Dun Huang to Turpan to Kurle

At Jiayuguan, dramas unfolded with three in the group needed to be ferried to the local hospital for treatment. They were suffering from a local bout of gastro. The journey to hospital included Pauline. She had an intravenous drip. She came good after that.

We spent the day visiting some very ancient places: Wei Jin Dynasty tombs and Jiayuguan Pass. These places date back are thousands of years. The military strategies of centuries gone by are incredible. Food was the traditional Chinese cuisine which was too much and too frequent.

After Jiayuguan, we boarded a soft sleeper to Dun Huang. Arrived in Dun Huang at 5.00am! The railway station is 130km from the city! Dun Huang is very much a tourist spot these days. The famous Magao Grottoes feature a thousand buddhas. Too crowded for my liking. Most of the grottoes are the same. We later took a ride out to Yang Guan Pass and the Yumen Pass.

From Dun Huang, we travelled to Turpan (Tulufan). Here, we visited Yangguan Pass and Yumen Pass. These two passes were customs out posts that controlled travellers from the west. Both passes are situated on an oasis on the Gobi desert. We ended the evening with had a dance with the minority Uygurs (prounced weegers) group. We went to the supermarket and bought $60 worth of food (filled 2 shopping trolleys) for the trip to Kurle. We knew very little of Kurle. On the map Kurle looked smaller than Turpan. We were really going rough heading to Kurle.

From Dun Huang, we headed west along highway 314 or was 314 the distance from Dun Huang to Kurle. Any the journey was very pleasant. Took 6 hours to get there. Along the way, we made a toilet stop at a soon to be opened fuel stop. The toilets were incredible clean. We saw an old couple on cooking at the side of the toilet. We spoke with them and they told us that they were employed by the prefecture to keep the toilets cleaned. We decided to break for lunch at this spot. We had bread with corned beef and vegemite. We shared our fruits with the couple and gave them a can of preserved fish.

Back in the bus, I had a quick monetary collection for the couple. The reason being, most toilets in China now charge for usage. These people are more preoccupied with collecting money from us than keeping the toilets clean. However, this elderly couple did what they were employed to do, They could have collected money for the entry to the toilets and we would have paid them. This was a nice moment for us for the day.

What a surprise when we arrived at Kurle. Isn't a hole but a bustling city buoyed by an oil mining economy. The hotel we stayed had internet hence this blog. Dinner was magnificent. A western spread of food buffet style. Steaks were done before your eyes. One of the ladies commented that it was due to the good deed we did earlier in the day at the toilet break.

We crowded around the pianist and did singalongs at the restaurant. A great time had by all.
It's now time for bed for a early start to the next town (I bet it's a huge city) of Kuqa.

If they have internet, I shall write then. Take care.