Ease the Soul in Dunhuang
By Peng CuilinTranslated by Song Xueling
The road we are driving on has been toasted by the sun,Soft and melting.Surrounded by the horizons, The sky is higher than ever.
Without ashes and pollutions, The true color of the sky is reflected by the sunshine.It’s sky blue all the way,Kind of 100% blue with 40% of red blue.
There is no cloud, none.All I can see is my tiny shadow.Everything is exposed under the sun, naked.Yellow sands, black stones, and sea backthern.
This is the Gobi desert.Dry.From the ground to the sky.
A line of black dots is flowing on the horizon, One after another, like a team of camels.Those dots are special houses, where people dry their grapes.Yangguan grapes have been well known for decades.Water is getting scarcer, so are the grapes.No wonder some of the houses are empty.
Like it or not,Water has always been the dominator.
Fragmented by sandstorm and flowing water,Yadan is now just a huge pile of soil lumps, in the Gobi desert.Here you can find desert roses or fengling stones.Of course, if you have time, you can try your luck.If not, you can still buy them from the roadside stalls.Local people picked them up from the far desert.Only costs ten to twenty yuan, perfect for a souvenirIn the south, where plants and water are abundant,Hardly any stones as strong and desolate as these.On the surface, smooth yet rugged.Deep inside, all the stubbornness.
After countless years and months of polish by the sandstorms,A fengling stone is born.The second I’m holding it, Through my skin,Billion of years of time passing me by, What a wonderful feelings.
Crescent Spring is also short of water supply.Anxious people built a reservoir by the spring. What was dry is now moistened, creating an area of open water.The shape of the spring is no longer crescent.
This kind of supplement, regardless good or not,Without any solution, in ten or twenty years, The Crescent Spring will be dry out.The scientists said so.
The sun flashes a dazzling light, mirroring from a slate.Blocking my vision, 500 meters away, is the Echoing-sand Mountain.Inside a shady long corridor, the afternoon wind blows so softly.The red flowers and green plants are like the ones in southern China. The only different is the consistent background: blue top and yellow bottom,Occasionally appearing between the windows of the outer corridor. The illusion made me desire to stay longer and longer.Time has passed by so ruthlessly,It’s already 3pm.That’s how I missed the Dunhuang fresco.
Travel tipsTransportation:
1, Dunhuang train Station to the city center: 3 yuan / person if by bus, taking a taxi is cheap too.
2, Crescent Spring: about 5 kilometers away from Dunhuang city center. There are 3 public bus routes, only 1 yuan / person
3, The Mogao Grottoes: about 28 kilometers away from Dunhuang city. If taking bus on the East Bridge (opposite to the Dunhuang Hotel), costs 8 yuan / person, takes about 30 minutes.
4, Yadan: 180 kilometers away from Dunhuang city center, 400 yuan to rent a car.Cuisines:
1, Dunhuang donkey yellow noodles: The authentic Tatsu restaurant is hidden in a deep alley on Shazhou Road. At the entrance of the alley, there is a market and the Camel Bell hotel. You can find this kind of noodle at many other places, but this one is really delicious, often has to wait for seats.
2, Dunhuang apricot water, saozi noodle, broth noodle, bubble balm, lam rice noodle; a variety of delicious sweet melons and fruits: Liguang apricot, Liguang peach, Ming Shan jujube, Yang Guan grapes, perfume pears, and Dunhuang melon.
3, Lanzhou meat: Yunfeng meat, Tangwang meat; Jiayuguan barbecue; Ma lamb meat, Ma Chinese sheep neck is also famous, but not after 6:00pm;
Accommodation: Dunhuang Crescent Spring Mountain Youth Hotel charges 30 yuan / person. Manager Zhang Tel: 13893763029 0938-3882411 address: No.21 MingShan Road, Dunhuang City. Although far from the city center, it’s quite close to the Mingsha Mountain. The meals in the hotel are very good as well. Strongly recommend to try the Dunhuang melons, very sweet.
中文版本详见http://www.ctrip.com/community/itinerarywri/1202255.html
(鸣沙山外)
(雅丹广袤的地界里看见落日)
(黑戈壁)
