Turpan 3.10.13

After a somewhat uncomfortable night on the train we lined up at the door ready to rush off in the 6 minutes allowed as soon as the train stopped.  All decamped safely.   We dragged our cases up the street until a nice bus arrived to take us for an hour's drive to Turpan city and our hotel. Breakfast at last, then we all got changed as it gets rather hot here and we were waiting for tickets.  This was followed by a very busy hot day.  We went in the bus to visit the Thousand Buddha caves, the Atsana Tombs and the ruins of Jiaohe.  The caves are not at all in the same league as the Mogao caves but on the way there we passed spectacular scenery of high very eroded barren hills of yellowish/grey material.  We stopped and looked over the edge of a high cliff down into a valley through which a small stream meandered and provided irrigation for green areas.  Shows what water can do.  At the caves Judy and I joined an elderly man playing a musical instrument and had a bit of fun.  Later we visited a Grape Village, a small oasis of vineyards in the desert and mud brick buildings used for drying.  We all had a pleasant short stroll through the sheltered avenues of vines.  Back in town Bill and I took a stroll and bought a new padlock for my suitcase.  A nice town with a population that looks quite different as they are Turkish/Chinese.  The ladies are very colouful in their bright sparkly clothes often made in velvet.  Quite a different race of people here.  One almost wouldn't know that one was in China.  Tonight we had a great dinner at a Uighur (Weegur) restaurant.
Turpan is in the province of Xinjiang in the heart of the Eurasian continent bordered by the Gobi desert and the Taklamakan desert.  In the province are snow capped mountains, endless grasslands, lakes, and primitive forests. The town itself is broad and flat with low slung mud brick houses and open channels from which the Uighurs draw their water.  An interesting place.

A view of the eroded barren hills in the area

 

A young Weegur lady in the Grape Village making handmade embroidered bags.

 

Having fun at the caves

 

 

A statue at the Atsana tombs

 

A view across the Jiaohe ruins, now crumbling, but in the long ago past a thriving town

 

Steps down into a tomb

 

Line up of scooters in Turpan