Xinjiang - Kashgar

Kashgar, one of the great cities of the Silk Road, home of the Uighur and ancient meeting point of cultures and empires. Before its demolition, its old city was considered the best preserved Islamic city of central Asia. With the pretext of construction safety the authorities completely demolished it and built a replica to replace it, in what was seen by many locals as an attack on Uighur's cultural identity. 

When we visited, it was the new "old city" we saw. There was a clear effort from the authorities to maintain the architectural traits and the new "old city" is still a beautiful place to visit as you can see in the picture below. However, a lot of historical and cultural elements were lost. 

Xinjiang - Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves

The beautiful valley where are located the Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves, close to Kuqa.

Xinjiang - Bezelik

Bezelik caves, in the Turpan region. A small complex but in a beautiful canyon on a desert setting.

Xinjiang - Tuyuk

The village of Tuyuk in the Xinjian province in China. To get there we had to cross several checkpoints and the access to Tuyuk itself was through a checkpoint with barbed wire blocking the passage. Sadly, it felt like a place under siege. The mosque was closed by the authorities and barbed wire was installed on the walls.

Gansu - Crescent Lake - Dunhuang

You will find mentions to Dunhuang in any silk road history book. It was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. This ancient oasis city has a relaxed atmosphere and a pleasant city centre with a lively crafts market. The two main attractions in the region are the Moggao Caves and the Crescent Lake.

The cresent lake, pictured below is located south of the city centre, a few hundred meters out of the oasis.

Similar to Zhangye Daxia, it is now an attraction park. Buses packed of tourists arrive at the dozens every day. Camel caravans loaded with excited tourists (their legs equipped with gaiters to protect them from the discomfort of the sand) wonder around the dunes, young couples pose for selfies in front of the postcard-like monastery, families rent sleighs and glide down the impressive 200m high sandunes... Again, something out of a strange, quirky dream, but still uniquely beautiful and totally worth the visit.

Small note to say that the high speed train does not go to Dunhuang. You need to travel to Liuyuan South, which is northeast of Dunhuang, and catch a taxi from there to Dunhuang. Taxis are waiting at the train station.

Gansu - Jiayuguan

Jiayuguan is most famous as the west end of the Great Wall of China, built under the Ming dinasty. At this location, a fortress was built to protect and control the entrance in the Hexi corridor. This fortress is know as the Jiayuguan pass and it is composed by an inner city surrounded by 11m walls with three imposing towers. 

Gansu - Zhangye Daxia

Still in Zhangye, we embarked on the quirky visit of the Zhangye Danxia mountains. This is a geopark known for its colourful rock formations. What we were not expecting was for this to be such an popular local tourist spot, and for the visit to be more like what you would expect from a museum or an attraction park, rather than a day at the mountains. 

 

Tourist buses runned around the park transporting tourists to pre-defined viewpoints. We were only allowed to walk around in dedicated walkways. Speakers, strategically hidden in fake rocks, played classic chinese music. Cameras, indiscretely hidden in fake rocks, controlled your every movement. And all the while, huge groups of tourists competing for the best selfie spots followed a red umbrella concealing a tired looking guide underneath...

 

Don't get me wrong, it was all very well organized, and with that many tourists I don't think they could do it otherwise without risking the destruction of the landscape. And the mountains were indeed beautiful. But it did feel surreal :)

Gansu - Mati Si

After Lanzhou, we took a fast train to Zhangye, located at the heart of the Hexi corridor, which was one of the main west-east axis of the silk road. On a day trip from Zhangye we visit a series of beautiful series of buddhist temples known as Mati Si. The temples are carved on the flanc of a mountain, some of them containing several floors of caves decorated with statues and paintings.

Gansu - Bingling Si

Arrived to Beijing, we flew to Lanzhou, in the Gansu province in China. From there, we planned a day trip to Bingling temple, south west of Lanzhou. To reach Bingling, we took a taxi until the Liujiaxia reservoir lake, and then a boat from the lake shore, I am guessing somewhere close to Hexinping, although not sure where exactly: it was the taxi driver who brought us to a peer where boats were departing. 

