There are several mountains in the world which are known as “Rainbow mountains” because of their multi-coloured hue. The best known is probably the ones in Peru. Nice indeed, but my experience was marred by hordes of tourists and commercialism. The photos you see in social media are often ridiculously filtered.

When I was planning my trip to western China “Hexi Corridor” in Gansu Province as part of my Silk Road trip in May 2027, I realised I’d be close to the Danxia region in Zhangye. The mountains looked nice, although in some pics, they were also heavily filtered like the ones in Peru. The range was much larger than Peru.

Danxia means Red. Surprisingly it was little known even in China before a hit Chinese movie “A simple noodle story” was shot here. Afterwards it became more and more popular with local tourists, but hardly at all with foreign tourists. Hollywood used the landscape for “The Great Wall” and the live action “Mulan”.…