Stunning colours in this spectacular landscape.
We had been in Jiayuguan to see the Fortress and the Overhanging Wall and the train had brought us to Zhangye. Zhangye lies in the Hexi Corridor where the ancient Silk Road headed north west from its beginnings in Xi'an.
We were staying at the Huacheng International Hotel in Zhangye, very modern and a beautiful room. We had had some difficult experiences trying to get dinner throughout our time in travelling in the far west of China, so were prepared for much of the same but very pleasantly surprised by a brightly lit restaurant, people already eating (had experienced one or two very dim, empty restaurants) and with the usual private dining rooms around the sides.
The staff were able to help us with Internet translating so we were quickly served with our requested beers plus tea and yogurts!
The extensive menu had very helpful illustrations and even English translations, after a fashion, but very helpful and much better than we'd seen elsewhere - one of the waitresses even spoke English! We ordered apricot-mushroom-cow-willow which was very nice.
When we were finished and ready to leave the waitress guided us back to the lifts, which were all of 10m away.
The following morning, after a very good breakfast, we had an 8 am start, first walking up the main street to the Bank of China to get money, then on up to the big roundabout around the Drum and Bell Tower where our driver picked us up.
It was about an hour's drive to Danxia, flower fields almost all the way including sunflowers and masses and masses of cosmos. Our guide said they are used in cosmetics, perfumes and medicines. Also a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) watchtower which I took a photo of on the way back.
The "Rainbow Mountains" are stunning. Coaches shuttle visitors to the four stops, no private vehicles are allowed. All the stops have fabulous views but the fourth is spectacular.
The colours everywhere are beautiful, deep brick reds and oranges, with white strata running through them in tilted layers and folds, a testament to millions of years of geological upheaval.
I particularly like the striped colours in the rocks. They reminded me a bit of the marbling we had seen in the carved-out caves at Petra in Jordan.
At Stop 2, as well as vibrant colours, there were some wonderful shapes in the mountains and layer upon layer of tilted rock strata.
The strata were formed 60 million years ago, according to the information board here, and are mainly composed of thin laminated shale, arenaceous rock and shale rock in red, purple, yellow, green, white and grey.
The majority of the rock is a purple red sandstone, appearing either more blue or more orange depending on the light. Just as amazing is the continuous changing forms within the landscape, hardly a smooth mountainside in sight, they're all fat, striated, elongated domes side by side.
Stop 3 was notable for more tilted layers in orange, brick red and grey.
The whole landscape here is busy with fantastic shapes and colours.
But the absolute showstopper is Stop 4. Unbelievable colours massed in a river valley and along the mountainsides.
We spent two and a half hours at Danxia and had lunch at the site before going on to Binggou. Have to say we thoroughly enjoyed the very tender sweet and sour pork! We also had small dishes of the local specialty, fish noodles - because the noodles are fish-shaped, not because there is any fish in the dish!
Binggou was an added extra in our itinerary as we were booked on a later train than originally scheduled.
Binggou, lying in the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains, is notable for natural rock sculptures - pinnacles and buttes. Though not as dramatic as Monument Valley it is impressive on a smaller scale.
The rock is actually a thick, red, sandy conglomerate formed 145-100 million years ago in a hot, dry climate. Around 36 million years ago the rocks became exposed due to upheavals in the land, and weathering over millennia produced the shapes we see today.
There was a lot of very steep climbing here, up and down both sides of the canyon.
In driving to and from Binggou we had passed quite a number of ruined structures at the base of the mountains. Many small beehive and larger walled buildings.
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Very difficult to get decent photographs from the moving car, but intriguing!