Xinjiang: Turpan

From Kuqa we continued northeast to Turpan, our farthest east stop on the Silk Road. Turpan, situated barely above sea level in the Turpan Depression, is renowned for its hot and dry weather. Normally it's 100 degrees this time of the year. We happened to be there when it was mostly overcast, even some rain drops, though their annual precipitation is 0.6 inches.

Amazingly Turpan is considered an oasis because of an extensive system of underground wells, known as Karez Wells, that channel snowmelt down from the Tianshan Mountains. The technology originally came to Xinjiang via the Silk Road from Persia some 2000 years ago. We stopped by the Karez Well Museum, but it was closed for repairs (1st below). However, a museum worker showed us a water channel nearby (2nd below), ho hum, and explained the diagram on an outside wall (3rd). Today 3/4 of China's raisin output is from Turpan, air dried in special structures, rather interesting looking (4th and 5th below). The vineyards - yes, it's called a vineyard if the product is not wine but raisins - were close to downtown, with enormous irrigation ditches (6th and 7th below).















Outside town, there is the ruined earthen city of Jiaohe from 2nd century BCE, where they spoke the Indo-European language of Tocharian and subscribed to Buddhism. Alas they were closed for remodeling when we were there. We had to content ourselves with the recent artifacts. We found the "old town" particularly intriguing. Even though Turpan is Uighur majority, there is only one Uighur mosque, while there are three Hui (i.e. services in Chinese) mosques. I later deduced that there was an influx of Hui people during the failed Hui revolts in the 1800s.

All of the mosques were having brisk business, as we happened upon them on a Friday. There were no photos allowed of the outside of the mosques; confounding. This was a first! Everyone, not just the officials/guards, was quick to police us! I have to guess there must be ethnic tension, though there looked to be religious freedom. I also realized that Xinjiang is much more complex than the Uighurs vs Chinese government.















Leaving Kuqa, we arrived at their eye-catching train station (1st below) before daybreak. The waiting room (2nd) and embarkation (3rd) were tranquilo ahead of the 07:00 departure, delayed to 7:18. And, the sun is rising in the East as we pull out of the station. (4th)








On the Train. We sat across from the "Conductor Office", actually just a counter, just below my right elbow in the photo below where people riders came to 1) Upgrade to a sleeper OR 2) pay a ticket surcharge because they had bought a "student fare" but could not produce a "current" Student ID, THere were some earnest but civilized back-and-forths. ;-)


From the train the landscape was compelling: agriculture, foothills, and snow-capped mountains. Plus some wetlands, and a wide dry river bed.








Sun-Ling (left with K2 pack cover) disembarking at Tulufan Station


We took a minivan into town as the station is more than 20 kilometers from city center. Look closely below and you'll see a dark colored train on the high embankment (right center). What a bleak landscape. The ramp routes normal trains out of the way of the China Railway High-speed (CRH) service.


For dinner we headed to a "restaurant row" near our hotel and bought two types of bing (flatbread)




Seems that every middle school student owns an electric scooter/bike.


Our view from the Atour Hotel


More irrigation channels! First below, a channel under construction. Second, a perfect spot for washing/rinsing clothes.


Historic "courtyard" residences in town.






And again, more delicious noodle dishes. Yummy!