Lanzhou – Jiayuguan #4

Aye 2 weeks has passed from my last post. April been thru sooo fast goddammit!! We’re all trying to take a breather here with everything that’s going on. Im also busy with work..I wish to continue this series as I only has the pictures to keep the memories. I do blogs just so I can go back and read it someday, again.

So, from our last stop at Lanzhou we took the train to Jiayuguan. I learned to live on instant noodles like the locals. Breakfast, snacktime, second breakfast, supper, you named it. As soon as the morning comes the next day in Jiayuguan we took the suggestions from the hotel’s front desk and book a private car all in with tickets to the 3 attraction sites; Jiayuguan Hanging Wall, First Fire Tower and Jiayuguan Pass. I like starting the trip early because we only have one day.

Arriving to the first site (First Fire Tower) around 8.30am with the reception being empty is so cool to me. Then I realized the whole area arent really where I thought it was..we stood at the entrance 2km of barren land until you can actually see the Towers (what was left of it from the 15th century anyway) it’s a Fire Tower. As in, the communication beacons of forts in those times. Seeing it now doesnt tell you its significance, it looks like a random manmade ruins in the desert. The Great Wall of China which generally described to be in Beijing, extends to Gansu as the westernmost part of it. Ive never been to Beijing though. The site includes a small underground showroom and glass floored deck looking out the cliffs. Pretty cool. There’s also an area of constructed barracks similar to what it’d looked like in the past.

Glass deck

Barracks

The second site was The Hanging Wall. It was built in a way that it will not show at all from the western side. The shape seen from a distance looks like it’s hanging.

All the parks so far were vastly walkable. As an unfit person this was quite a challenge 😅 but I enjoyed the work needed to get up for the views and the feeling of accomplishment. It was nearing 1pm and we still had one last place to go, it was the grandest and the most memorable of all; the Jiayuguan Great Wall. Remember that all these Great Walls were named according to the province it were situated. All of them connected to the Great Wall of China. This realization came to me again and Im still in awe.

The size of this fort is something you should feel by being there. It was amazeballs to see the inner and outer cities and the distance through it all. To get the views above the walls you need to climb a steep path used by the horses at the time. Lol you get the picture, a path without steps so you had to clamp your feet down when you wore bad shoes like me. There were a number of tourists groups by the time we arrive at the inner city. Luckily it wasnt the tourist season..and the place is huge you won’t feel the crowd that bad. I get to try the archery booth and walk the path they say trodden by banished people. To the west, there was nothing but endless desert. It was understood at the time it was a death sentence. Now? Through the westernmost Pass, they had go kart and camel rides 😆 however you can go up the walls and use the stationary binoculars to scale how lonely the desert has always looked like.