A Geographer in the desert - Experiencing Dunhuang in the mid-1990's

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Today Dunhuang continues as a major route centre with highways connecting via Golmud in Qinghai to Tibet; west to Xinjiang and east to Lanzhou. Ongoing railway construction will continue to enhance this role.

Then in 1996, my first experience of northwestern China, it was still dark outside while I had breakfast for the entire country keeps to Beijing time. However the sky soon lightened to reveal an intense blue that would remain as a memory of travels across such a vast region. That initial foray into the mostly waterless gobi lands around Dunhuang was for only a couple of days but later I would return for a lengthier period of exploration by foot or bicycle throughout both the town and its surrounds.

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