This will be a big entry. A trip on the Silk Road in China has little in the way of internet access, and when we got it, it was very sporatic. I have pictures below of the places we went in 4 days between Urumqi and Dunhuang along the silk road.

Day 1 Flew to Urumqi

 Inside the world famous Urumqi Bazar. 3 builds, multiple floors with all the junk you could dream of and then some more. Seth would like the knife collections, hundreds of different knives and swords.

 Dinner at a muslim restraunt.

 Rosemary and the bull at the muslim market. After dinner we drove for 3 hours to Turpan.

Day 2

 This is the hotel we stayed in in turpan. The beds are rated as 'soft'. I've slept on the ground camping at places that was softer. I think they useds box springs with no mattress on top.

 3-d map of the ruins at Jiaohe in turpan. On the UNESCO list of places to see.

 Large stupa in the stupa grove and the north end of the ruins.

 Daughters of a Uyghar (pronounced wee-gar) family that entertained us. The father raised grapes. you can see them hanging above the dancers. He mostly made raisins.

 Dinner at the Dinner and Uyghur show in turpan.

 Two of the dancers in the show.

Day 3 Still in the Turpan area. Same 'soft' bed.

 In china ruins that are man made caves with drawings and statutes in side are called grottos. This is one in the fire mountains outside of Turpan.

 We rode these donkey carts to the ruins of another site in Turpan.

 To conserve water from evaporation, the people in the Turpan area 2000 years ago build underground canals for the water. They are called Karez.

 Mosk in Turpan. Refered to as the Little Mecca. Muslims from the area come here because Mecca is so far away.

Took a night train to Dunhuang. 12 hours on a bed that was a little softer than a 'soft' bed in the hotel.
Day 4 Dunhuang.

 The Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang. They do notallow pictures to be taken inside any of the grottos we visited. I guess they want you to buy their picture books.

We rode a camel! Some kid stood along the trail and snapped pictures of every one and they sold them as you left the area. 20 rmb each picture.

Spent the night at the Mogao hotel in Dunhuang. the bed again was 'soft'. Flew back to Xi'an the next morning. In the evening a dumpling dinner and Tang dynasty show.

I took about 300 pictures on the trip. I am loading them to dropbox for those with access that want to see more.