Walls and Caves

Yesterday we drove far into the Gobi Desert through miles of solar panels used to power this whole area and beyond. One highlight was seeing remains of the original Great Wall from 121 BC at China's westernmost border. An amazing complex of ruins here was followed by a tour of the extensive and unusual geological formations....a bed of gravel with thousands of enormous rock formations resembles ships floating on a vast sea...for 10 miles or more.
Today, however, was the highlight of our Dunhuang visit: the Mogao Caves. 10 years ago LA's Getty Museum recreated 2 of the caves at their center which we saw and became fascinated. These caves were hollowed out in raw cliffs between the 4th and 14th centuries by Buddhist monks and funded by wealthy Buddhist citizens and travelers to this major Silk Road crossroads. When the Silk Road trade collapsed after the 15th century, the caves were forgotten and only rediscovered in 1900 when UK's Sir Aurel Stein walked away with thousands of well-preserved scrolls including the Diamond Sutra, the world's first printed "book" dating from the year 838.

There are nearly 1000 caves and about 250 include magnificent sculptures and intricate paintings all related to Buddha while also depicting daily life, particularly in the 4th through the 8th centuries. The colors were mixed from ground lapis lazuli, jade, malachite and other precious materials (as well as solid gold inlays) and are in amazing condition. The visitor center and preservation facilities here are truly world class, but not many tourists venture from outside China.

Pictures are not allowed in the caves so we've had to rely on stock photos, but pictures can't do justice to a first-hand visit. For a brief overview of the caves, watch this short video:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&…

And so our journey ends as we make our way back to Lisbon tomorrow. Our wonderful Portuguese cat sitters send video updates daily, and it seems Jack and Rose don't miss us too much. But we'll sure be glad to see them!

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