Who ate all the pies

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For centuries this old oasis has seen countless travellers stopping for a break from the oppressive desert heat and Turpan was a great place to take time off from our trip in the wasteland.
Getting our 30 day visa extension was easy, it took one day,one photo and 160 yuan,no questions ,no drama's,if only our Kazak visa letter of invitation(LOI) would of been the same story.Unfortunatly our time in Turpan was hampered by regular trips to the international phone next to the hotel to call Advan tour our LOI company in Almaty and our families back home to act as third parties to use our email as the internet is unavailible here due to last years riots.What a headache!Thanks to my folks and Tati's brother we got what we needed but as far as getting a Kazak visa that journey was far from over.I dont understand places like Kazakhstan, a country that has apparently opened its doors to tourism,yet when you want to come here for more than a month its suddenly back to the dark ,paranoid communist days of the USSR
''Why do you want to be here for two months comerade''
''Good bloody question Vladamir''
With 50 pounds spent on phone calls(the internet came back on two days later) we could finally enjoy Turpan and forget about red tape for the time being.With plenty to see and do around the area we took in the old Afgan minaret and mosque, while not meaning to go in to begin with, the architecture dragged us within and with permission I was able to enter in my cycling shorts.Got a right dressing down from an American tour group about the right clothing in a mosque.School boy error.Did find it funny the next day at Jiaohe ancient city when the very same tour group caught me in the same shorts(cyclists rarely change) this time in an old buddist monestery.Any nestorian churches around here we can meet up at tomorrow?
Back in Turpan,wandering beneath the wide shaded grape vined walkways we marvelled at the change of lifestyles,its very central asian here.The men wear flat caps or doppa's,grin with gold teeth and hook noses are prominent.The women in headscarves or bright coloured shall's wear dresses with a real 60s look,wear their hair long and have large dark eyes so different from the chinese women.Not just Uyghur here though, there are the Hei hei,Mongols,Kazaks,Manchu's to name but a few of the dozen or so ethnic groups in this region,they look similar to us but no doubt the locals know the subtle differences.People seem to argue more here,is it the heat or the recent troubles,alot of drunk men too.Seems strange in the muslim world,is this a chinese import?Or a Russian influence?Then again theyve been making wine here long before the coming of Islam in the 14th century.Heard our first words of russian here too,with the Kazak border little over 600km away it looks like we will soon be honing our few russian words sooner than expected.
The food has taken on a whole new taste too.After months of rice and noodles we couldnt believe our luck when we stumbled across plate sized lamb meat pies behind the market.Tasted great but felt a bit ill after eating three in a row.So every day for a week we had pies( down to two now),frozen yogurt and fresh tea from an antiquecopper kettle from Korea.Thrown in some kebabs and we'd soon regained any weight loss from the desert crossing.So much easier to put on than to take off!
With no internet we entered the busy computer arcades,Tati beat the hell out of me on Street fighter,we both beat the hell out of virtual commies on the Rambo shoot em up(watch out Kazakhstan) before the machine overheated,then I showed the youth of China how to drive on Outrun 2006,reliving a misspent youth.Nothing like a bit of culture on the silk road.
The day we decided to leave was a bit of a no show.Took the bags out only to be warned by the hotel drivers that today was a bad day to travel.It had been stormy and dust lingered in the morning air.
''Go tomorrow,it better for you,Allah has told us so and weve seen it on the weather forecast''.
Fair enough!A couple of drops of rain was enough to convince us to head back indoors and a couple of hours later it became a fine day with decent tailwind.Even the gods get it wrong from time to time.
No such problems in the morning though,we were up and away early, heading gradually up out of the basin for the first three hours all together with the traffic again, the morning was still and we had no idea of the approaching nightmare.Felt the first lick of headwind after passing under the flyover to Turpanzhan,ahead of us lay a valley bowl ,full of windmills all facing away from us.Oh dear!
With 45km done we would only cover a futher 20km today,mostly pushing as the wind grew quickly to an all out assault on our exposed position.It was war!What a battle we had on our hands .After attempting to ride and being blown out into the traffic by the gusting wind there was nothing else for it,we had to push.It howled around us,feeling like an invention in a wind tunnel we pinpointed a building away in the distance and headed there searching for a place for early lunch and respite from this hell.3 to 4 kmh was all we could manage although sometimes the wind would drop slightly allowing us to jump onto the bikes and get 200 or so metres before it howled back down the Bogda Shan.
It was really shit!I dropped my bike at one point as the wind ripped it out of my hands,didnt know it at the time but it broke the last two supports on the left side of my rack.With all three now broken,the entire side of my rack will now be held on by cable ties and luck until Urumqi.Thats two deserts and two racks as my first one died a death in the Mauritanian sands 18 months back.
Ate lunch next to a wild guard dog ,behind a wall tucking ourselves in behind some cable drums but no matter where we went the wind followed.Water became an issue too.Kicking ourselves for letting our guard down against the Gobi ,thinking the worst was over we could only hope that at Bayan there would be a shop of some sort, for now we could only struggle on and make the best of what we had.
For 20km the wind was relentless,probably walked 15 of the 20 clicks into Bayan where we were very happy to find all that we needed at this small toll and truck stop.Theres even a ''hotel''.For now though were gonna tough it out and see if the wind dies down a bit,theres a walled garden that offers a decent wind break and shelter from that other natural phenomenon,Chinese truckers.
Five hours later or about seven pages of the travels of Marco Polo nothing had changed,judging by the appearance of the bent trees this wind looks fairly local and has set up shop for the night,nothing else for it we got ourselves into the hotel sharpish.And what a dump!
With the wind still blowing strong in the morning we resigned ourselves to a realistic two day trip of 60km a day into Urumqi.Heading up into the gorge alongside the dual carridgeway on a smaller road we tried to admire the dramatic change in the landscape,following the river upstream through the rugged gorge that we hoped would give us some cover from our latest bout of pedals from hell.
Ten km into the gorge the wind died down to finally become a tailwind as we climbed out of it into a vast wide valley of green grass hemmed in by a panorama of the Tian Shan snow caps.Amazing views,fantastic change in fortunes.This stunning scenery took us through the very chinese town of Dabancheng where we topped up on an Uyghur special of cold noodles in soaked bread topped with hot mutton kebabs.Very nice!
Passing shepherds and huge flocks of sheep munching away in the long grass we were happy again, hoping the worst of the Gobi was now behind.The windfarms now faced us,we breezed along past a couple of alpine lakes away to the south and decided to camp out within range of Urumqi.A good afternoon put us a stones throw away by the evening ,we will be in Urumqi long enough dealing with our Kazak visas and camping in the hills was just the ticket.Took a while to get camped though.The army were out training and we didnt fancy a run in with a load of young exited boys with guns.
Found a grand spot,cracked open the beers and decided the Gobi was a great place to cycle through.......once.

Supply notes
From Turpan east to west
Bayan 65km toll and truck stop, restuarants,shop,hotel above shop(Turpan to Urumqi side)50RMB a dive but ok
Dabancheng 35km on from Bayan small town with everything including hotels
Chaiwopu 25km outside Urumqi, junction shops and restuarants

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Photos

Pieman
at the market in Turpan

Hardcoring
pushing was the only option

What a diference a day makes
Tail winds and the Shan