Things to do in

Dunhuang

At 8 am, your guide will meet you in the hotel lobby. Then you will take 1.5-hour ride to Jade Gate Pass, Yumenguan in Chinese. Yang Pass and Jade Gate Pass were 2 important passes near Dunhuang in the past. You still can view the ruin of the big pass that is situated near a pool in the middle of Gobi Desert. Afterwards you will head to Great Wall Ruin that was built in Han Dynasty about 2000 years ago. It is very impressive to see the wonder extending from inland China to here then to Lop Nur. Then you will continue driving 1.5 hours to Ghost City that is Yardan land form national park close to Lop Nur, and it is the key route of the ancient Silk Road from Dunhuang to Lop Nur. There are many different clay formation that was created by the wind. You will hear the horrified sounds from the clay in the windy day, sounds lile ghosts yelling, hence it was named Ghost City here. Lunch is included at a local restaurant. Afterwards you will be transferred back you hotel where the busy day concludes.

At 8:30, your guide will pick you up from the lobby of your Dunhuang hotel and transfer you to the Visitor Center at Mogao Grottoes, an UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, where you will watch two documentaries about the caves and the Silk Road. Afterwards, a professional cave guide will lead you to explore 7 to 9 of the caves closely. You will be astonished by the well-preserved frescoes and statues in the caves from the 4th century. The caves were built by monks with donated funds and elaborately painted to serve as shrines and for meditation and enlightenment. Those paintings are also teaching tools to inform those illiterate about Buddhist beliefs and stories. The primary caves were sponsored by patrons of important clergies, local ruling elites, foreign dignitaries, and Chinese emperors. Some of the caves might have been funded by merchants, military officers, and local residents. At 15:30, you will be transferred to the Singing Sand Dunes and Crescent Moon Spring. This magical spring is a crescent-shaped oasis in the Gobi Desert that is slowing shrinking due to climate change. After the lake visit, you will be transferred back to your hotel in Dunhuang where this wonderful private day trip concludes.