It's really not that unusual... I've just been to this region and it is beautiful but far from mysterious or anything. Too many tourists.

The curved entrance at the north west is an entrance to the so called Yadan rock formations, which are the white lines just to the west of it. You have to pay 70 yuan there to pass further into the desert, quite stupid actually.

There is a military base in this region just west of the Yumenkuan gate, which is probably responsible for a lot of things which might occur weird. The so called 'outer security checkpoint' was unmanned when we passed it. It also isn't that impressive when seeing it from the bottom...

This region attracts a lot of Chinese tourists, but very few foreigners. The Han great wall and the Yadan rocks are really very interesting. It is incredibly remote, but definitely worth a visit together with the other sites around Dunhuang.

I shouldve looked at this area using GE before visiting it I'm curious what the lines might've been! It takes so incredibly much effort to get there again