Blogs from Turpan, Xinjiang, China, Asia

Ok, 9 am breakfast in Silk Road Lodges, Turpan, a veritable feast including nan bread, feast of local delights and, rather quaintly, four budgerigars flying around our heads. 10.00 our driver arrived and we went to see Jiaohe ancient Buddhist century, largest mud city in world, check it out - walked in, saw the whole site in perfect weather, cloudless sky, all to ourselves. No point in my describing it, as it is so famous, but well worth our trip if we see nothing else. Then we went to see a section of the Karez system, whereby ice-melt is fed through underground hand-dug conduits for thousands if kilometres to help the desert blossom; again, very famous but great to actually see for oneself, and another private viewing! More power to the Chinese, they have everything open ... read more

Well, we are here in Turpan. Will skip journey, but last 45 minutes descent into Urumqi was amazing, very low and steady over rugged, jagged mountains, thick with snow between the bare peaks and cliffs, glaciers almost to touch, incredible. Urumqi a bit chilly, minus 6 or so, great hotel (Luxemon Xinjiang Yindu, used booking.com) and brilliant unlimited buffer dinner (with wines etc.). Maghnus met us at hotel, so we are all three together, up at 6am for 9.04 bullet train to Turpan, what a machine! Gliding through the largest windfarm I could imagine, then by txi intotown, staying at "boutique" Silk Road Lodges (booking.com), a neat, comfortable and ideal place on a working grape-farm just about 1km from Emin Minaret, in the Uighir part of town. Security is tight, as anticipated, but we are enjoying ... read more

The train from Hami stopped quite abruptly in the middle of the desert, we're guessing it was because of the wind because once we were at a standstill the train and electric wires were swaying all over the place. Apparently it's a common problem that they've tried to fix by building a wall along the north side of the line. To steal and bastardize the quote from Jaws - they're going to need a bigger wall. It's unbelievably hot here - over 40c in the shade in the afternoon and not lower than the mid 20s at any time of the night. Like the other places we've stayed in western China it also has a weird daily rhythm and routine. Because the whole of China officially operates on one time zone out here it's dark until ... read more

TURPAN TUESDAY 24 JUNE 14 Distance: 96 Kms SubT. 3,500 Kms Bal 8914 Kms Road Condition: highway. Good Weather: fine, cloudy and moderate wind. Time in Saddle: 4 hrs Av Speed: av. 25 kph. Elevation: 350 m : Decent 750 m Calories burned : 5000 Left our marvellous hotel at 7 am. Room was best on trip. Pity to leave it so early. The ride today was relatively short, good road, reasonable head wind. Today we road below sea level, meaning that the only meaningful direction is up! Within the next 3 weeks we climb to over 4,500 metres. Winding around the streets of TURPAN to the hotel was pleasant. The entrance was along a colonnaded, tiled road, with overhanging vines. Ate lunch at John's Cafe, a chain in DUNHUANG, TURPAN, & KASHGAR. No John in ... read more

After the tiring day in Dunhuang, I looked forward to the night in the train back to Urumqi. The soft sleeper with its clean sheets, its gentle sway just enough to let me drift into sleep and no noise whatsoever. I lay on my bunk, the Mogao caves flooding my mind with the mythical images floating in one after the other. I was basking in my thoughts, feeling every bit of the tiredness that sometimes doesn't let you sleep too easily. When a certain annoying sound made its way through the layers of images going through my head. It took over all my attention. And revealed itself as a full fledged snore orchestra. I have travelled on night journeys several times. Have had many snorers around me. But never have I wanted to kill one of ... read more