7 Days in Wuhai

The Haibowan dam began holding back the Yellow River in 2013-14 and left the city a lake of roughly 120 square kilometres, with dunes running to the far shore — evening boards and lawns line the east bank.

1. wuhai lake
2. wuhai riverside parks

Sledges and camel lines on the dune field about 15 kilometres from downtown, then the cableway up Gandershan under an equestrian statue cast at roughly 88 metres, in view across most of the city.

1. wuhai jinshawan desert
2. wuhai gandershan statue

The museum walks the coal story of the 1976 mining merger; afternoon at the estate whose vines root in sandy loam along the river, with tastings of the local desert pour.

1. wuhai city museum
2. wuhai hansen winery

Bronze-age hunting scenes pecked into the Zhuozi mountain faces, then the drive south about 40 kilometres to the monastery commonly dated 1778, where lamas once trained in Mongolian medicine.

1. wuhai zhuozi rock art
2. wuhai manbala temple

Boat hire or a lakeside table — the west shore puts dunes and water in one frame, and the sunset turns the whole basin amber.

1. wuhai lake

Labelled honestly, a league day — about 100 kilometres northwest across into Alxa, where the Jilantai salt lake has been worked for centuries and still bleaches the steppe white.

1. wuhai jilantai salt lake

A slow last morning on the east-bank lawns, a lake view for the road out, then the train or flight from the city.

1. wuhai riverside parks