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SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Przyłęk (03/06/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Przyłęk (03/06/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Owińska (15/05/2022)
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After my marathon bus day yesterday (sets: Ancient Dunhuang Town, Yangguan Pass, Jade Pass, Han Dynasty Great Wall, Yadan National Park), I was glad to get a solid night’s sleep at the Unforgettable Name Hotel next to Charley Johng’s. I didn’t mind that Thursday was such a crazy travel day as I knew today would be such a light one. In terms of photography, the only thing on my agenda today is Mogao Grottoes.
So I started my very sunny Friday morning around 7:30 by slowly waking up, checking out of the hotel, then making my way over to Charley’s for one last breakfast right as they opened. Getting last second advice on how to take a bus to the grottoes, I thanked Charley for all of her wonderful recommendations (and encourage anyone reading this, should they find themselves in Dunhuang, to look her up and do the same), grabbed my camera backpack and travel bag, then slowly headed out of Dunhuang.
The bus ride to the visitor center is rather short. The admission to the grottoes is very steep (around 280 RMB/$45), which I thought was akin to donating an unborn child upon paying it. However, my boss told me the grottoes were worth it, so I took it in stride and…strode on in to the visitor center.
As far as visitor’s centers go, this was one of the nicest I’d been in for any type of park or museum anywhere in the world. Clean, airy, friendly staff, and everything in multiple languages. Most importantly for me, one of those happened to be English.
While in the visitor’s center, all folks are required to watch two informative movies about the grottoes. The first is on the history of the grottoes, and the second is about the art itself. Knowing that photography inside the caves is strictly verboten to maintain the art as well as possible for others to enjoy, I thought it would be alright to take pictures of the movie, at least. I thought wrong. I was chastised – politely – by an usher, at which point I stopped and erased the few pictures I’d taken. However, a handful of other Chinese around me weren’t nearly as courteous or thoughtful. I don’t know if they were scolded, either. (As usual, they would continue to photograph later in the caves themselves, at which point I would throttle them in my imagination.)
Returning to focus once more on the movie, I found myself mesmerized by the quality and texture of this art. The movie was well-made (with subtitles, of course) and presented. It was one of those 3D-without-being-3D type of movies that didn’t require glasses, but instead used three different projectors from behind with a curved screen. For a technological idiot such as myself, this was all very fascinating (though I had seen something like it once or twice before), and I was pleased by the whole experience.
After both short movies were over, everyone was whisked (or, if you’re in a negative sort of mood, herded through the corral towards the exit, a la IKEA) outside to awaiting small tour buses that would ferry us off to the grottoes. Three or four of these 20-25 seat buses took us all down to the grotto entrance where everyone had to queue again. I just sat, smiled, and was in no hurry.
One of the grotto employees walked up to me and another foreigner (he was a guy from the UK and seemed about as happy as a rattlesnake…though he was polite) and let us bypass all the Chinese. We – at least I; I can’t speak for the other fellow – felt like royalty. I would find this in India late last year, too, where foreigners were allowed to queue in a different line than locals, but that had an entirely different outcome.
I’ve chosen to bore you more with my personal reactions to this trip than my more typical information focusing on the places themselves. For that, I’ll say now that if you’d like detailed information on Mogao Grottoes, Google it or go to Wikipedia. I was so captivated by this place that I’d recommend you do that. The other reason I recommend you do it is because you’re likely to at least find a few pictures of the interior art from here online that we common folk aren’t allowed to photograph.
What I do want to relate here, however, is what impressed me most: how well the Chinese preserve these grottoes. And, for that, I need to give a few barebones facts about the grottoes and the history of the region.
First thing is…there are a lot of grottoes. Some large, some small, some medium-sized. Some have grottoes within grottoes. Our guide, who was very knowledgeable and informative, pleasantly answered everything I asked, though I’ve forgotten some things. I seem to recall him saying there are about a thousand caves here (though the number 700 also sticks in my head). So, that’s quite a lot.
In any given year, of those thousand caves, they open very, very few for touring. A typical tour only includes about 8-10 caves. The rest are shut off for restoration in a temperature-controlled, ventilation-controlled, everything-controlled environment for restoration and preservation. One nice thing about this is, if by some obscenely rare chance you happen to visit Dunhuang more than once, you could come here and see a completely new tour.
These caves weren’t built overnight, either. The oldest ones date from the Sui Dynasty (I think) around 600 AD and the newer ones from the Tang (no later than 907 AD). Dunhuang, as mentioned in my other posts, was the final stop on the way out of China (or into China, depending on which direction you were heading) on the Silk Road. For various reasons – the primary one being the boom in world navigation on the seas in the 1400s – the Silk Road and overland trade routes fell into disuse around the 15th century and the focus of Chinese commerce and government shifted away from the west and towards the east and port cities that would burgeon over the coming centuries. They were rediscovered (by accident, I believe, around 1900) and their importance and preservation came along…slowly, at first, then in earnest a few decades later. (Again, please go read somewhere online for accurate information regarding dates and what not.)
