Silk Road - Turpan

Our first stop in Xinjiang is Turpan, an important city on the Silk Road because it is at the centre of an oasis in the Talamakan desert.  The moment we entered Turpan we noticed how the architecture is different from the Chinese cities we have visited so far.  The building decorations reminded me of those seen in Turkey.  Turpan is 77% Uyghur with the rest being made up of Han Chinese and other ethnic groups.  Uyghur is a Turkic language and while written signs resembled Arabic, it is modified and not exactly Arabic.  According to our guide, they could not understand each other.  Interethnic marriage is encouraged - there is an incentive of 40,000RMB awarded.

The Jiaohe Ruins are on the eastern edge of Turpan and we stopped there first.  The ruins are supposed to be the best preserved city of raw-earth buildings in the world.  Built on an island in between two rivers, the city was constructed out of the loess soil dug out of the ground.  The soil was excavated leaving underground rooms while the soil dug out was rammed to build rooms above ground.  The city was destroyed by Genghis Khan in the 13th century during an invasion and was subsequently abandoned.  We spent a good part of the morning walking around the city, checking out the interesting building ruins, including what's left of a big temple and its grounds.

We visited the centre demonstrating the karez wells system and how it distributed water through the city via underground and open canals, vertical wells and dams.  There are apparently over 1100 karez wells in Turpan distributing water through 5000 kilometres of canals.  The water came from the glaciers in Xinjiang and are of course threatened by global warming.  

Uyghur dancers provided entertainment both at the karez centre and at the country style restaurant at lunch.  A delicious whole roasted goat was served for our group.  After lunch we visited the famous Flaming Mountain just outside of Turpan.  The mountain was impressive red sandstone with many grooves on its walls and likely would look like flames if it was hit by the setting sun.  The ground in the area was also very hot - when we were there, we tasted the eggs that were cooked in the red earth with heat from the sun sold by a vendor.   

Jiaohe Old City was built on a plateau with steep walls on the sides, a natural fortress with apparently only two gates

The river acted as a natural moat

The main passage into the city

 
Buildings on both sides

The buildings went as far as the eye could see to the mountains

Panorama of part of the ruins from a viewpoint.  The part open to the public is only a fraction of the old city.

The approach to the big Temple

 

The main altar with remains of statues still visible

Turpan

Intricate brick work on the building housing the karez exhibit

Local dancing for the tourists

Explanation of the karez system

Model of the karez system drawing its waters from the snow-capped Tian Shan mountains and run offs from the nearby Flaming Mountain

Underground canals

Vertical well

Folk crafts on the walls of the visitor centre

The most important local produce is grapes, here being dried.  Turpan has the best raisins.

Beautiful Uyghur dancing at lunch

Flaming Mountain from different perspectives

This almost looked like a sand dune

Eggs cooked in the sand are very flavorful

More sandstone mountains along the road to Urumqi

We are heading towards Tian Shan in the distance

It would be another three hours on the bus to get to Urumqi.  We would be surprised at how modern Urumqi is, particularly after hearing about its horse and wagon days from earlier visitors.

View from our hotel room on the 32nd floor

Silk Road - Dunhuang

 We are finally at Dunhuang, the legendary city - strategically important because of its location at the crossroads of two important trade routes running north and south of the Talamakan desert.  It is also situated on the western edge of the Gobi Desert and north of the Mingsha Dunes, making it an important rest stop for merchants and pilgrims from every direction.  During the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) a commandery was established there to protect the region.  Pilgrims came because Dunhuang was an ancient site of Buddhist learning, evidenced by the 492 Mogao caves chock full of Silk Road history since the 4th century.  

We arrived in Dunhuang at dinner time and went for a walk in the colourful night market after dinner - a good opportunity for some street photography.  The following morning was dedicated to seeing the Mogao Caves.  There were long line-ups early in the morning and we were thankful our special tour group request for two official guides was approved and we went straight to the caves led by the two guides.  There were so many caves, everyone got to see different caves, so we were not really "cutting in line", so to speak.  

