Dunhuang

Dunhuang

After travelling for hours towards Dunhuang, the flat, barren desert landscape suddenly gives way to lush, green cultivated fields with mountainous rolling sand dunes. The area has a certain haunting beauty, especially at night under a star-studded sky. It's not so much the desert dunes and romantic nights that attract so many tourists to Dunhuang, but the superb Buddhist art at the nearby Mogao Caves.

During the Han and Tang dynasties Dunhuang was a major point of interchange between China and the outside world C a stopping-off post for both incoming and outgoing trading caravans. Despite a surge in tourism-related development, the town still has a fairly relaxed feel to it, and it's easy to kick back here for a few days.