Since I couldn’t take pictures inside, I simply enjoyed the tour. I’ve been to quite a few of the famous art museums around the world (mostly in the US, but also the Louvre and a few others in Europe, some in Latin America) and I have to say that none of them floored me the way this place did. I really find it hard to say this is on par with the art in the Louvre, for example, but my feeling for it was. How these paintings were created, when they were created, that they still exist…the whole combination amazed me.
The few pictures here that I can present to you are, obviously, of the caves themselves and – I did ask if I was allowed to shoot – a little of the paintings around a few of the cave doors. The only thing I did against the rules after the tour when we were allowed to return (or told we could join a Chinese tour, as the Chinese tour goes to different caves for some reason) was use a tripod. I’m not sure why that’s not permitted here, but it isn’t, so I don’t have any “interesting” pictures.
Having spent the morning much, much more enjoyably than I could have hoped to imagine, I left the grottoes around twelve o’clock on one of the frequent buses back to the visitor center. From there, it was a two kilometer walk east to the train station where I had to buy a ticket for my next stop: Jiayuguan.
Since Dunhuang is a bit of a “sleepy outpost” (read: not on the bullet train line to Xinjiang), I had to take a slow, 5 hour train a short distance….less than 400 km…east to Jiayuguan. The ticket window didn’t open until 2:00, so I just relaxed, bought a ticket as soon as I could, and hung out in the waiting room. This evening’s train ride finally ended in Jiayuguan around 11 p.m. While on board, imagine this: no air conditioning (but, regular old-fashioned metal-bladed ceiling fans), open windows….and playing Chinese poker with two lesbians and a Tibetan monk.
I occasionally found myself staring out the window because I was amazed by the life I was living, and then completely lost myself in yet another phenomenal sunset: the sky had a quality like that of a bomb pop. Deep blue, with a layer of white, with a layer of red-bordering-on-crimson. The next installment will continue from pulling into Jiayuguan station this evening.
For now, I hope you enjoy the very few pictures here, along with the narrative. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments, as always.
ODC-Water
It was really cloudy and chilly this morning. It froze the water in the bird bath, but it was warming up so a little of it started to melt.
SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Owińska (15/05/2022)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Owińska (15/05/2022)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Grodzisk Wielkopolski (28/05/2023)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Owińska (15/05/2022)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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Life is a constant change
at all times visible
For example, the light moves on
Soon bright turns to dark,
Flowers will wither tomorrow
With my eyes closed
I slowly expose something with my hands
They remove what hampers its space
(the hindrance is neccessary)
And give shape to it
A solid foundation
On stable ground
SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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Zdjęcie dostępne do pobrania za darmo i udostępnienia ze wskazaniem autora/źródła.
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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Zdjęcie dostępne do pobrania za darmo i udostępnienia ze wskazaniem autora/źródła.
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Metal Gear Solid 4 - Picture of Raging Beauty
Raging Beauty is a boss in MGS4. Snake battles her after he defeats her Beast form (Raging Raven) first.
Bus No: 1708
Body: Yutong Bus Co. Ltd
Engine: Yuchai YC6L280-30
Chassis: Yutong ZK6119CRA
Suspension: Air Suspension
Transmission: M/T
Route: Cubao-San Carlos
Location: Dau Access Road, Mabalacat, Pampanga
SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Wilkowice (04/07/2021)
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Metal Gear Solid 4 - Picture of Raging Beauty
Raging Beauty is a boss in MGS4. Snake battles her after he defeats her Beast form (Raging Raven) first.
SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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Zdjęcie dostępne do pobrania za darmo i udostępnienia ze wskazaniem autora/źródła.
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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Zdjęcie dostępne do pobrania za darmo i udostępnienia ze wskazaniem autora/źródła.
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Przyłęk (03/06/2021)
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Liquid : SNAKE!!
Solid: LIQUID!!
Liquid: Fox?
Solid: Die......
:D
The Anti-Metal Gear Metal Gear weapon developed by Inner Haven.
*Statics Unknown*
A papercraft of Solid Snake hiding in a box, seen here sneaking around GameStop. Anyone who wants to try their own can find the papercraft at the link below!
SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Krzywiń (26/09/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Śrem (15/08/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Przyłęk (03/06/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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Inspecting the Ice inside an abandon mine shaft, you can see that even though this winter was one of the mildest yet, the ise was frozen to easily 18"....
Artisan Grey on White UPVC windows, Aluminium Bi Folding Doors and a classic Irish Oak Palermo Solidor Composite Door. Installed in Morley, Derbyshire.
Telephone 01158 660066. Visit Our Website www.thenottinghamwindowcompany.co.uk or pop in to our West Bridgford Showroom....
SOLID MTB Maraton - Dolsk (16/05/2021)
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SOLID MTB Maraton - Leszno (26/06/2022)
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