Meng's Travels: The Silk Road

I am back in Phoenix, after a long trip from Hong Kong to Tokyo to San Francisco and finally, to Phoenix. I have trouble sleeping on planes so this makes it extra longer. On top of that, the service on United Airlines is way below other international airlines. I can go on and on but suffice to say that I flew United only because I was able to get a good price on a round-trip ticket to Hong Kong.

I joined a group of my niece's friends in Chongqing (CQ) on the trip to the Silk Road. The Silk Road was made famous by Marco Polo, who made the journey in the 13th century. Contrary to what Western history book said, Marco Polo did not "discover" China. He was not even the first European to reach China. However, he did document his travels in a book called "The Travels of Marco Polo," which brought him great fame.

Long before the Europeans set out in ships to find a route to the East, there was a flourishing trade route on land between Europe and Asia. Chinese silk was highly desirable in Europe so a lot of the trade was in silk, hence the name the Silk Road or Silk Route. There are actually many Silk Roads, but according to our tour guide, there are 3 main ones: north, central and south. The total length is about 4,000 miles. We travelled only a short portion of it, all in Gansu province, from Lanzhou to Dunhuang. The westernmost part of the Silk Road in China is in Xinjiang province. We did not go there because there have been some violence and racial unrest in the area. You can read more about the Silk Road in this Wikipedia article: The Silk Road

Members of the tour group

A 52-seater bus for 15 people, very comfortable

We took a 1 1/2 hour flight from CQ to Lanzhou. This was a holiday weekend to celebrate the Duanwu Festival or popularly, the Dragon Boat Festival. Chinese dumplings or zongzi are eaten during this festival. You can read more about this festival: Zongzi Festival

We only stopped briefly in Lanzhou but two things are obvious when we drove into town. One, we were in a desert area and two, there are more muslim Chinese here. This was a 5-day/4-night trip, with stop in towns like Wuwei, Jiayuguan, and finally, Dunhuang. We stopped at historic sites, temples and even a portion of the Great Wall.

Dunhuang is noteworthy because it was a popular hub along the Silk Road. During its heyday, it could be compared to London or New York today. The famous historic site here is the Mogao Grottoes, where many Buddhist paintings and statues are found in almost 800 caves. Only guided tours of a small number caves are allowed. Because of the age and the artistic value of these historic sites, the government is planning to limit the time and number of visitors to the caves. For more on the Mogao Grottoes, click on this link: Mogao Grottoes