I hope you won't be disappointed because photos were not allowed in the caves. I have included two photos of a replica at the Dunhuang Museum which we visited the following morning. While disappointing, I found that I actually enjoyed the break from taking photos.  It helped me pay attention to every word the guide said knowing that my memory would be the only thing that I could turn to to remember this legendary spot.  

The guides were extremely knowledgeable and pointed out important elements to us, including the difference between restorations done in the Tang Dynasty (619-907) versus those done in the Qing Dynasty (1614-1912).  The restoration handwork and painting done during the Tang were much more refined than the more recent ones done during the Qing Dynasty - in fact after a couple of caves we were able to identify the differences ourselves.  It was an intense morning focusing on the content delivered in perfect Mandarin by the guides (thankful especially because good Mandarin delivered lecture-style is much easier to understand for us non-native speakers).

The afternoon is supposed to be a relaxing visit to the Mingsha Dunes.  But the obligatory camel ride has its tense moments until I reminded myself to relax and go with the bump and hump of the camel's rhythm.  After the ride we visited the dunes, some visitors climbed the dunes but I settled for a walk around Crescent Lake.  We spent a second night in Dunhuang, in the beautiful Silk Road Dunhuang Hotel, in itself an experience with its traditional decor and long lantern-lit corridors.  It also happened to be the night of the Mid-Autumn festival and we shared moon cakes - the traditional buildings are such a romantic backdrop.

The goddess playing the Chinese musical instrument "Pipa" from behind her back is a landmark in Dunhaung city centre.  It was inspired by an image in the Mogao Caves.

Both sides of the entrance to the Dunhuang Night Market

There were both street booths and store fronts 

The lamps here reminded me of Istanbul

Street artists working on the spot

Pretty teen all dressed up in local garb - seems to be the trend.  The couple walking behind her could be her parents.

A few blocks of restaurants and street food stands - quite a gathering place, not just for tourists but for locals too

 

Street singer had beautiful voice that seemed much appreciated by her audience.  The signs on the restarants were advertising "Almond skin tea" - I didn't see this until I look at the photos at home.  Would have loved to try that.

Dunhuang streets were decorated for the Mid-Autumn Festival

Sunrise atop the Dunhuang Silk Road Hotel where the Minsgha Dunes were visible giving us an enticing foretaste of the upcoming visit

Mingsha Dunes in the sunrise glow

The Mogao Caves in their more natural state - unlike the section we were allowed to visit

The caves that are open to visitors have all been built up outside with staircases at different levels.

This is a multistorey cave

Some old structures are still around

This Nine-storey Temple houses the largest sitting Buddha in Dunhuang.  Built in the Tang Dynasty (695 AD), it is an indication of the prosperity and economic stability of that Dynasty. 

The entrance gate to the caves

The impressive Mogao Caves Digital Exhibition Centre which we didn't visit

he Mingsha Dunes with camel rides

Riders were loaned orange cloth boots which did a great job of keeping the sand out of shoes and still allow visitors to walk easily on the sand

Crescent Moon Lake

Many hired professional photographers to take photos of themselves in costume

The climb up the dunes.  In hindsight, I wish I had made the effort to get up there - probably missed a fantastic panorama of the dunes...

The Dunhuang Silk Road Hotel and its long lantern-lit corridors

Castle-like entrance to the hotel

Entrance to the spa

Full moon rising from behind the courtyard

We visited the Dunhuang Museum the following morning before the long trip to Turpan.  The museum has a cave replica which you can see below.  

Ceiling of the cave - each of the icons on the ceiling are different

Almanac from the Han Dynasty on bamboo

An exquisite window on the museum wall

It would be 2.5 hours just to get to the LiuYuan train station from Dunhuang then another 3 hour ride on the bullet train to Turpan.  Tomorrow we would be crossing the border into Xinjiang autonomous regions.  Security at the train station was very tight - we had to go through security twice, just to enter the train station and then to board.

Interesting to see an RV on the highway

We had dinner on the train. 
By the time we got to Turpan, the sun was setting.

Next post:  Turpan, Xinjiang