Silk 6: Lilly

I got scared just now cause I thought the post of before the trip hadn't gone up after I spent so much time on it.  It's there though in case nobody noticed it.

September 22, 2011

I woke up in the desert somewhere, the moon shining over the train; then again when the sun rose, was was beautiful even through the filthy train windows; then again a short while later when the sun shone straight into my eyes with full smog free force telling me that was the last time I would be waking up that morning.  That and the sound of babbling that filled the entire car.



















After a nice conversation with a red haired Dutch lady the train reached Liuyuan, two hours by bus still from Dun Huang.

And so we met our next guide, Lilly.  I was writing on thus bus for this part and I am so very surprised I can even vaguely read what I wrote.  The road from Liuyuan to Dun huang is possibly the worst I have ever been on, so bumpy.

I will try to put up a video so you can see how bumpy the entire two hour drive was.  If it doesn't work then sorry.

"Over two hours to Dun Huang, no good toilets on the way, but if you have an emergency don't worry-girls go that way, boys go that way, just don't get confused what side of the road you go to-we will answer the call of nature behind the bushes."  -Lilly.
(Note: Desert=No bushes)

Now, with this video I would like to point out that the roads are paved, however this is also why they are this bumpy.  Because of seasonal expansion and contraction of the roads they are now super uneven and bumpy, and really can't be fixed.
The scenery from the bus window is something like Mad Max:Road Warrior.  On the train I half expected to see Xena, or at lest the Loulan Beauty mummy riding a horse over the desert, trilling and swinging a sword and Chakram.

Another change of plans-today is a day of rest and exploration.  Dunhuang is a city of 180,000-so genuinely small.  it was nice being able to cross the street without fear of instant death.
At night we stumbled upon some odd child festival and talent show thing where we weren't really sure what was happening and all the acts were kinda merp.

Dunhuang has a night market-really only a street length but still interesting.  We tried to call it an early night but we stayed out rather late for having to wake up at 5 the next morning.