More about Mogao Grottoes
Must purchase tickets before day of visit as there are only 200 tickets every hour. Go by car, taxi or tour bus but everyone must disembark and get on the Green Bus. Begin at Mogao Visitors Center which is 3 km from train station. Begin with 2 mandatory movies, 20 minutes each (40 minutes).
Get on Green bus and drive 15 km to Grottoes. 200 people are separated into 20 person groups with their own tour guide.
SIDENOTE - years ago, there were over 700 grottoes. Now there are over 700 locked rooms. The touguide opens a room and 20 people are allowed in. No photos allowed in any grottoes nor while watching the 20 minutes movies.
Tour guide gives 5 minute lecture and points to statue or pictures with flashlight. Tour guide is first one in and last one out. The tour takes 1.5 hours and the public is allowed to see 7 grottoes. After the last visit people are permitted to walk around at their leisure. However, no one is allowed in any of the grottoes because they are immediately locked.
After the first grottoe visit the people started to wait outside rather than be trapped in the tiny grottoe listening to the boring monotone speech. My feeling and that of many others is that one feels disappointed, cheated and angry at the total waste of 200 RMB tickets. A set of colorful postcards or a 35 RMB book with pictures and short historical description is much better.
The BIG picture. My purpose in making this trip is to see the UNESCO sites I listed earlier before the UNESCO (NWO Nazis) take it over completely. The grottoes is a perfect example of things to come.
The old adge of the Customer is always right no longer holds true. The UNESCO motto is - You are lucky we let you in, now shut up and stand in line.
Sidenote: I have been to Pudacuo in ShanGriLa twice. After the second time I will never return again. The first time I drove in and stopped my car along the way to take pictures and walk around. The last time I went it was overpriced tickets and get in the green bus. Only walk in the path and you are lucky if you can get a picture from your window because the bus only stops 3 times.
I will visit the other UNESCO sites (2014) in Gansu before the experience becomes unbearable and similar to the Mogao Gorttoes. I described and added a wikilink for them on a previous post.
Best time to visit grottoes is in morning while sun is facing grottoe. If you go in the afternoon you will get a facefull of sunshine and overexposed pics with Buddha lights.
Yuan Yang received UNESCO status in 2014. The days of driving a car or hiring a driver will be over soon if not already. The Green bus will there soon. No one gets in any more. This is why I am visiting th other UNESCO sites in Gansu before fences and barricades and ticket prices come up. Right now, the 3 other sites in Jiuquan are 30 RMB and Free for another.
Gansu is a desert so anyone who is willing to walk can eventually get to a site and enter free. No longer true. Every scenic spot has been fenced in with hundreds of km of fenceline. Even with a horse or a jeep, one can not get near them anymore.