The flaming mountains of Turpan

Distance covered - 2139km

The next day we bid each other farewell at the train station, where Mr Lee took the bus to the airport and I, having waited for another 4 hours for my train, took my first train ride to Turpan, the mystical city famed for the flaming mountains, and melons, too of course!

Initially Mr Lee was worried of me having difficulties getting adapted to the local train network, but it has proven that it is so ridiculously easy! Getting a ticket is effortless from the counter especially if you flash your passport at the counter and speak fluent  Mandarin! I took the Express Train from Urumqi to Turpan, around 2 hours journey, and the train was clean, comfortable and cosy! Sometimes you just have to get used to a handful of locals who still behave a bit eccentric, to my taste.

The new North Turpan Station

I arrived in Turpan city centre, after a 20km bus ride from the train station, at around 4pm, where I started wandering around looking for my hostel. Amazingly, there are only 2 hostels here that accepts foreigners, and they are both full. Fortunately for me I managed to secure a 4-bed sharing dorm in a local hostel, otherwise I would have to end up camping in the living room and corridors of the hostel like the other 20 campers there! 

A stroll at the nearby night market had me filled up with another round of mutton kebabs and naan, and I slept early that night because it was getting cooler day by day. Imagine wondering the streets of Turpan in shorts and slippers!

The next morning, I booked a ride to some of the main attractions around Turpan. The trouble with China is that most of the attractions are within the outskirts at all directions, and it is awfully difficult to venture there if you do not rent a car or grab a driver. Anyway, I shared the car with a Korean poppa, and 2 siblings from Guangdong.

Our first stop would be the Karez wells; the Karez wells are a subterranean network of water channels dug out by the locals, and the clean water from underground springs supply the entire population, livestock and also vegetations in that area. It is said that here, a city flourishes as long as the Karez well thrives. 

Karez Well tunnels

How a local draws water from the well

Next, we headed towards the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, which is located like 10km away from the city. The caves, which were dug out during the 13th century, houses murals and sculptures of Buddhist elements, are located on the cliffs of the Mutou Valley under the Flaming Mountain. Unfortunately most of the caves were destroyed by religious clashes, foreign explorers, and vandals. What a shame. Honestly, the murals here could never outshine those in Mogao Grottoes (will write bout it later), but it still served as a preview of what to come in the next few days of my adventure. 

Ibezeklik Caves

The only few caves left.

Our next destination was the JiaoHe Ancient City Ruins. JiaoHe was an ancient trade city that flourished with the silk trade long ago, but declined after years of religious clashes and warfare. The city is basically deserted, and ruined with nothing left except of remnants of the old muddy buildings erected during its days of splendour. Since my travel companions are not keen to pay for the entrance ticket, we opted for an alternative way, which is to take a van by a local driver, and head for another look out site where we could see the entire view of the tower. Well the majority rules I supposed.

Me and the ruins

What's left of JiaoHe

Mud Building

That's how the made raisins here, leave the grapes out to dry in the sun on the floor!

After that we headed back towards the Flaming mountains, where the Guangdong siblings bickered with the driver. The Guangdong siblings are extremely frugal, and they actually took pride in getting away from buying tickets to visit tourist sites while traveling. Anyway, the were coercing the driver to take us to another few more tourist spots, which of course was what we wanted too, but failed, and the trip turned sour. 

Journey to the West

Anyway, we took a few snapshots at the foot of the Flaming mountains, known as one of the hottest spots in the world where temperature can go up to 80 degrees celsius. The mountains are made famous by Journey to the West, where the monkey sage had to lend a mystical fan made out of banana leave, to fan out the flames on the mountain so the troop can cross over and head towards India. 

Flaming Moutains...just plain hot scorching mountains with no flames 

We took a spin at the Grape Valley, another huge tourist trap in Turpan, before we headed back to the hotel for an early rest as the Korean poppa and the Guangzhou twins left for somewhere else. After a short nap in the hotel, I went out to dinner with another local Chinese guy who stayed in the same room as I did, and we went out for some lovely local food, and tried the local milk beer (that actually tasted like yogurt!)

Dried fruits for tourists

Local specialty - literally known as Big Plate Chicken!

Well, not bad for surviving the first day on my own without Mr Lee.