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