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Brief Introduction of Xian

10/04/2010 at 7:57 am | Posted in Brief Introduction of Xian | Leave a comment

Xi’an is one of the most important cities in China’s history and nowadays. It was the first Chinese city to open up its doors to the Ancient world during the Tang dynasty when Xian blossomed as the first and important stop on the Silk Road.?Over a period of more than 2000 years, Xian was the capital for eleven dynasties. Along with Rome and Constantinople, this city was a world leader in culture and trade and played a vital role in bridging the gap between east and west. Many of the sites to visit are outside Xian and the surrounding countryside offers a treasure trove of historical and religious relics. Being a major tourist destination and historical city, today Xian is also an important industrial and manufacturing center. Despite the incredible history that Xian carries, it is a modern and prosperous area.

Dunhuang travel map

10/04/2010 at 7:55 am | Posted in Dunhuang travel map | Leave a comment

Dunhuang best place to visit

10/04/2010 at 7:54 am | Posted in Dunhuang best place to visit | Leave a comment

The thousands of buddish caves—- Mogao Caves

The Mogao Grottoes located at 25km southeast of Dunhuang, at the edge of the Gobi desert in north-west China, are filled with one of the most extensive and exquisite collections of Buddhist paintings and sculptures in the world. Every surface of the walls and ceilings is covered with painted clay stucco, some 45,000 square metres in all: graceful acrobats of the sky scatter flowers and garlands, while dancers and musicians celebrate the beauties of the Buddhist Pure Lands; row upon row of miniature images of the Buddha, subtly varied in coloring or dress, adorn virtually every cave, and give the site its popular name of the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. The Dunhuang caves remain one of the most perfectly preserved of the world’s great religious sanctuaries.

Yangguan

Yangguan lies 75 kilometres southwest of Dunhuang but consists of only the ruins of a high beacon tower. It’s named Yangguan because it borders the southern part of Yumenguan Pass.

The Hecang Fortress

Hidden in the Gobi Desert twenty kilometers from Yumenguan Pass at the west, was originally the important quartermaster depot.

Yumenguan

Yumenguan lies about 80 kilometres northwest of Dunhuang. Its name came from the fact that jade from Hotan in Xinjiang entered Central China through this pass

The moon lake and Dunes of the Mingsha shan

It is 6 kilometers (3.73 miles) south of the center of Dunhuang, near the Dunes of Singing Sands, and is said to be the point where the oasis meets the desert. Crescent Moon Lake is a natural spring fed pond measuring about 240 meters from east to west, and 50 meters from north to south. Today it has an average depth of about 2.4 meters, although in past times all of the dimensions of the lake were larger. In all of the years the desert has never filled up the lake. This was maybe due to the pattern of the winds, or maybe magic.
Mingshashan is the good place take photos of the desert scenery. The dune, surrounded by rolling ridges and precipitous cliffs, reaches a relative height of 250 meters. You can get to the top by riding camels, bicycles or hire a taxi. A wonderful view across the rolling desert sands towards the oasis comes to your sight after reach the top. When sliding down along the sands, it will make sound of “rumbling sands” or the sound of thunder or a drum-roll as the wind sweeps across the sands. Dunhuang John’s café is in the yard of Feitian hotel, opposite the bus station of Dunhuang.

Brief Introduction of Dunhuang

10/04/2010 at 7:52 am | Posted in Brief Introduction of Dunhuang | Leave a comment

Dunhuang now is became very tourists city, it is well know for all the world,it is lay at a crucial junction of the Silk Road,west of Gansu province, from dunhuang west to xinjiang, east to Jiayuguan ,south to Golmud to Tibet,in the ancient braid of caravan trails stretching for more than 7,500 kilometers from China to the Mediterranean, which served as a business way not just for merchandise, but also for the ideas —-the religious, cultural and artistic. By the 4th century AD, the Silk Road had brought Dunhuang became a growing Buddhist community. 20 kilometers to its south-east, at the edge of the MingshaShan or Dunes of the Singing Sands, lay a river bed bordered by a long cliff. It was here, in the year 366 AD, that a local monk set about carving out a cave for solitary meditation. Over the next thousand years, hundreds of similar caves were cut into the same rock face – to become not bare monastic cells but richly endowed and adorned shrines. The site began to decline in the 12th century, and slipped into virtual obscurity until the early years of the 20th century.

