Solitude in the Sand
What an amazing day!! You don't get too many days like this in your life - the kind you never want to leave, and you will try to remember every minute on those bad days when 7th graders are going nuts!
Today was our "dunes" day - the day we planned to head out to the dunes around Dunhuang. We had a lovely, slow morning, taking a very weird shower in our "stall-less" shower and eating muffins in bed (first breakfast).After a debate about the best way to get to the dunes, we decided to rent bicycles and ride out of town to the base of the dunes (20 minute ride). We walked into Shirley's Cafe (recommended by our guidebook) and had a pleasant 2nd breakfast of eggs and toast, followed by a bike rental from the same place.
We rode out to the dunes and managed to avoid paying the 50 yuan price tag for the tourist zoo at the dunes, and rode east through the camel corral and a huge graveyard to get to a place east of the park where we could hike in peace.
What an incredible hike!! With only one bottle of water (oops!), we set out into the sea of sand which rose and fell before us. Within just a few minutes, we felt as if we had entered another world - it was just magic to hike along dunes where it was just us, the sand, and the sun.
After a few photo shoots and video documenting, we just sat for about an hour in complete silence taking in the scenery around us. The wind was strong and blew sand into every crevice in our bodies!! At the end of the afternoon, towards sunset, we reluctantly turned our bodies back toward our bikes and town, and headed down. We felt like kids in a playground as we "hiked the ridgelines" and wondered what angle the slopes were to each side of us (it had to be at least 60 degrees and over 100 feet down). It was a magic day when you feel like the beauty of God's creation can't help but be louder than your own voice.The evening ended back at Shirley's after a brisk (downright cold) bikeride back through the cemetary and the road back to town. At Shirley's, we had the most excellent fried potatoes and onions, chicken and cashews, and Dunhuang noodles - a local specialty - all washed down with really cold local beer. Mmmmm, beer....