Gobi Desert Camel Caravan

Day 6: Dunhuang (overnight stay in the Gobi Desert)

I decided to dedicate an entire post to our camel ride into the Gobi Desert, where we stayed overnight in tents, surrounded by sleepy sand dunes and covered by another amazing blanket of stars. We actually didn't plan on taking this tour at all, it was only when we stumbled into some random Western hostel where we discovered that it was even possible... for just 300RMB per person! Camel, food, tent, and quirky guide all included. :)

It was amazing. Even though we weren't deep inside the Gobi, we were far enough to be alone with nature... and once the silence hits you... it's easy to feel crushingly small. I couldn't stop staring at the starscape (yes I just made that up). I saw quite a few shooting stars, even satellites! If the light is blinking steadily, it's a plane. If it's not blinking and is chugging through the sky, it's a satellite. If the light darts across the sky and then disappears, it's a shooting star. Planets can be brighter than stars. If you strain your eyes too much when you're staring at the stars you can feel dizzy. And that you should have gotten a higher prescription for your glasses. Gene didn't bring his iPad on this trip, otherwise we could have used the Starwalk application, but it was easy to see how ancient people could trace figures in the sky. I saw Godzilla, giant ice cream cone, Pikachu... :)

We were invited to rest in Master Li's (李師傅) home while he was prepping the camels.

I'm guessing a typical home in the Gansu countryside. It was simple, clean, and cozy!

Off I go, on George the Camel! :D

First passing through the outskirts of Dunhuang, where we were surrounded by fields of corn and cotton.

We reached the periphery of the desert, which was a graveyard.

These people were buried under conical pyramid-like markers on very flat land. I thought mountains would have been preferable for fengshui reasons, but maybe they don't believe in it here? Almost all of these pyramids were neatly lined with brick, which was definitely the material of choice. If a visitor came then they'd leave a white strip of paper on the grave, weighted down by a stone. The ground was littered with paper. Each grave had their own plot of land, which were quite large at ~50m x 75m. There's more than enough land to go around here, at least the dry useless kind.

After passing through the graveyard (which wasn't scary in the daylight), we started climbing the sand dunes. The camels were very well-behaved and they smelled neutral too! I didn't stick my nose into their fur, but I didn't get any stinky whiffs at all unless they were pooping/peeing... But you will see later that their poop is actually quite useful! Don't jump to conclusions, just keep on reading!

Oh sweet Archibald, Gene's grey and balding camel. :)

You see the rod through his nose? That's how they control the animal (by pulling it).

After we got to our campsite, the four of us thought that it'd be a good idea to climb to the top of a nearby sand dune to watch the sunset. Was it as bad as climbing the Singing Sand Dunes the day before. No. It was much WORSE. I never want to climb another sand dune in my entire life.

Goodbye Sun!

At night Master Li cooked us a lip-smacking meal of ramen and (Chinese) Spam. Then we huddled around a fire made out of poop. Yes you heard me, POOP!!!!!!!!!!! O_O

Apparently camel poop is only like 1% "real poop" and 99% dried up grass (okay I'm making this statistic up but it's for my own peace of mind), which makes it perfect combustible material when you're in the desert and you have no wood in a 473248392 mile radius. It also doesn't stink, I swear. Nevermind Marge in the picture below. We had a grand ol' time, with wacky Jack Nicholson doppleganger Master Li singing us Cultural Revolution lullabies.

That night we just relaxed around our poop fire, listening to Master Li's weird tunes and trying to catch the satellites and shooting stars in the nighttime sky. It was lovely. We slept in tents after we started to get sleepy and it was actually not cold at all compared to Tianchi. Master Li found us a really cozy nook with giant sand dunes surrounding us, so it wasn't windy at all. Because we had to catch a 9:30am train to Jiayuguan the next morning, Master Li woke us up at 5:30am Beijing time, which is really like 4am Gansu time. Ughhhhhhh..... luckily we had these Commie-era army jackets to keep us warm.

Heading back to Dunhuang on our trusty camels.

This time it WAS a bit creepy passing through the graveyard. I wouldn't have been surprised if a mummy came out to say hello.

Communist Camel Cavalry, 1948.

(Or just a crazy bag lady)

Oh, I forgot to mention that we picked up a Japanese friend on this trip, Tatsu (far left).

He's travelling across the world for an entire year, budgeting out $20,000 only for ALL his expenses. He said that he saved up for 5 years to live out this dream but that he has a girlfriend at home. He hopes she will wait for him.

There's not much more to say about the overnight trip into the Gobi except that it was a worthwhile adventure. I know that I'm not Indiana Jones, but I know that when my kids grow up and get a chance to make it out there that this opportunity may not exist anymore, with the pace at which China is modernizing and all. Maybe it'll cost 3000RMB instead of 300RMB. Maybe there will be roads crossing through our campsite. Maybe they'll build a theme park. Some part of me feels like this was a very special experience because of China's rapid changes, and that what I've seen on this whole trip will end up only existing in my head and on this blog.