November 2018 · 24 November 2018

We all met again in Bern at the house of University except René who unfortunately had to go on a business trip to Asia. Gaby and I had organised the reunion which started early afternoon. There was coffee with cake on arrival, followed by a presentation of pictures of our expedition and a quiz to test everyone’s memory. The teams were put together according to the cars. It was a lot of fun and the winner-team was Claudia and Nico. They got surprised by the first price which consisted in...

July 2018 · 30 Juli 2018

Today was our last expedition day. On Mondays every monument is closed, so we strolled around, went to Beihai Park and the ancient Houhai neighbourhood. We sweat madly and I got a sore throat, probably due to pollution. In the evening we had the good-bye dinner at a Beijing duck restaurant. From here, everyone has his own program. Some return home immediately, some explore Beijing for a few days before flying back to Switzerland or taking a train. Gaby will travel back with Nick by the Trans...

July 2018 · 29 Juli 2018

Today was our last day with the Samurai caravan. We crossed the Hebei (河北）province. There was a huge and stressful traffic jam on the highway which took nearly two hours before arriving at Juyongguang at the Great Wall for a stop. When we finally arrived, we first had lunch to get some energy. It was terribly hot and humid and we climbed a few high steps of the steep wall to get the feeling and to look at the beautiful forest and the panorama. This part of the wall is not so famous and...

July 2018 · 28 Juli 2018

In the morning we drove with our cars to the Yungang Caves, China’s most supreme examples of Buddhist cave art. Their visit was an absolute delight, they are the most magnificent caves we have seen. There are 51’000 ancient statues and celestial beings, Buddhas and Bodhisatvas, which were created by Turkic-speaking Tuoba in the 5th Century. The designs are influenced by Indian, Persian and Greek art which travelled along the Silk Road. It took 60 years to be completed. Despite wet weather...

July 2018 · 27 Juli 2018

We had a lovely breakfast at our hotel and left the ancient city early in the morning and headed towards Datong. We stopped at the worlds oldest and tallest (67m) wooden pagoda, the Muta Tower at Yingxian. Built in 1056, the whole construction is made out of wood and no metal piece has been used. The clay Buddhist carvings including an 11m high Sakyamuni (Buddha) are as old as the pagoda itself. The site was peaceful and quiet. And we enjoyed it a lot. We had a nice lunch in a nearby...

July 2018 · 26 Juli 2018

Despite the “end” of what used to be the historical Silk Road at times when Xi’an was home to the emperor and the capital, we continue our expedition with the cars until Beijing and we will take other roads that connect to the Silk Road. Today we drove 520 km on the highway mainly through flat, boring landscapes. It was hazy and hot with temperatures up to 39 degrees. About halfway we crossed the Yellow River. We had once more lunch at a highway stop... We will not remember the Chinese...

July 2018 · 25 Juli 2018

Today we went with the whole group together to the South Gate of the city wall. Everyone rent a bike and we circled on top of the wall. At the beginning it was nice and the little breeze felt refreshing, but later it got really hot. It was almost unbearable and I was sweating so much, that my hat dissolved into two pieces. We recovered in a nice cool coffee shop that served excellent Julius Meinl coffee from Austria. In the afternoon some went to the museum and I went with a group to the...

July 2018 · 24 Juli 2018

With Xi’an we have reached the final destination of the Silk Road. The Shaanxi (陕西）Province was the cradle of Chinese civilisation. It was the heartland of the Qin dynasty, whose warrior emperor united much of China for the first time. Today we went to see the famous, more than 2000 years old Army of Terracotta Warriors guarding the tomb of emperor Qin Shi Huang. We had a bus for the group that took us to this site. We weren’t the only visitors, but somehow we managed to see and...

July 2018 · 23 Juli 2018

The road that lead to the caves of Maiji Shan is under construction (the construction work going on in China is just tremendous!!!) and it took a little longer to reach the most famous Buddhist rock carvings along the Silk Road. There are 221 caves, holding more than 7800 sculptures. They were carved and painted during the Wey and Zhou dynasties (AD 386-581). Most of the sculptures are made with clay. It’s better not to be afraid of the heights because you have to climb steep stairs, way...

July 2018 · 22 Juli 2018

Today first thing in the morning we went straight to the mechanics to pull again a nail out of a tire of car five. The name “Besenwagen” suits it well 😉The tire was quickly repaired and we drove down the valley following the river and the railway on the road leading through villages and fields with potatoes, onions, wheat, corn, rice. The highway was closed and we enjoyed the rural pace. When we arrived in Tianshui (meaning sky and water), I was driving for the first time into a 4 Mio....