Turpan travel map

10/04/2010 at 7:43 am | Posted in Turpan travel map | Leave a comment

Turpan best place to visit

10/04/2010 at 7:42 am | Posted in Turpan best place to visit | Leave a comment

The ruin of Jiaohe(west part)

The Ancient City of Jiaohe stands isolated on a 30-meter-high plateau in the Ya’ernaizi Valley, 13 kilometers east of Turpan. The city is situated on an island between two rivers and was initially built about 2000 years ago and for a long period of time. The city, situated along the silk road, was of great military significance and played a pivotal role in the economic development of Western and Eastern countries. Since its decline, what was left of the city has steadily deteriorated. At present, natural forces threaten the site erosion by gale force winds which blow dust and sand against the walls and fill the streets and courtyards with sand. Erosion of the cliffs by floodwater, threatening them with collapse, is the most serious and urgent threat to the ruins.
Today, this is a well preserved site and a more atmospheric spot to wander and imagine times gone by then the city at Gaochang. Well preserved temples, pagodas and streets are dotted around. A Buddhist monastery marks the center of the city and there are some ancient filled wells here too. The crumbling sand colored walls of the buildings reflect the color of the desert and the surrounding sand dunes. Allow at least one hour to explore this intriguing city.

The Ancient Karez wells(west part)

The Ancient Karez system is comprised of a series of wells and linking underground channels that uses gravity to bring ground water to the surface, usually far from the source. In Turpan city there are more than 470 systems, totaling over 1,600 kilometers of tunnels. It is considered as one of the three great projects in China with the other two being the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. The history of Karez can be traced back to the Han dynasty. Most of karezes existing today in the Turpan were built in the Qing dynasty.

The Aiding Lake

Located approximately 40 kilometers southeast of Turpan, with the beautiful wilderness area and the peculiar geographical surroundings, the Aydingkol Lake attracts many foreign and local tourists to see the splendid vivid reds, greens, yellows and purples presented by the many plants that thrive here such as reeds, tamarisks and the many other shrubs and plants. There are also several Han Dynasty beacon towers overlooking this beautiful scene.
This lake, now only a salt puddle, millions of years ago was a fresh water lake a thousand times larger than it is today. The lake’s continental basin at 154.33 meters, is the second deepest below sea level after the Dead Sea at 391 meters.

The Flaming Mountaing (east of part)

The Flaming Mountains are one of the branch ranges of the Tianshan Mountains, lying in the middle of the Turpan Depression and running from east to west for about 100 kilometers with its extreme width of 10 kilometers. Its highest peak is 40 kilometers east of the city of Turpan and 831.7 meters above sea level.
Crystal movements and years of efflorescence fashion its unique geological feature. When the sun rays beat down in mid-afternoon, the red rocks on the crisscross gullies and ravines reflect and the heat is intense as if the hillsides were engulfed by tongues of fire, hence the name.

The ruin of Gaochang (east of part)

46 kilometers southeast of Turpan near the “Flaming Mountains” seats an impressive ruin of the Ancient City of Gaochang. Built in the first century B.C., it used to be a garrison town and later became a key point along the ancient Silk Road. The city was burnt down around the 14th century.
The ruins originally consisted of three parts: the inner and outer cities, and a palace complex. Nine city gates were built on cardinal points, three in the south and two in each other three directions respectively. Visitors are usually suggested to enter the best preserved one in the west to the core. The best preserved structures in the ruins are two temple/monasteries in the southwest and southeast corners of the outer city section. In the southwestern temple, the front gate, courtyard, lecture hall, main hall, and monastic dormitories are relatively intact. The southeast temple has the only preserved fresco in the ruins.

The Ancient Astana Tombs (east of part)

40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Turpan, 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the ancient city of Gaochang, this Tang-dynasty burial ground known as the “Underground Museum” attracts stream of archaeologists both at home and abroad Astana means “capital” in Uigur and Karakhoja is the name of a legendary hero of the ancient Uigur Kingdom who expelled the evils by killing a vicious dragon.
The tombs range 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) from north to south and 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from east to west. The imperial dead of Gaochang and noble officials were buried here. However, curiously, the tomb of King Gaochang has been found nowhere in the tombs.

The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves (east of part)

56 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of the Turpan, Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves contain 67 caves dating from the Northern and Southern dynasties (317 – 589) to the Yuan dynasty (1279 – 1368). In the Uigur language Bezeklik means “place where there are paintings” It used to be an important center for Buddhist worship under the Xizhou Huigu government of Gaochang Kindom, which built the royal temple of the King of Huigu at this site. The caves are well hidden and rest on a long ridge overlooking a valley where the monastery was located. Originally it is accessible via a winding pathway to the cliff top, and a steep stairway led down to the monastery 30 feet below. Among 83 numbered grottoes, about 40 of them have rich remains of murals. Some murals present clearly the figurines of the Huigu people; some showed Indian monks and portraits of Buddhas at different periods throughout history. They are briefly divided into four periods chronologically.

The Grape Valley (east of part)

Lying at the base of the western end of Flaming Mountains is a world of unique with vineyards and fruit trees – Grape Valley. The Grape Valley of the Flaming Mountains, fifteen kilometers from the city center, is a world of unique beauty, presenting a striking contrast with the hot, dry and barren outside.
Cushioned by green grass and graced with green trees, the valley is a world of green wit brooks, canals and sparkling springs; there is a poetic flavor to the idyllic beauty of the valley. Scattered everywhere in the valley are trees: mulberry, peach, apricot, apple, pomegranate, pear, fig, walnut, elm, poplar and willow; also watermelons and muskmelons, making the valley into a “garden of one hundred flowers” in spring and an “orchard of one hundred kinds of fruits” in summer. In the valley there is a reception center where dense grapevines interweave with each other and winding paths lead to secluded places with clusters of grapes within easy reach.

