In October/November 2025 Grace and I went to China on two different tours both organized by WingOn Travel Company of HongKong: first an 8 day tour of the Silk Road and then an 11 day tour of Guangzhou with a few days in Shenzheng and Hongkong on either end. For the Silk Road tour we flew to Dunhuang and made our way west to Urumuqi by bus and train and then returned to Dunhuang to fly back to HK. The Guangzhou tour was by bus to cities in the province. For myself, one of the problems is that all of the WingOn guides who accompanied us spoke in Cantonese, which everyone in HongKong speaks but I do not. This was especially problematic on the Guangzhou tour which featured long bus rides filled with stories from the guide. On the Silk Road tour the local guides all spoke in Mandarin which was a relief.
Silk Road
The Silk Road is an historically important area of China, as it represented the first connection that China had with the Western world. It is featured prominently in ancient literature and folklore. For example, probably the most well-known story that all Chinese children learn is the Journey to the West (西遊記), a fanciful account of a real-life 19 year journey in the 7th century AD by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang to India and back to find and retrieve Buddhist scriptures. Many of the stories in the Journey to the West take place on the Silk Road. So the famous characters in the story, the Monkey King (Sun Wukong), Piggy (Zhu Bajie), Buddhist monk (Tang Sanzang) are celebrated at many sites in this area. Part of the mythology of the journey is the ruggedness of the environment, traversing the intimidating Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, along with the likelihood of meeting bandits and raiders.
In addition to the characters in Journey to the West, another common sight is to see young women dressed in traditional hanfu (汉服) style and posing in front of ancient temples or landmarks.
Along the many miles of desert, there are a number of sites of great interest and historical importance (Mogao Caves, Jiayuguan, etc.). Inevitably, these sites are crowded with Chinese tourist buses. wind turbine and solar farms. Between these few attractions are endless miles of vast desert punctuated with solar and wind farms. The government is also building additional sites to attract the tourist trade.
We flew from Shengzhen to Dunhuang, made our way by bus and train to Urumuqi and then back to Jiayuguan, Zhangye and Dunhuang before flying back to Shengzhen. The tour took 8 days.
Dunhuang
Our first stop in Dunhuang was to see the White Horse Pagoda, which commemorates a famous horse Tianliu who accompanied the Buddhist monk and translater Kumārajīva and carried many Buddhist scriptures to Dunhuang from the western fringes of the Silk Road in the fourth century AD. Kumārajīva famously translated the Diamond Sutra which was found in the Mogao Caves and is considered the earliest dated printed book in the world.
White horse pagoda (白馬寺)
The first evening in Dunhuang we went to the lively Shazhou night market. That night happened to be the Mid-Autumn Full Moon. In addition to the various different foods and crafts for sale, a common sight at many places along the Silk Road were young women dressed in traditional Dunhuang hanfu dress, which are inspired by the flying apsara (feitian) costumes found on the Mogao Caves.
Mid-autumn full moon at the Hundred Flavors Old Street in the Shazhou Night Market in Dunhuang
Entertainment at the Shazhou Night market
Woman dressed in traditional Dunhuang Apsaras style
Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring (鳴沙山和新月泉)
The singing sand dunes are the largest sand dunes in China and a popular spot for a short camel ride in the desert and to hike up and slide down the towering sand dunes. Camels, of course, were an important part of the development of the ancient Silk Road.
The big sliding hill
At Crescent Moon Lake
Our tour guide Doris (middle)
Mogao Caves (莫高窟)
One of the highlights on any visit to the Silk Road, the Mogao Caves represent the world’s greatest collections of ancient Buddhist art. There are almost 500 caves, only a small percentage of which are open to the public through guided tours. Unfortunately, photography is strictly forbidden inside the caves but some images are available on-line here and here and here.
A typical example of the art in one of the caves (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Mogao_Caves_%2854376977152%29.jpg)
Monks at Mogao
Jiayuguan (嘉峪關)
Jiayuguan is famous as the western-most fort of the 14th century Great Wall. In traditional Chinese lore, the regions beyond Jiayuguan are beyond the limits of Chinese civilization, the fearsome Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts.
The Nine-Eye Spring Lake at Jiayuguan with Qilian Mountains in the background.
The Qilian Mountains are the backdrop to the fort
Gobi Desert
Most of the Silk Road in Xinjiang and Gansu travels through miles and miles of forbidding desert. Now there are wind and solar farms stretching to the horizon and the roads are filled with industrial trucks hauling goods that keep the Chinese power industries humming. On several occasions we passed trucks hauling the blades of wind turbines which were over 100 m long, longer than a football field.
The government is also building tourist attractions, hoping to lure more visitors to the area. Some of these sites are rather bizarre amidst the desert environment.
