Zhangye (张掖), Gansu, China. Visited 11-12 August 2024
After scaling the Great Wall at Jiayuguan and reconnecting with ancestral history, I continued eastward in northern China, pretty much still along the ancient Silk Route. The next destination was Zhangye, just 220 km away.
I first visited The Great Buddha Temple (Dafo Temple), built in the year 1100, which houses a gigantic Buddha statue about 35m long. Unfortunately, the statue is partially obscured due to the restoration work in progress. The temple area includes a few buildings and halls. The woodwork was sophisticated and truly exquisite – architectural art of the Western Xia Dynasty period. They were so thoroughly wooden and not a nail in place, almost like they were carved right out of dead wood. So perfectly put together, it was exquisite to admire. It is a marvel that it has survived, though it has been restored through the years. There were tourists around, but there was ample space for all to feel at ease and in peace in this inner sanctum.
The following day, I took a public bus to the Qicaidanxia scenic area (七彩丹霞景区), about 40 km outside the city. After the entrance gate, we were driven to four different spots, on a hop-on hop-off basis, to see the rock formations. These were parched lands with only short shrubs sparsely dotting the arid landscape. Just as well, because their radiant faces must be seen in full. It reminded me of the Five-colored Beach near Buerjin. Bald and bold, the mountains were full of confidence, shining in different colors in the hot sun, sometimes in stripes, running parallel across the slopes. It was a glorious display of hues, like rainbows on rocks. Standing at the top of the mountains, and on elevated viewing platforms, the surrounding mountains appeared like waves, their tops below or ahead, the valleys deeper between them, each trying to portray their individuality. Their colors would doubtless be magnificent at sunrise and sunset, but I was not romantic enough to seize those golden moments.
Zhangye, steeped in history and shining with flying colors.
To go to next Stop, click the link below:
To start from Stop 1, click the link below:
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
The route map:
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