Silk Road - 吐鲁番, Turpan

吐鲁番, Turpan

Our next destination. Its weather's pretty hot, especially in the afternoon. Turpan is regarded as one of the 4 hottest spots in China where its temperatures can go above 40 degrees easily during summer (June). You can imagine how glad i was to be there in early may cos i'm already dying in its sizzling heat...


交河故城, Ancient City of Jiaohe

Regarded as one of their most famous ancient cities (at least 2,000 years old) , it is well-preserved due to the hot and dry weather. This ancient city is called 交河 as it is situated in the middle of 2 intersecting rivers (which has since dried up). Unlike most cities where buildings and homes are built on the land which it resides, this ancient city was dug up from below. Impressive?



Due to its strategic location, it's a common target in times of war and conquests, what they call 必争之地. Thus, the main purpose of the design of this ancient city is for defence. On the way in, there is a long, wide and deep moat which surrounds the ancient city. Even their residential houses do not have windows in them. The door to their houses are located at a secret passageway and will never face the main lane.



Entrance to the ancient city. The steep slope leading to the main city gate lies at 45 degrees. This makes it easy for their frontline defence where large stones will be hurled down the slope to deter invading forces.



The preserved city. Much like a ghost town now. We weren't supposed to walk freely among the crumpled walls and buildings for safety reasons as this city was supposedly full of underground tunnels.



Archaeologists discovered an infant cemetery where nearly 200 infants were buried near the 军部, military post. It's a question (even up to this present day) as to why so many infants were buried here. One believe that there was an epidemic which swept through the whole city and killed these infants. Thinking that the burial site is too 阴 for little babies, the locals buried these infants near the military post where it is thought that 阳气 is higher and thus will protect the spirits of the babies. Another story recounts the time when the city is on the verge of collapsing in times of war and parents killed their babies just before their city is invaded as they do not wish their little ones to suffer the fate of being slaves.



The ruins of the buddhist temple where 2 headless buddhist figurines stood. This temple was destroyed when the city was conquered by muslim forces. The heads were all destroyed as it was believed to be evil.



坎儿井, Kares irrigation system

This massive underground irrigation system was developed to bring water from the oasis to local farms and homes. Due to its dry weather, water will be evaporated faster than it could be brought to these places if open drainage systems are used. Thus, an underground irrigation system was dug to keep the water from evaporating. This massive system is made up of vertical wells, underground canals and small reservoirs. The length of the canals is so long it is often called the 'underground great wall'.





Walking next to the canals



苏公塔, Sugong Tower

An islam building, it consists of a large mosque where the locals pray. According to the local customs, females are not allowed to step into the praying area.





The scenery on top of the tower..



Islamic designs on the paveway leading to the Tower.



Islamic buildings are a common sight here. Even a local eatery is decorated with a heavy islamic flavor.



葡萄沟, Grape Valley

Unfortuantely, it wasn't the season for ripe grapes or we could have pluck the grapes ourselves...





We were encouraged to pluck ripe mulberries in the Grape valley instead! haha....





We made a stop at the local Village Chief's grape farm for a little rest and were entertained by their local dance.



This little girl just caught my heart!!!! She's so adorable!!! my god!!! The little princess whom everyone's eager to take photos with...



And she's there to send us off, flashing her sweet smile.... awww.....

Silk Road - 乌鲁木齐, Urumuqi

乌鲁木齐 at first glance...

Urumuqi is the capital city of the Xinjiang province in China, where Han Chinese are minorities in this area. It's a place where the sun sets at an ungodly hour of 10.30pm. Because of the long hours of sunlight which it receives, locals tend to use little electricity. There's no need for light bulbs if the sunsets around one's bedtime isn't it?

Here, we made a stop to have a glimpse of the tents of the locals.

The tents which are permanent homes to these people resemble mongolians tents at first glance. However, it turns out that there are still some subtle differences. For one, it's much bigger as they are not nomads and thus, need not move their tents as they herd their cattle around. Also, the 'roof' of the tent is squarish instead of being rounded (a distinct characteristic in mongolian tents) .

Their little door which leads into the tent... Surprisingly, there's a label indicating the tent number and the area which it's supposed to reside in.

