Off-season Trip to Dunhuang on the Gansu-Qinghai Line (Part 2)

Booked a one-day tour of the western line: "Heritage City, Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Yangguan Scenic Area, Yumenguan Pass, Yadan National Geological Park (Devil City), Stargazing" The focus of this trip was Yadan Devil City and stargazing 🔭, so I wasn’t very interested in the other spots. ❌ Didn’t visit Dunhuang Heritage City ✅ Western Thousand Buddha Caves 🎫 Ticket 30 Very cost-effective. Although I’ve been to the Mogao Caves, I think there are fewer people here and the explanations are more detailed. The overall scale of the caves is smaller, allowing closer viewing of the murals. For 30 yuan, you get explanations for four caves—what more could you want? Just go for it 🤣 ✅ Chose Yangguan 🎫 Ticket 50 🚌 Shuttle 20 over Yumenguan Pass I found it average; unless you have a strong interest in history, it might feel as dull as it did to me. (Photos 9-12) ✅ Devil City 🎫 Ticket 50 🚌 Bus 70 The most anticipated part of the trip. Chasing the sunset in the no-man’s land 🌅 did not disappoint! The Yadan landforms are magnificent; it’s hard to imagine this was a freshwater lake hundreds of thousands of years ago. After entering the park, we first took a bus to the first stop, the world’s loneliest police station, took a few photos, then got back on the bus. (Photo 8) Next was the second stop, the Sphinx. The sunset was completely backlit here, making it hard to open your eyes, and photos on the phone didn’t look good. The third stop was Peacock Standing Tall, which was great for photos. You can walk in and feel the vastness of the Yadan formations. (Photo 5) We rented an off-road vehicle (798 yuan each) and got on at the third bus stop. The off-road vehicle took the desert sunset route 🏜️. The driver first took us to the West Sea Fleet (Photo 3), where you can stand and take photos. Then we went on a deep tour by off-road vehicle. We could stop anytime for photos; the driver picked several spots for us to shoot on the road, from the vehicle, and facing the sunset glow… We kept shooting until sunset, then he took us back to the visitor center. Tips: 1. Bring warm clothes to Devil City; the temperature drops sharply after sunset, and the big temperature difference can cause colds. 2. There is often no signal near Yadan Devil City. It’s a vast Gobi desert no-man’s land, so self-driving travelers should be cautious ⚠️ Stargazing Hut 🛖: On the way back, we passed a stargazing base where a guide showed us the position of the Milky Way and important stars, helped adjust phone settings, and taught us how to photograph the night sky 🌃. The base provides phone holders for star photography. I brought my own, so I didn’t have to wait and took many photos of the stars. The stargazing conditions there are excellent, with no light pollution, and you can see the stars very clearly with the naked eye.