If you look in the picture above, in the background are the dunes, and now you see why they call it a mountain. Climbing a sand mountain is not easy, and I would not recommend it unless you had a good view at the top. Fortunately, that's just what we had! The picture below shows just how high we had to climb. The road at the top of the picture is the same from the picture above. 
Once we reached the top of the dune, we had to sit and rest for a while. Mostly, though, we had to empty out our shoes.
From the top of MingSha Shan, Crescent Lake looks like a sliver of water in the huge desert. You can see the "lake" in the picture below. Those little dots are people. At one time, the lake was bigger and the lake was a popular oasis for brave travelers through the Gobi Desert.
Thankfully, we didn't have to climb all the way down thanks to sand-tubing! 
Racing down the steep dunes is quite an experience. Sand stings your skin as you zoom down, and it's hard not to end up with a mouth full of sand. 
The next day we visited the famous Mogao Caves. The caves are important Buddhist relics. The discovery of several ancient texts in the caves was one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Due to the natural deterioration that occurs from sand, heat, and wind in Dunhuang, each cave is locked. However, visitors can join tours and visit a few caves.
Because of the need to preserve these caves, photography is not allowed. The picture above is houses the largest cave that contains an extremely large Buddha. If you squint at the picture below, you can see Darbie and I on the top row. Each doorway is an entrance to a different cave. The caves have vastly different murals that depict Buddhist art from several different centuries. 
Currently, many scholars are working at electronically capturing each cave so that they can be accessed over the internet. Unfortunately, this also means that the caves could be shut forever. After visiting the caves, we craved more adventure so we signed up for an overnight camel ride through the desert. We departed from a tiny local cafe to the house of our guide. It was interesting being inside his house. It was very bare, but they still managed to have it feel like a home. Little kids were running around helping their father round up the camels. We were called outside and met our companions.
Make no mistake about it, camels are not pretty. We loaded up and began our trek through the desert.
Darbie is the second from the right, and Jimbo and Kendall are first and second from the left. We rode for about two hours before reaching our campsite for the night. We decided to climb the dunes around us to see the sunset, but once we reached the top we saw a frightening sight. 
SANDSTORM!! It slowly moved its way toward us and before we knew it, we were engulfed in strong winds and sand. It finally settled down, and we were able to make our way back to the campsite for the night. Our tour guide had set up our very small tents, and was beginning our dinner of instant noodles. The moon rose from behind the dunes, and the stars have never been so bright. The tour guide built us a fire and sang us songs as he offered us baijiu. Sleeping was not easy (mostly due to Jimbo's snoring), but the morning finally came. 
We got to watch a beautiful sunrise as we ate our breakfast. The second day turned out to be a little clearer and we got some beautiful shots of the dunes. 
Darbie also shot the video below. Riding a camel is not always comfortable on the rear, and you can get the drift from the bounciness of the video.After the camel ride, we were sore and dirty. So we went back to our awesome hotel, and relaxed. The picture below is taken from the rooftop bar. You can see the unique architecture and how close it was to the dunes.
It was finally time to leave Dunhuang, but not China quite yet. We stopped in Beijing for a couple of days and were able to see the completed Olympic preparations. 
Above, Darbie and Jimbo stand in front of the famous Watercube. The Olympic area was abuzz with excitement and activity as you can tell from the following video.We were also able to visit a very unique area of Beijing. After getting lost for a while, we found an artsy neighborhood. The art was very modern, and a stark contrast from the Communist China of old. A graffiti wall was the entrance to the campus.
There was a lot of interesting art, some of it very critical of the government. It was refreshing to see that, indeed, there is personal expression in China after all. Marilyn Monroe even made an appearance (twice).
Above, is from a brilliant exhibit of replica terracotta warriors with colorful designs. As you can see, Marilyn Monroe is painted here. After a brief visit in Beijing, we loaded the plane and left China. I don't think we'll ever forget many of the things we saw and experienced here. There is no doubt that we came away from this trip changed people, for the better. China will always have a soft spot in our heart because of it.
Thanks for reading,
DB & KM
