A Geographer in the desert - Experiencing Dunhuang in the mid-1990's
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Back on the track, a yurt with camels sitting nearby was possibly for tourists? Ahead lay the famed 'Crescent Moon Lake' (yueyaquan) I had first seen from the dunes. A natural crescent-shaped pool it lies apparently where wind exposed a natural spring coming from normally concealed porous rocks. Overlooking its placid waters rose a brown wooden former temple and pagoda. As I headed back, a solitary tree rose from the seemingly waterless desert. A tractor carried local people as I returned towards the camels I earlier saw resting near the roadbed just as tourists were arriving. I had had the place to myself, alone in the desert.
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