The location of the temple complex is stunning and the temples are composed of a series of grottoes containing several statues, dispersed along a beautiful clay coloured valley.

The statues included the huge 27m Buddha pictured below.

Trekking day 8: Zaouiat Oulmzi to Tabant

Easy day walking in the beautiful Ait Bouguemez valley, crossing several villages and green cultivated fields. We reached our accomodation in Tabant by the end of the day.

cultivated fields in the ait bouguemez valley

village in the ait bouguemez valley

Trekking day 7: Zaouiat Ahansal to Zaouiat Oulmzi

Upon advice of our host at Zaouiat Ahansal, we decided to skip the section of the trek that would take us southwest of Taghia, through the planes of Tilamsine. The main issue was the difficulty to find water in Tilamsine. We had to spend 2 days in the plane and with the hot weather, we would need a lot of water but all the sources were dry, according to our host. On his advice we took the bus a few kilometers west of Zaouiat Ahansal to a small settlement called Rnes, just north of Jbel Ouzzourkl. From the turn on the road just before Rnes, a well marked path goes around the east slope of Jbel Ouzzourkl and turns back to the west towards the Tizi Las pass, joining the path that we were originally supposed to follow. 

descending from Tizi Las

After the pass, we continued down to the Ait Bouguemez valley, via Zaouiat Oulmzi. We camped already in the valley, close to Iglaouane.

first view of the ait bouguemez valley

Trekking day 6: Zaouiat Ahansal, Taghia

This rest day was dedicated to a day trip to the paradisiac valley of Taiga, south of Zaouiat Ahansal.

The Taghia valley

Taghia village

Trekking day 5: Taguertoucht to Zaouiat Ahansal

The toughest day of the hike: crossing the desert planes southwest of Ait Touss until we reached the pass close to Jbel Issif. Then down the pass and across Tizi n'Fzat to finally reach Zaouiat Ahansal after 13h of walking under 32C... 

Desert planes southwest of Ait Touss

The longer day than expected was due to a map reading error. After Ait Touss we came across a dry lake where a few people gathered around a providential well. After quenching our thirst we continued and reached a pasture were we took a wrong right. The wrong path led us to a small settlement and a dangerous encounter with a unfriendly dog. Saved by the herder who was kind enough to take us back to the good path, we finally reached the pass. 

Looking down the pass above Tissalmit and the valleys leading to Zaouiat Ahansal 

We arrived exhausted to Zaouiat Ahansal and decided to stay the night at a hostel, the Gite Oued Ahansal.

The village of Zaouiat Ahansal 

Trekking day 4: Batli to Taguertoucht

From Batli we climbed the left margin of Assif Melloul towards the south leaving the Assif Melloul canyon behind us and heading to the planes of Taguertoucht. 

Leaving the settlement of Batli and, with it, the Assif Melloul canyon

Arriving to Taguertoucht

Trekking day 3: Toussefsedi to Batli part 2

The second day passed in the Assif Melloul canyon saw us endlessly crossing the river from shore to shore until we reached the few houses that constitute the settlement called Batli, where we camped for the night.

River crossings in the Melloul canyon

Trekking day 2: Toussefsedi to Batli part 1

We had expected to reach Batli by the end of this day. But walking deeper and deeper into the Melloul canyon, with the rugged red walls leaning on us menacingly, we soon realized we underestimated the number of river crossings and didn't choose the best strategy for our shoes... our water shoes were too thin to walk on land and we lost too much time swapping shoes... 

Assif Melloul Canyon

We were therefore obliged to camp a little more than halfway to Batli, on a small beach that adorned a wide turn of the Melloul.

Camping in the canyon

Trekking day 1: Ilmilchil to Toussefsedi

First day, from Ilmilchil to Toussefsedi. We walked along the wide green valley of the Assif Melloul, with several small villages along the way.

The Assif Melloul valley, close to Ilmilchil

At the village called Ou El Ghazi, perched on a small hill, we stopped for lunch. From Ou El Ghazi, the Assif Melloul valley gets narrower and villages get scarce. 

The village of Ou El Ghazi

The afternoon was made of several river crossings until we reached the settlement of Toussefsedi, with a few houses perched on a rocky hill. We set our tent.