There isn’t really much to say about deserts. I’m fascinated by them because they are basically nothing. I spy with my little eye something beginning with S. Sand? Sky? As we drove along the motorway from Hami to Luoyang where the road turns off to Dunhwang, a low range of hills came into view, with the road passing through Hsing Hsing Hsia, “Starry Starry Gorge”, which was mentioned in the Gobi Desert book by Mildred Cable. The hills were criss-crossed by yellow stripes which look rather like stars. We then passed into Gansu Province through a weird landscape which looks like piles of coal mine waste but is apparent natural. They stop as abruptly as they started and a completely flat plain lead into Dunhwang. A beautiful city with tree-lined streets, all glass and concrete and neon lights.
