Best of the Rest - Discover China - page 715

Jiayuguan's bus station ( qichezhan) is by a busy four-way junction on Lanxin
Xilu, next to the main budget hotels. Doubling as a billiards hall, the station
has buses to:
Dunhuang ¥73, five hours, four daily (9am to 2.30pm)
Lanzhou ¥160, 12 hours, three daily sleepers
Train
Most trains to Dunhuang stop at Liuyuan (180km away). Direct trains are few
and not well scheduled.
Jiayuguan's train station is southwest of the town centre. Services include:
Lanzhou hard/soft seat ¥103/160, seven to eight hours; hard/soft sleeper ¥179/275,
nine hours
Mogao Caves
The Mogao Caves (Mogao Ku) are, simply put, one of the greatest repositories
of Buddhist art in the world. At its peak, the site housed 18 monasteries, more
than 1400 monks and nuns, and countless artists, translators and calligraph-
ers. Wealthy traders and important officials were the primary donors respons-
ible for creating new caves, as caravans made the long detour past Mogao to
pray or give thanks for a safe journey through the treacherous wastelands to
the west. The traditional date ascribed to the founding of the first cave is AD
366.
The caves fell into disuse after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty and were
largely forgotten until the early 20th century, when they were 'rediscovered' by
a string of foreign explorers.
Entrance to the caves (low/high season ¥100/180; 8.15am-6pm May-
Oct, 9.15am-5.30pm Nov-Apr, tickets sold till 1hr before closing) is strictly con-
trolled - it's impossible to visit them on your own. The general admission ticket
grants you a two-hour tour (display great interest at the start as your guide has
the discretion to make this longer) of around 10 caves, including the infamous
Library Cave (No 17) and a related exhibit containing rare fragments of
manuscripts in classical Uighur and Manichean. Excellent English-speaking
guides are available (and included in the admission price) at 9am, noon and
2pm, and you should be able to arrange tours in other languages as well.