Baku, Azerbaijan

Baku's old city with the Shirvanshah palace mosque on the left, and the flaming towers on the back.

Shakhidlar Mosque, under the shadow of the flaming towers.

Ganja, Azerbaijan

The beautiful Juma mosque and the impressive Imamzadeh complex in Azerbaijan's second city, Ganja.

Lahic - Azerbaijan

The bucolic village of Lahic, south of the Caucasus, Azerbaijan.

Laza, Azerbaijan

On our second day in Azerbaijan's Caucasus, we hiked from the village of Kuzun to the village of Laza. A GPS device is recommended since the path, although well known to locals, is not clearly marked.

The village of Laza, west of Quba. 2h30 hike from Kuzun.

Khinaliq, Azerbaijan

The Azeri village of Khinaliq, in the Caucasus. About 1h30 drive southwest of Quba.

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 :)