Not far from Zhangye is an area of desert known as the Danxia Rainbow Rocks. No prizes for guessing the origin of that name … take hundreds of metres deep of tightly packed rock layers, paint each a different colour, then bend, shape and sculpt it all into a fantastical landscape. The finshed product is Danxia.
For some added zest, throw in some mighty electrical storms with nowhere to shelter and you make for an afternoon well spent.