After taking the overnight train we arrived in Dunhuang where we visited the Mogao Grottos. These caves contain one of the greatest collections of Buddhist art in the world. The traditional date ascribed to the founding of the first cave is 366 AD. At its height, the site housed 18 monasteries, over 1400 monks and nuns, and innumerable artists, translators and caligraphers. The art, carvings, and statues in the caves were amazing. Several of the Buddahs were immense. The caves were carved out of the side of the hills and then the walls were painted and the carvings were made inside the caves. There were huge seated Buddah statues, some reclining Buddahs and other icons of the Buddhist religion. In many of the caves, the colors were still quite brilliant, especially considering how old everything was. One of the reasons for this is that when the silk trade collapsed, the area was abandoned and forgotten. It was not discovered and opened until the 20th century. Along with the various art and statues, the library there contained priceless ancient manuscripts. It is a real treasure!
After we visited the caves we went out to Crescent Lake. With a good imagination one could think he were in an old movie with a desert oasis. The lake (more like a pond) is located among huge sand dunes. If you ignore the blatant commercialism you can almost feel like you are crossing the desert on a camel. So of course, we had to ride a camel out across the dunes to the lake. Sorry the pictures are so small. I got them off the website of one of the other teachers since we didn't take pictures of ourselves. They didn't transfer very well. But we had great fun as we rode across the sand. 
The next day we flew to Xi'an, the home of the famous terra cotta warriiors. They live up to their reputation and more. Here is a picture of one of the most unique warriors. He even smiled as I took the picture.
One of the most amazing things I thought as I looked over the vast array of soldiers, was that not only is the expression on the face of each soldier unique, but that they were all destroyed and have had to be put back together piece by piece. They are an awesome sight.
While in Xi'an we also walked along the city wall. It makes a complete circle around what was the old city--about 9 miles around. It was built about 1370 and has been restored to almost pristine perfection. We spent about an hour walking around on the top of the wall, looking out over the city, (difficult to do because of the smog), and marveling at the workmanship that went into something like that.
In the evening we went to a dumpling dinner and show. The dumplings were interesting and rather tasty, but we've had others that we liked better. However, the show made up for what was lacking in the dinner. It was an amazing display of song, dance and acrobatics from the time of the Tang Dynasty--600-900 AD. We literally had front row seats so were able to really enjoy ourselves.
Dumplings and dessert were artistically displayed.
1 comment:
Looks like way too much fun. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
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