Ancient Silk Road Tour to Jiayuguan by train

This 13 days ancient silk road train tour is rough, but memorable and impressive. Travel by train is really very suitable for this route. Our tour starts from Beijing, We take train from Beijing to Lanzhou first, then Dunhuang-Jiayuguan-Jiuquan-Zhangye-Tianshui, from where we back to Beijing.

This article is about the stop in Jiayuguan. For most tourists, they will not stay in Jiayuguan for a long time. Generally speaking, in tour itinerary, travel agency often arranges one night accommodation in Jiayuguan. Since we are individual travelers, we choose to stay in Jiayuguan for 2 nights.

Dunhuang-Jiayuguan by train K592
We take a morning train from Dunhuang to Jiayuguan. After 5 hours on train No K592, we arrive at Jiayuguan railway station after lunch time. The distance is around 360 km. The train speeds on the gobi where we see rows of windmills quietly under the blue sky.

While you visit to a place and look more carefully, you can find its’ symbol. When people travel to Jiayuguan, they will find they will not only see the Jiayuguan Pass City, but also the brick portraits discovered from the tomb at Wei-jin Period in Chinese history. Look this postman’s portrait. It is gregarious. It almost become the symbol of Jiayuguan City, except the Pass City.

Qinqiang Opera (Shaanxi Opera)
After checking in the hotel, we hesitate whether we should go for a walk at night or not。At this time, the noise from the street attracts me. Looking outside, I just find a crowd of people just opposite to our hotel. Some of them hang a loudspeaker on a tree. Then it starts to broadcast that the shop rent an opera troupe to play Qingqiang Opera to celebrate the foundation.

Therefore, we decide to go for a walk at night. When we get to the spot, many local seniors have already been their with their own seat. The streetside Qinqiang opera seems their only entertainmen. Qinqiang opera is kind of unique opera in China. The voice is simple and natural, which is popular in senior people. The night in Jiayuguan, just like this city and people living here, looks not as splendid as that in large city. All the lights in this city are just down-to-earth for lighting.

Scenic Spots and Our Trip in Jiayuguan
There are three spots in Jiayuguan to visit. They are Jiayuguan Pass City, Overhanging Great Wall and The First Beacon Tower of the Great Wall. The scenic spots are not far from each other. The Great Wall refers to the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty. Well, the First Beacon Tower of the Great Wall is the 1st beacon tower at the westernmost part of the great wall. It is around 7 km from Jiayuguan Pass City, from which Mt. qilianshan is just across a river.

We spend CNY120 to rent a car to visit the above 3 spots, which is really worth for individual travelers actually. It is not very expensive, but makes your trip in Jiayuguan more convenient than public bus. When travel to Jiayuguan, you will find the entrance gate of the scenic spot is far from the scenic spot itself. It is better to know this before you travel there as you might need to walk from the gate to the scenic spots or take the scenic area shuttle cart.

The Pass (City) of Jiayuguan is a well-preserved ancient castle with a long history. It is located at 5km away from Jiayuguan city. Jiayu refers to Beautiful Valley in Chinese. It is really located in the most narrow valley just on the foot of Qilian Mountain, between Wenshu Mountain and Heshan Mountain. The First Beacon Tower of the Great Wall is not far from the Pass City of Jiayuguan, which could be seen from the pass. There is a park just outside the Pass of Jiayuguan, where people could find lakes and green trees which are seldom seen in Gobi desert. If you like biking, you could find bicycle rent near the park. Walking into the city, we not only can see the ancient city gates, pass tower, but also find ancient tower, play stage, temple of Guanyu, general’s office, ect.

Snacks in Jiayuguan
Like other cities in Northwestern China, the food focus on Halal kebabs and pasta. You could find different pasta here, such as noodle in soup, dough sheet in soup, fried noodle, fried dough sheet, ect. Pasta is a the daily meals for local people. The most popular food street in Jiayuguan is called Da Tang Food Street, where individual tourists visit and have their own meals.

We left Jiayuguan in the morning of the 3rd day with a bit of pity that we do not have enough time to visit the Ancient Tomb of Wei & Jin Period of Chinese history. Anyway, Jiayuguan is really a impressive place which is worth for you to have a stop there.