Entering Middle Kingdom via Jiayuguan

Distance covered - 3264km

The next day I left Dunhuang early morning via a transit minivan, which sent me to rendezvous with a bunch of tourists who were heading towards Jiayuguan. Again, I was the only foreigner on the bus. The bus sped and took around 4 hours to reach the town of Jiuquan, where we had lunch in a restaurant before splitting up according to the minivans we were assigned to.

The World's Mightiest Pass!

The Sturdy Walls

Entrance to the Jiayuguan Pass

Plaza in the pass

We headed towards the Jiayuguan Pass Scenic Area, where the majestic Jiayuguan Pass (also known as the World's Mightiest Pass 天下第一雄关) lies. The Chinese government has done an awful good work in implementing exorbitant entrance fees (no wonder the Guangdong siblings enjoyed smuggling into such places), yet, as a return you get wonderful clean 5-star toilets and wi-fi all over the area! 

The World's Mightiest Pass

The Guerrilla General's Office

Jiayuguan Pass was the most Western outpost in Ming Dynasty area of rule, which was nothing in compare with the Han's and Tang's Dynasties where they occupied up to DunHuang. Since it is only established 500 years ago, hence it is still well maintained, unlike Yang Pass and Yumen Pass. Legends stated that this pass was built with 99999 stone bricks; when the builders finished the pass, they had only used up 99998 bricks, leaving one brick behind. However, it was a felony to not use up whatever building materials supplied, they left it on the arch of one of the doors, claiming that the rampart will fall if they remove the stone. Maybe that was the reason why this pass has been guarding China's Western frontier through all the years successfully against invasion from this direction, where as the Manchurians managed to break through from the north east?

Poplar trees turning yellow

The First Beacon - From here the Great Wall of China starts

Our tour guide took us around the scenic area, from the Great Wall Museum, to the ramparts and city walls where he narrated all sorts of legends and stories surrounding this structure. It took us almost 2 hours to cover the entire fort, and by the time we were done with it, I was already exhausted. 

What's left of the beacon tower

Our next destination was The First Beacon of The Great Wall, which is like 12km apart from the Jiayuguan Pass. The great wall actually extends from the cliffs of the Taolai River, going eastwards till the East China Sea, and our next destination would be that area. There was nothing left at the beacon, except for ruins. However, there was a subterranean museum which was worth visiting. 

Underground tomb

The Taolai River Valley

In this museum, they found out an underground tomb dated to the Wei/Jin dynasty and now it is covered in glass and visitors can look upon it from above the floor through the glass floors. Other than that, there's a looking area which extends out of the cliff, where one could see the gorgeous view of the Taolai river valley. Since the looking area has glass floors too, I could only last 20 seconds before my acrophobia seized control of my senses.

Yeah, Indiana Jones style adventure!

Walking another 500 meters, one will reach the cliffs of the Taolai river, where you will reach an old deserted filming set, which was part of the famous movie New Dragon Gate Tavern (新龙门客栈). The film set was a bit dull, yet, to reach it I had to cross a plank bridge suspended with thick ropes, across the Taolai river valley. Scary indeed.

After the trip has ended, the minivan sent us off to our respective destinations; for me, I was off to my next city in mind, ZhangYe. Initially I was thinking of heading straight to Lanzhou, but since the trip would be 12 hours, and my tummy had been getting some upsets, I decided to stop in ZhangYe for a good night rest instead.