A perfectly crescent-shaped pond of clear blue water sitting in a hollow between two hundred-metre dunes about 6 km south of Dunhuang. A small pavilion and a Daoist temple stand on its eastern shore, and a wooden walkway and reed beds soften the edges. The site has been a pilgrimage and tourist destination for centuries — the contrast of a fresh-water pool surviving among shifting dunes is the kind of thing that draws Chinese poets.
The lake is visited together with the Mingsha Shan dunes that surround it: enter the same gate, climb the dunes for a sunset view from above, or ride a camel along the rim. Try to time it for late afternoon; the colour of the sand turns from beige to apricot as the sun drops, and the crowds thin once the tour buses leave around six. Bring socks — sand burns are common in summer.