Dunhuang (敦煌; Dūnhuáng) is at the cross roads of two trading routes on the Silk Road, and the name 'Dunhuang', meaning to 'to flourish and prosper.'
I booked my admission ticket to Mogao Caves (莫高窟) online and then took bus no. 12 to the visitor center to pickup my ticket and see the caves. Since no photos were allowed in the caves, I visited the Museum in twin the day before to take photos in the duplicates and pre-screen all sightseeing spots in the area.
The Visitors center and entrance is on the main road (almost opposite the train station), whilst the actual caves are afurther 13 km in on a shuttle bus as part of the admission.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with exquisite Buddhist art and manuscripts. Although the city had an early connection with Buddhism due to the passage of monks traveling the Silk Road, it was not until a monk had a vision of a thousand Buddhas above the desert at Dunhuang in 4th century that the famous caves were excavated and filled with the manuscripts and treasures via over one thousand years.
Tickets include access to 2 movies and a shuttle bus to the cave site. The first movie explains the history of the site on the silk road while the second is a very impressive 3D movie of some of the caves which are off limits to tourists
The tour takes about two hours and only 8 out of 30 open caves to be visited per group while all the rest are closed. The tours are different from group to group with every group visiting three main caves: the big Buddha cave, the lying Buddha cave, and the sutra hidden cave. I stayed after my tour and crashed other groups to see total 21 caves plus peeped into locked 4 caves. I was exhausted when walking via the hidden sutra museum within the gates, the art museum and the exhibit center out side of the gate. All of the museums have detailed information and English explanations.
In fact, at least 150 caves have Ben digitalized and available at www.e-DunHuang.com
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