I’m giving up (for the moment) on catching up, as it appears we have another day or two of heavy-duty traveling ahead of us.  It’s frustrating to me not to have time to write – I’m totally unused to traveling on someone else’s schedule, and we’re busy from dawn to dusk on most days.  I [...]

Today was a travel day, so not much in the way of sightseeing.  I did, however, get the opportunity to try an Asian delicacy which I skipped in Vietnam and have regretted ever since: (Background: when I was traveling in Vietnam, my guide took me home to see his family’s lychee farm, and they slaughtered [...]

Yesterday we went to the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, also in northwestern China.  These caves were carved out of sandstone by Buddhist monks and decorated with the most amazing murals, frescoes, bas-relief, statues, and tile over the course of about 1000 years, funded by offerings from merchants traveling the Silk Road.  They are amazing. Up [...]

I somehow got behindhand a few days ago due to the breakneck pace of our travels (we’ve now done something like three cities in four days – no way to travel!), and some things have gotten scrambled in my head, but I’ll do my best to catch up. After the caves, we went to a [...]

We flew into Dunhuang this morning, after leaving the hotel at a thoroughly ungodly hour.  We dropped our bags off at the hotel and relaxed for a few hours before lunch, then went out to the singing dunes (which reputedly make a humming noise when the wind blows, i.e. most of the time).  There we [...]