How to experience the unique cultures of Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 70 days (Stop 21 Jiayuguan)

9-10 August 2024  Jiayuguan (嘉峪关), Gansu, China

From Dunhuang, I next went to Jiayuguan, 360 km away. The high-speed train whizzed me to my destination in less than 3 hours. Godspeed to my journey!

You know The Great Wall is the mother of all walls, at 21,000 km. I have seen it near Beijing in the East. I came to see the westernmost end of the Great Wall. I am intrigued to see how it starts and ends unless it goes in a circle, which I am sure it does not. I took a taxi 10 km out of Jiayuguan City to this westernmost end of the Great Wall. A frontier fortress stood guard, complete with tall gates, walls, and towers, built around 1372 during the Ming Dynasty. It was a key point of the ancient Silk Route, where merchants from Central and West Asia would pass through. Authorities back then would cast out outcasts, including poets, ministers, and criminals, through this last gate to the desolation beyond, to be forgotten.

The next day, I visited The First Strategic Post, or The Taolai Beacon Tower, 8 km from the Fortress.  It is considered to be the first beacon tower of the Great Wall, used to monitor and signal approaching enemy movements. Regrettably, only a big pile of rocks remains. Next to it, the Taolai Canyon wound its way through the stony, arid land. In contrast, snow caps in the distance glowed visibly under the blue sky. I took time to walk on both sides of the cliffs over the Taolai Canyon.  I felt reconnected to the drumbeats of the unending war times of the past.

I relived this past again by climbing a steep part of the Great Wall about 15 km outside Jiayuguan city, the Xuanbi Great Wall (悬壁长城). At the end, I also climbed outside The Great Wall at the summit to stand on top of the mountains overlooking the expansive Gobi desert below. It was spectacular!

A day a Chinese diaspora feels like a prodigal son.

To go to the next Stop, click the link below:

How to experience the unique cultures of Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 70 days (Stop 22 Zhangye, Gansu)

To start from Stop 1, click the link below:

How to experience the unique cultures of Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 70 days (Stop 1 Urumqi)

The Stops on this Trip:

China Urumqi > Turpan > Kuerle > Kuqa > Kashgar > Kuqa > Nalati (via Duku Scenic Drive) > Kuerdening > Yining > Sailimu Lake > Yining > Urumqi > Buerjin > Kanas Lake > Hemu > China Urumqi > Kyrgyzstan Bishkek > Bokonbayevo (Issyk kul Lake) > Karakol > Kyrgyzstan Bishkek > Uzbekistan Tashkent > Tajikistan > Khujand > Panjakent (and Haft Kul/The Seven Lakes) > Iskanderkul > Dushanbe > China Urumqi > Hami > Dunhuang > Jiayuguan > Zhangye > Lanzhou > Xian