Originally Posted by
31570324
Gansu looks not bad, Xinjiang is to far in the west. Will do the western part of later, in some years. But didnt they close Gansu for foreigners sometimes, too? Read something about that.
A while back, they didn't want foreigners to witness the poverty in Gansu, so they wouldn't let them disembark, but I know many people who simply ignored this rule (enforcement was not especially rigorous).
As for your other point, I think it would be a shame to go to Gansu without experiencing Turpan, at the very least. There are relatively fast overnight trains from Turpan to Dunhuang, and flying into Wulumuqi is far cheaper than flying to Dunhuang.