12 Days: Day 7

Day 7: September 23: Camels, Caves, Cameras

Today we camelled.                     This is the gateway to the desert.

We woke up at 5, dressed warmly and prettied ourselves up for the camels.  The bus dropped us at a gate surrounded by trees, our surroundings still black with night.
i found myself mildly confused, we weren't at the desert.  I couldn't see any sand at all.
Finally the gate opened on nothing.  Beyond the flood lights and the camel parking lot there were the barely visible silhouettes of black hills and all the stars in the sky.  The cement ended and the miles upon miles of sand begun.  The Taklamakan Desert...I think.

We got through the chaos of the camel yard and lumbered off into the darkness.  The camel people pointed at our designated camels, gave no explanation and left us.
Not being able to see anything but rough silhouettes all I really knew was the rocking of the Bactrian, and the fact that my saddle was leaning to the side, and the occasional cry of Danielle's unhappy camel.
At the viewing dune we parked our camels and started climbing.  The soft sand and the lack of light made climbing difficult.  Several times I considered sitting down and securing a plot of sand halfway up the dune, but eventually I made it to the top with only a minor asthma attack.  An example of when it is easier to walk in somebody else's footsteps: climbing a sand dune.
It was a long wait for the sun to rise.  Some Chinese people even started yelling for the sun to come faster, but of course that did absolutely nothing.  When it did finally peek over the dunes it was beautiful, but without the protective layer of smog we couldn't stare for too long and still keep our sight.
When the sun came up it also showed us where the desert abruptly ended and became the Dunhuang Oasis.

The older people that climbed the dune must have been rather harty-even using the ladder it was a hell of a climb.  I was nothing but impressed at the old silver hair at the top.  I didn't know how they were going to get down though.
I chose the sleds.
 I pushed my sand sled faster and faster then realized my folly whenI started veering toward the stack of bamboo sand sleds at the bottom of the slope.  I started to turn to dodge and nearly flipped but maintained control and came to a stop beside the stack.  China has much looser safety requirements.  The tube slide down the dune went so fast with trains of people holding the person behind them's legs-just a little very dangerous looking.

 At the camel parking lot we boarded our beasts and rode to the Cresent Moon Oasis where a buddhist temple was built, destroyed in the cultural revolution, then rebuilt as a series of gift shops and restrooms.  There we had a breakfast picnic on the dune before exploring the small oasis, a natural wonder.  Its a lake in the desert though I think now it is shrinking.

After crawling out of the desert and emptying our shoes to return the sand to its home we took off to the Mogao Caves.

I will finish this post in a little bit I have decided, but before the internet goes down again I will post this part.