China | Gansu Province | Jiayuguan | Lanzhou

Unable to arrange a trip to the Mazong Mountains I booked a berth on the 8:40 pm sleeper train back to Lanzhou. That gave me a free afternoon so I decided to head back to the fort for a more leisurely look around. Arriving at the fort I immediately encountered Ms. Chan in the parking lot. She came bounding over, seemingly overjoyed to see me. Via sign language I indicated that I was going into the fort and would not need a car. She just nodded and smiled.

Ms. Chan

On my earlier trip there had been several hundred visitors to the fort but this was a weekday and the place was nearly deserted. I spend three hours slowly circumnavigating the top of the fortress wall, pausing here and there to daydream about the events which must have taken place here over the last seven centuries.

Inside of fort on a quiet day

When I emerged from the fort in the late afternoon there was Ms. Chan right by the entrance gate. I was going to go back to the hotel, but since she was apparently waiting for me I mentioned in Chinese the name of the so-called Beacon Tower overlooking the Taolai River a couple of miles away. This is one of the standard sights in the area but one I was going to forgo; since Ms. Chan seemed eager however I decided to go have a look. On the way Ms. Chan stopped at a store roadside store and came out with a liter bottle of mineral water for me. When I tried to pay for it she just waved me off.

From the fort the unrestored, pounded earth wall runs due south to the Taolai River

There are several beacon towers in this section, including one right on the cliff overlooking the river.

Taolai River

The day up till now had been warm with a solid dome of cobalt-blue sky overhead. No sooner did we arrive at the river than it very suddenly clouded over and a ferocious wind starting howling out of the north. Then it started snowing, huge snowflakes the size of half dollars driven almost horizontally by the wind. Soon visibility was down to about thirty feet. Ms. Chan laughed uproariously, as if this blizzard in the middle of what had been a warm spring day was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. As soon as the snow slowed down a bit we headed back to my hotel. I grabbed my bag and then had Ms. Chan take me to the train station. Despite my protestations she insisted on carrying my bag into the train station and then waited with me until I boarded the train. When the train pulled away she was still on the platform waving. It was a bit of a mystery to me why she was being so solicitous. I am almost tempted to think that she was an emanation of White Tara, the Protectress of Travelers. I even felt a a pang of guilt about not giving her a tip, but I reasoned that Tara would not expect one.