Turpan, China, June 2016

Dag 40. Turpan

I dag brugte vi dagen i Turpan.

Vi begyndte dagen med at køre ca 10 km udenfor byen og se en gammel ruin ( Jiaohe ruinerne). Byen blev bygget for ca 1600 år siden imellem 2 floder, eftersom det er så gammelt, er det ikke meget tilbage, men et flot sted alligevel.

With Sophie - Sammen med Sophie

The Ruins - Ruinerne

Efterfølgende var vi ved Karaz vandingssystemet. Et unikt system af underjordiske vanding kanaler, som er blevet brugt her i området i mange, mange år, og stadigvæk bruges.

The amazing grapes - De flotte vindruer

Området her minder os rigtig meget om Iran. Rigtig mange af de samme slags bygninger og maden er også lidt som i Iran.

Vi tog så tilbage til hotellet og spiste frokost og slappede af. Louis og Michael var ude og få vasket biler. De formåede at blive væk fra hinanden, og fandt hver især en bilvask.

Love his ourfit - Er vild med hans tøjvalg

Buying fruits - Så købes der frugt

Om aftenen gik vi en tur i den lokale Basar – sådan et rigtigt Kinesisk marked med billigt tøj og krims krams. Vi har ellers fundet ud af, at importeret tøj er meget dyrere, end vi er vant til fra Indien.  Fra Basaren gik vi vel ca 3 km til en restaurant som Sophie havde valgt ved at følge Michaels kriterier, ( Kebab og Air kondition. Godt valg.

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24th June. Turpan

Sightseeing day.

Turpan is commonly called China’s Death Valley. Turpan is 154 m below sea level, and is the 2nd lowest depression in the world. (The Dead Sea being the first).

Local bus! - Den lokale bus

You would expect everything around here to be dead, but no, this is a massive oasis in the middle of the desert. In Turpan, the heat puts the local population into a state of semi-torpor. This town, has been inhabited for thousands of years, and was one of the most important towns on the Silk Road.

We left, for the Jiaohe ruins at 9,30 am.

This is one of the oldest, and best preserved ancient cities ( 1600 years old). It was nice walking around these ruins, but dammed hot. Fascinating to see, how they had build, interesting Buddhist monasteries, in caves, about 400 years after Buddha starting preaching.

At Jiaohe - Ved jiaohe ruinerne

Got back to our cars, which were even hotter than the temperature outside, 40 degrees plus. We then drove to the Karaz irrigation system.

This is a fascinating Central Asian irrigation system, which includes hundreds of km, of above and underground canals, wells and reservoirs. It was really nice, walking underground, to inspect these canals, where most of them are still working, and are still used for irrigation, to turn this place into a fabulous oasis. 

Karaz

On the way out, Louis was in a state of panic. He could not find his phone. He ran back in with our guide Sophie, and came back smiling, with his phone in his hand.

Drove back to our hotel, for lunch, and to rest our tired limbs.

Louis and I, in the late afternoon, went to wash our cars. Both of us lost one another, and were driving around in circles. Funnily enough, we both found 2 different places to wash our cars, with different experiences.

Waiting for Louis - Vi venter på Louis

We visited the local Bazaar in the centre of the town, and soon got tired of all the copy Chinese goods. If you stood in the same spot, for more than 10 sec, the Chinese will even copy you. So neither your wife, nor anybody else will know the difference. Walked a few km, to eat, at an air-conditioned dining place. ( For Louis it almost seemed like it was 50 km away.)

The dinner restaurant - vores restaurant

The lake by night - Søen 

Had a fantastic meal, of kebabs, yoghurt and aubergine. I am in 7^th heaven. Tasty end, to a long tiring day.