Traffic jams in the desert for ‘romantic camel ride’
“You are not the only one here for a romantic camel ride,” noted an American tourist earlier in her travel blog. And it has only become much busier with the – when the wind blows strong enough – ‘singing sand dunes’ in the Chinese town of Dunhuang.
China’s tourist information centers are experiencing golden times. But that has a downside because sometimes it is also a long wait for a ride at the very remote Chinese desert town of Dunhuang.
Not so much foreign tourists but especially Chinese people flock to the famous oasis in the Kumtag desert in the mid-west of the country. They may want to experience how quiet and deserted it once must have been on the classic Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China and the Middle East. Part of that route was already in use before our era and is now being brought to life by Chinese President Xi.
In the romantic camel ride, columns of five camels tied together, tourists go to the top of a sand dune from which they can slide on a kind of plastic lid. Or they can go on foot with a staircase or a quad. Busy or not, according to travel reports, tourists remain deeply impressed by the breathtaking landscape and the shadow play of the sun on the angular dune flanks. The camels are fine with it and they go up undisturbed. Sometimes with complete families on their backs.
