Jiayuguan - Zhangye

Today we took the Silk Road Highway which leads through the Hexi Corridor at the altitude of 1850 m. The name means “West of the Yellow River”. The air was clear and we had a good visibility and beautiful views on snow-topped mountains such as Qilian Shan (5645 m). We stopped at our hotel which is in a newly built touristic hotel complex at the Danxia Geopark. 

We visited the National Park late in the afternoon. Danxia means red cloud. It was created during the same tectonic process as the Himalaya in the Tertiary. The beauty of these colourful rocks is amazing and the visit is effectively organised. Thousands of Chinese were visiting at the same time. Numerous shuttles circulate constantly and take you to the four spots where you can walk up on prepared paths. Small loudspeakers, disquised as stones, play continuously the same little tune, which is somewhat annoying. But it is a colourful geological marvel and we enjoyed the changing of sunlight and the deep red, yellow and white colours in these sediments.