The “Emporer in the Han Dynasty” sculpture in the middle of the Gobi Desert in Gansu
“Child of the Earth”, another of the large and bizarre sculptures in the middle of nowhere in the Gobi Desert
Turpan
Jiao He Ruins
About 10 km west of Turpan in Xinjiang is an ancient city ruins known as Jiao He (交河). Its name derives from its location at the junction of two rivers. The ruins are on the top of a plateau along a steep cliff that lies between two deep river valleys, which provided a constant water supply during its prosperous times, before the 9th century. A unique aspect of the ruins is that many of the dwellings are below ground which provided natural cooling in the intense desert environment. The city was an important layover for travelers along the Silk Road.
At the entrance to Jiao He
Many of the dwellings are underground
Flaming Mountain (火焰山)
In a famous incident in the Journey to the West, the Monkey King battles Princess Iron Fan is a brick-red mountain range made of red sandstone, the Flaming Muntains. In the summertime the desert gets so hot that one can cook eggs by burying them in the sand. Apparently that is demonstrated to the tourists in the summer
Zhu Bajie
The mountains in the background turn reddish in the summertime heat and appear to be on fire.
Sun Wukong and his faithful companions, with imitator
Zhangye Dafo Temple
The Dafo temple in Zhangye has a gigantic reclining Buddha statue made around 1100 AD. It is 35 meters long or over 1/3 of the length of a football field
Giant reclining Buddha of Zhangye
Zhangye Danxia Rainbow Mountains
The Danxia Geopark near Zhangye features the remarkable Rainbow Mountains, noted for the colorful rocks and geological formations built up over millions of years.
This hill looks like a tiger lying on its side with its stripes and tail to the right
Passengers waiting for their trains at the main train station in Urumuqi.
Urumuqi
The largest town on the Silk Road, Urumuqi shows a strong influence of the dominant Uygher population. We spent all of our time in the city at the International Grand Bazaar and enjoyed watching the Uygher dancing there.
While the government persecution of Uyghers is well-known and persistent, we did not experience any of it personally. All of our guides were Uygher and were not overtly critical of the government, which may be why they retain their jobs.
The Muslim influence in Urumuqi is strong
We spent most of our time in the International Grand Bazaar which had a lively group of Uygher dancers.
Shenzhen
Between the two tours we had 3 days in Shenzhen to rest and prepare. Since the weather was cold on the Silk Road but hot in Guangzhou we left our warm weather gear in a hotel in Shenzhen for pick-up when we returned. We also explored two of the touristy options in Shenzhen: Splendid China and Windows of the World. The former was interesting, especially the shows, while the latter was terrible.
We went to 3 very different hour-long variety shows that were all excellent. It was like going to Broadway shows but there were many special effects that at least I have not seen.
Horse show
One of the events was a horseshow with wonderful horsemanship and show business with tricks that would not be possible in the US. It was like watching a movie set of a cowboy western set in medieval China.
Variety shows
In one of the other shows at Splendid China, there was a long variety show whose theme was the history of the country, from the Iron Age to modern times. It had many special effects that were very effective.
Chinese acrobats never disappoint
Several of the acts had liberal use of water to enhance the environment.
This performance featured a blizzard of water-less bubbles dropping from the ceiling over the audience
Guangzhou tour
We then joined a 11 day bus tour of Guangzhou that was organized by Ed, a friend from the Villages. All of the 30 odd people on the tour were in some way connected to Ed, as old work colleagues, student and mah-jong buddies or friends from the Villages. Ed is a true foodie so the tour had a strong emphasis on the lunch and dinner banquets.
Shantou
Our first stop was to the Xiangongyuan Historical and Cultural District which featured the Sun Yatsen Memorial Pavilion.
Our tour guides
Street performers
Chaozhou
The Guangli Bridge is an historic and ancient structure over the Han River notable because it contains three construction styles: a beam bridge, an arch bridge, and most unique a pontoon bridge, The latter consists of 18 floating boats that can be moved aside to allow large shps to pass. It is reputedly the first movable bridge in the world.
Joe and Margaret posing before the Guangli Bridge
Guangli Bridge at night
Chen Cihong Mansion
This gigantic mansion consists of over 500 rooms . Is construction began in 1910 and took almost 30 years.
Chaozhou
Wanlyu Lake and Jinghuayuan Scenic Area
Dongguan
We spent a day visiting the technological center in Dongguan, highlighted by the Huawei campus with its unusual European architechture.
Albert is also celebrated in China.
Dongguan Science Museum
Baomo Garden
Guangzhou
White Swan Hotel (白天鹅宾馆)
Light show on the river
There is a nightly light show on the river which features all of the skyscrapers as well as the bridges which are outfitted with dense arrays of LED lights that are programmed to show many spectacular images.
Foshan
Foshan Thousand Year Show
Zhaoqing
On our last day we visited the Ancient City Wall of Zhaoqing