Has the Mummy come back? Sandsliding in Tianmo desert

Yesterday another day trip brought us to:

-the smallest desert I've ever been to (well, not that I have been to many deserts...) named Tianmo. The tourist homepage of Hebei (the name of the province) proudly announces: "There are two grand sand dunes. The east sand dune is more than 300 meters long from north to south and the west one is nearly l,000 meters long." Couldn't have written that better - it's just that: two rather tiny sand dunes. We slid down the dunes, took photos, refused to take a horse ride (how bizarre to offer a horse ride in the desert) and looked for the mummy ('Die Mumie) but it didn't show up and scare us. Why the mummy? Tianmo desert and the surrounding areas are also a famous spot to film movies (some Chinese Hollywood), i.a. also a part of the film about the mummy's return was filmed there.

- a small ancient town named Jiming Yi. The village once had city walls of which most parts are still existing. It used to be an important post office of imperial times. Well, that doesn't mean that there was a postbox, but rather the messengers could exchange their horses there for fitter ones. The old town is quite relaxed: many old people still live there (we had the chance to visit some houses; the main decoration used are a TV and a big Mao poster) and there is not even a single souvenir shop (which is strange due to the fact that not many, but sufficient Chinese tourists come there).