The Taklamakan Desert: the Dunhuang Dunes and the 500 Buddhist Caves of Mogao.

Dunhuang. The name doesn’t ring a bell for most people – but it should! Not to worry, for we’re going to fix that right here, right now – as it’s next on the travel itinerary of our China-2024 trip…

So, Dunhuang. It’s a small city built around an oasis and surrounded by the rocky landscapes of the Taklamakan Desert (here). Once a major hub on the Silk Road, it’s a truly ancient place (being founded possibly as far back as 2000BC!). But let’s not get too deep into its history: we’re not historians – just meditative tourists here to take in the exceptional views (and share them with you photographically too:)…

There’s definitely plenty to see here. First and foremost: one of the world’s largest deserts, the Taklamakan, which the city’s situated next to and which features some impressive dunes:

Where the desert meets civilization, you get some really unusual, contrasting sights:

Read on…

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Chaka Salt Lake: plenty photos to take!

After what we could call our lake-tourism warm-up (Qinghai Lake) the day before, it was time for the first significant stop on our big-loop route around inner China – Chaka Salt Lake.

It’s not the largest salt lake in the world, with an area of “only” about 100km² – which is around a hundred times smaller than, for example, Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni (~10,000km²). However, it has its own unique charm: the Chinese have turned this “simple salt lake” into a major tourist attraction (fancy that?!), where you can easily spend an entire day (in the right season). The secret is simple: various installations have been set up across a significant portion of the lake that are practically begging to be photographed and shared on Instagram TikTok. These installations are a huge hit especially with girls – who bring bright (most often red) outfits specially for the occasion:

The photo installations here are plentiful and incredibly diverse:

Read on…

The ATOM Museum: the arms race, nuclear power plants, uranium and plutonium!

At the weekend, I visited the highly recommended ATOM Museum at the VDNKh exhibition complex in northern Moscow. And I can report that it’s an absolute delight! Simply must-visit for the whole family – if you find yourself in the Russian capital, that is…

In the entrance hall – straight down to business: a scale model of… can you guess which element?*

From the beginning of the nuclear arms race through to the modern-day achievements of Russia’s (peaceful) nuclear-energy industry – there’s a lot covered here (and in great detail). The main downside: no history of the early research (Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and all that). But everything else is well-organized and informative.

In we go – and downward: to the minus-third floor…

Read on…

China-2024: Qinghai Lake and further West…

The first leg of our journey through China had come to an end. So far – so good amazing. As per, we were in “tourism till you drop” mode (up early, see and do and/or travel as much as possible, never taking it easy…) – just the way we like it. Yet no one was too concerned about the 3000+ kilometers of traveling by coach that lie ahead; after all – together with those thousands of kilometers would come shed-loads of walking-sightseeing-marveling-extraordinaire. And anyway – dwelling on the great distances ahead would only have been a distraction; much better to dive headfirst into a new adventure without overthinking it or wasting brainpower on unnecessary emotions. Just “get it done”, as they say. And that’s just what we did…

The long route ahead of us was somewhat unclear: most of the online information was only in Chinese, our driver didn’t speak any other languages, and my Chinese wife – visiting the region for the first time – also couldn’t understand much. And to top things off – it turned out that even many Chinese sources were way slightly off.

But before heading west, let me tell you a bit about the city of Xining – the start and end point of our big loop through deserts, mountain landscapes, and salt lakes.

Xining is the administrative center of Qinghai – not the most industrially developed or densely populated province: essentially a “provincial” province ). However, in China, you should always multiply everything by ten: the capital of China’s third-sparsest province still has a population of 2.5 million! Here are some views out of my hotel window:

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The best tourist village in the world? It’s here: Zhagana!

Onward on our journey through inner China, we left Sichuan and briefly entered Gansu Province to marvel at the mountain village of Zhagana (扎尕那 – pronounced Chagana). It’s a village surrounded by breathtaking landscapes: nestled deep in the mountains at an altitude of over 3000 meters, its name translates from the Tibetan for “Stone Box”, which fits perfectly:

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The First Bend of the Yellow River.

Next on our China-2024 travel itinerary was the must-visit First Bend of the Yellow River. Different sources refer to this location by different names, and other spots along the river are also called something similar. While not the most picturesque, it’s still one of the great Chinese rivers, and also a sacred place for the Chinese people; therefore – we just had to take a look. And in the end it turned out to be far from boring:

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Songzhou: everyday street-life during a stop impromptu.

Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong were just the beginning of our journey through China. We’d big plans for the following two weeks, the batteries in our cameras and drones were fully charged, and all of us were at the top end of the motivation scale. Thus, onward!…

They say the journey’s just as good as the destination. Well I agree with “them” (whoever that may be). Accordingly, en route – as we always do – we planned to stop off at places that look interesting; for example – Songzhou Ancient City, here ->

Read on: Songzhou: everyday street-life during a stop impromptu.