The Emin Minare tower(4km from the town)

The Emin Minaret (Emin Ta), just 2km east of Turpan, consisting both a mosque and a minaret tower built in 1778 by the local Muslim ruler, Emin Hoja. Also known as Sugong Tower after Emin’s Chinese name, the minaret was built in a simple Islamic style. It is circular, 44 meters in height, and 10 meters in diameter at the base. Unfortunately, the minaret is no longer open to the public in an effort to preserve the structure; however, you can view the surroundings from the roof of the mosque. As for the mosque, although it is rather bare inside, services are held every Friday and on holidays.

Brief Introduction of Turpan

10/04/2010 at 7:40 am | Posted in Brief Introduction of Turpan | Leave a comment

Turufan is the 2rd lowest places on earth,it is Oasis city in the far west of China where rain never falls and summers are scorching hot. Located 2.5 hours drive East of Urumqi in Xinjiang Province, Turpan, which has a long history, was once an important staging post on the ancient Silk Road. It is one of Xinjiang’s most fascinating cities, known for its strange landscape, wealth of places of historical interest, abundance of fruits and rich resources of ethnic culture. Many monuments bear witness to the importance of Turpan as a Silk Road city.There are 14 unites of the cultural relies, which are the protected by the country. The Flaming Mountain, the artistically built Imin Minaret, the ancient cities of Jiaohe and Gaochang, the ancient tombs of Astana, the Beziklik Thousand-Buddha Grottos and the special underground irrigation system-karez are of great value and enjoying value. Besides, the folk customs such as folk dance under grape trellises.

Lop Nur advanture ( new programs)

10/04/2010 at 7:39 am | Posted in Lop Nur advanture ( new programs) | Leave a comment

Route 1.
D1.kashgar via yarkand to hotan —hotel
D2.H otan day trip—hotel
D3.Hotan via mingfen to Qiemo(charchan) —-Hotel
D4. Qiemo(charchan) driving to Ruoqiang(charkikik) shopping food and water for Lop Nur —-Hotel
D5. Ruoqiang(charkikik) via Miran ruins to Lop Nur yadan camping
D6. Lop Nur yadan adventure –campping
D7.Driving to Loulan ruin or . Lop Nur lake (dry) camping
D8. Loulan ruin or . Lop Nur lake (dry) adventure— camping
D9 and D10 Driving to Turfan or Dunhuang end of trip.

Route 2
D1.Kashgar Via Akesu to Alaer —-hotel
D2.Alaer drive to new desert road (round 260km) arrive mazartag ruin visiting—–campping
D3. Mazartag ruin driving to Hotan , visiting local people silk factory and carpet factory—hotel
D4.A day visiting in Hotan —hotel
D5.Hotan via Mingfen to Qiemo(charchan) —-Hotel
D6. Qiemo(charchan) driving to Ruoqiang(charkikik) shopping food and water for Lop Nur —-Hotel
D7. Ruoqiang(charkikik) via Miran ruins ( need entrance fee) to Lop Nur yadan camping
D8. Lop Nur yadan adventure –campping
D9.Driving to Loulan ruin or . Lop Nur lake (dry) camping
D10. Loulan ruin or . Lop Nur lake (dry) adventure— camping
D11 and D12 driving to Turfan or Dunhuang end of trip.

John’s cafe on the silk road location map & Lhasa location map

10/04/2010 at 7:38 am | Posted in John’s cafe on the silk road location map & Lhasa location map | Leave a comment

John’s cafe on the silk road location map

John’s cafe in Lhasa location
map

Photo Album

10/04/2010 at 7:33 am | Posted in Photo Album | Leave a comment












Bayinbulue	Tibet mountain

Takalamakan desert	Tibet mountain

Lhasa	Poatala palace Lhasa

On the way to Tibet	Mt Kailashi

Tibet mountain	Muztagh Ata base camp

Mt Kailashi	Sunday Market

Go to sunday market	Guests in the local yurt

Tomb of Abakehoja	Daily market

Sunday Market	Kalakuli Lake

Takelamakan Expedition	Trekking around Muztagh Ata

Mt muztagh ata	Mt maztagh ata glacier

Mt muztagh ata glacier	Trekking in the desert

Tourists at mt Kailashi	Arrive kashgar

Arrived kashgar by car	The pamier plateau

China-pakistan board	The pamier plateau

The oil road pass through takelamakan desert	Sayram lake

Multicolored bay	Kuqe red mountain

Heavenly lake	Hanas lake

Idkah Mosque	Muzhagh ata base camp

Sunday market	The Hanoi city and The Mor Pagoda