Field notes
The journal
What we've learned walking this city — written when there's something worth saying, not on a schedule.
Gansu3 min read
Dunhuang — A Thousand Years of Buddhist Art in a Cliff
Dunhuang was where the Silk Road split around the desert, and where a millennium of travellers left the greatest surviving body of Buddhist art anywhere. It's also a town with 200-metre dunes at the end of the bus route.
Gansu2 min read
Guazhou — Melon County
Sandy soil, ferocious sun and cold nights make Guazhou's melons the best in China. It's also the last green stop before the Gobi takes over on the road to Dunhuang.
Gansu2 min read
Langmusi — Two Monasteries and a Provincial Border
Langmusi straddles a provincial line, which means two monasteries in two provinces within a fifteen-minute walk. It's the easiest introduction to Tibetan culture in China, and it needs no permit.
Gansu3 min read
Dongxiang — A Mongolic-Speaking Muslim People in the Loess Hills
The Dongxiang speak a Mongolic language, practise Islam and farm eroded loess hills west of Lanzhou. They are one of the least-visited recognised minorities in China, and among the most hospitable.