The local baby boy practicing writing!!! isn't he just adorable???? (photo credits from yanyan @ http://yy-xw.spaces.live.com)

Heavenly Lake, 天池

天池, also known as the Heavenly Lake is well-known for its nice scenery with the snow-capped mountains standing in the backgrounds.

On our short trek up to the Heavenly Lake...

Ever heard of the chinese swordfighting drama, 七剑下天山? This drama is named after the Heavenly Mountain, 天山, as seen in the background. There are a total of 3 Heavenly lakes here, at which the largest is the main attraction. The water in these lakes originates from the snow which melts from the Heavenly Moutain. During winter, the water freezes and the Heavenly lake doubles as a ice-rink for the locals.

Silk Road - 乌鲁木齐, Urumuqi (food & flea market)

The gate which i board my plane while transiting at Kunming to 乌鲁木齐 (Urumuqi). There wasn't a direct flight so a transit is unavoidable. Unfortunately, the plane was delayed for 2 hours and i was tired to death.




The food box which was provided during the flight, promoting tourisim in yunan.




This is the first sign (one of many to come) which reminds me that i'm heading for a muslim destination. It also signifies the end of consumption of pork during my silk road trip. That is, until i reach 兰州, where the majorities are Han Chinese.



My first stop - 乌鲁木齐.

Because of the delayed flight, we reached our destination at around 8pm. Luckily there wasn't any activities at night cos we were all tired to death. Imagine travelling since 2 a.m. till 7 p.m. !

Our first taste of the local food, a local restaurant run by their majority race - 维吾尔民族, Uygur race.





Our dinner - 手抓饭, 酸奶(yougurt), toppled with a small portion of salad. The rice's not bad, cooked with their staple meat - mutton, till it's soft. The 酸奶 is a challenge however. It's really sour, especially at first try. One will need a number of tries until you get used to its sour taste. In an attempt to 'help' us, they provide sugar for us but it's really pointless to add it in cos you won't get to taste the local food isn't it?



The local beer which we bought while roaming in their night market. One of the many brands which i got to try cos there's a new local brand whenever you reach a new place.



Fried chicken drumstick which i bought at the night market.

We bought mangoes too!! ha.... 20RMB for 1kg.. It's really sweet and juicy. aahhh.... i miss it.

The night food market! Barberque meat sticks prove to be the most popular among all the varieties of food there. Stalls selling barberque food are all fully packed. Here's a glimpse of what else the market offers....

Salted chicken...

ho ho.... barberque mutton, as in they practically take the WHOLE goat and barberque it. I couldn't resist having a go cos mutton is their staple food so THIS got to be GOOD! We bought 1 kg for 35RMB. It proves to be like sooooo GOOD! By the time we got back to our hotel (we didn't eat it at the stall cos it's too packed and the charcoal smoke and cigeratte smoke was too overwhelming), the mutton bits was cold. BUT... the meat's so tender and their unique seasoning's sooooo delicious!!!! It wasn't so strong that it masked the original mutton smell. I LOVE IT!

Our chopped barberque mutton...

Local bazzar (大巴扎)

A market where the locals shop. It's funny how we are now the minority race in China where Han Chinese rule. The minoriy race, 维吾尔民族, are the majorities here. They are 80% blood-linked to Eurasians so many don't look like Han Chinese at all. In fact, they even have their own language but speak Mandarin too because of trading purposes. Most are muslims so there's little temples here. Mosques, on the other hand, are a common sight. Even the buildings here have a muslim touch in them.

I was interested in their local KFC menu so i got in for an ice-cream.

Look what i got on my handphone!!! ha... this cute little local boy!!! keke.... so handsome la! wa kao.... Should marry the 维吾尔 race....

The carvings on the tower in the middle of the bazzar.

Their local milk ice-cream which was made from goat's milk. 1RMB each, can you imagine that??!!

It has a mild vanilla taste and its such a relief cos the afternoon's pretty hot.

Their local produce - dried raisins and dried dates... The price tags which they put are redundant cos the price is ALWAYS open to bargaining unless otherwise stated.

Pomegranate juice, 5RMB for a cup. It's surprsingly nice, soothing and sweet.

Their local mosque next to the bazaar.