriving in hot, hot Dunhuang was jarring both visually and physically. The green, rolling hills are replaced by the largely flat and featureless Gobi Desert, dominating my train ride throughout Gansu province 甘肅, and the comfortably cool weather replaced by an oppressive (but thankfully dry) heat reaching over 40°C (104°F) on my arrival. No more Tibetan bilingual signs, although that already stopped in Xining, an ethnically-mixed city. Practically every restaurant is halal 清真, and dopis and hijabs are far more visible than before, even amongst the massive numbers of Han tourists: this is a Hui heartland.

Despite the current demographic, this is a significant site of the Silk Road, an area which saw products hailing from faraway Central Asian lands pass through, holding a reputation as a gateway to Xi’an and the rest of China. Its former grandeur as Shazhou 沙洲, the city of sand (and now a non-descript district of the small city of Dunhuang), may have been lost through time and the central government’s previous attitude of cultural neglect and lack of preservation, but plenty of evidence still exists, primarily as an entry point of Buddhism into China.
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Aug 3, 2012

Jordan

Solitude

Wadi Rum, Jordan

Given how I seem to suffer from heat exhaustion and a stomach illness after each desert visit I do (well, all of two), I was initially apprehensive about coming to Wadi Rum.

Oh, how naive I can be sometimes. I certainly didn’t suffer at all this time – in fact, Wadi Rum was at a downright comfortable temperature most of the time – but I certainly didn’t expect the scenery that was coming. (Again, I’m glad I didn’t spoil myself with photos beforehand!) I’ve been travelling for awhile now, and certainly I’m a little bit jaded, but this one really blows everything out of the water. Oh, and I had no idea that this area is where T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) was based. I also have no knowledge of his story, other than what I’ve just learned while there – he worked for the British as a liaison to the Arabs, in support of their revolt against the Ottoman Turks; though friendly to the Arabs, he struggled with the knowledge that his assistance was with an ulterior British motive and tried unsuccessfully to fight for Arab independence. I’ve also never watched that famous movie (also filmed in this area)…but I guess I’ll have to now! More recent movies have been filmed here as well, usually with Wadi Rum standing in for alien planets given the stark landscape and the red sand. Continue reading →

Jun 2, 2012

Morocco

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Labas

Merzouga, Morocco

We arrived in Merzouga at 6:30 am, and Hassan (a tour operator who I emailed prior) met us at the bus station. We then had about 12 hours to wait before heading off on our camel safari.

Merzouga is a small town right on the edge of Erg Chebbi, a large sand sea (erg) on the edge of the Sahara, set at the base of the Chebbi mountains. Upon approach by bus, the scenery was a world away from Fes and felt surreal – a giiiiiiaaaaaaant sand dune loomed over everything like a mountain. Continue reading →

Mar 4, 2012

Bolivia

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Beyond nature

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

This is one of those things best left to pictures than to descriptions…so I’ll keep it short.

Jess, Sam, Shasha, and I departed Tupiza (altitude 2950 m) at 8 am, for the far southwest circuit to Uyuni. We had a lovely driver/guide, Carmelo – the most enthusiastic person ever, though he only spoke Spanish. (Every so often: “YAAAAY!” or “Llamaaaa!” whenever we saw a flock.) As is required, we traveled in a convoy – two other trucks (four Americans, four Australians), as well as a few trucks (mainly rowdy Israelis) from other tour groups.

Our first day, we visited Quebrada de Palala, an area full of red pointy, needly geological formations; El Sillar, another valley of the moon; Valle del Diablo, an area impassible in winter due to heavy winds and blowing sand (of which we still got plenty, in summer); and the village of San Pablo de Lípez, a village of 150…except we maybe saw three people and a bunch of abandoned-looking houses with broken windows. Turns out they’re tending to their llama flocks. Oh yeah, llamas – we saw pleeeeeenty of them. And ate some llama tamales for lunch too. Continue reading →

Feb 25, 2012

Chile

Irony

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

I’ve had minimal problems with weather in the last few weeks – I’ve been lucky. You’d think that I’d be fine in the driest desert in the world. Well, turns out that there’ve been record-breaking rains and floods here. (In the meantime, southern Chile, which usually has a lot of rain, is suffering from drought.)

The floods have subsided a little, but there are now new rivers and new bridges must be built. Also, some attractions are not viable in rain, and it still rains here occasionally – odd for a city that usually never sees a single cloud. As a result, many attractions here are inaccessible for tours – including Laguna Cejar, which I wanted to see: a lake like the Dead Sea in that you float because of the salinity. When the attractions do open, the tours fill up almost immediately. Continue reading →

No Leg Room

travel worth the slight discomfort

Tag > desert