Turpan (吐鲁番)
Our seats on the 2 hour train journey Urumqi-Turpan.
Our train journey was an experience in itself. My personal preference for night trains is to book a sleeper where I get to rest, however since Turpan is only 2 hours away from Urumqi, we booked hard seats instead. The hard seat carriage seemed to have been planned with the concept of a group and family of travellers in mind, in the center of the carriage, the seats faced one another with a mini built in table in between. It so happened that our seats were in the center of the carriage and the seat facing us sat a little too many men, half being Chinese and half Uighur. They were friendly nonetheless, on the way to their hometowns. One of them was a seasoned tour bus conductor who listened to our accounts of our travels thus far in Xinjiang. Xinjiang Province itself has multiple attractions which lay thousands of kilometres apart, he suggested more efficient routes we could take if we were to visit again in future. I guess when we visit a province, we learn that there are other attractions we gradually realize should have planned for en route. One of them is Korla (阿勒泰) which is the hometown of some of those we spoke to on the train. There is an internationally acclaimed Ski Resort there, apparently. I was more intrigued by the fact that these men had longer journeys ahead of them, some of them were heading to Altay and would only reach around dawn yet they had opted for the hard seat instead of a sleeper. Their reason was that they preferred to have hearty conversations though which they don’t get in sleepers. We spent our next two hours looking at photos of their hometowns from their phones.
There are two Railway Stations in Turpan, the first known as the Da He Yan (大喝沿) where normal trains pull up at. The second Railway Station is known as the Turpan North Railway Station (吐鲁番北) which caters to bullet trains. When purchasing an online ticket to Turpan on CTrip, it is important to note the station you will alight at as both stations are of varying distances from the city. Turpan North Railway Station (吐鲁番北) is a lot closer to the city in comparison to Da He Yan (大喝沿) .
In our case, we alighted at Da He Yan (大喝沿) which was extremely far from Turpan City. Most who alight at Da He Yan (大喝沿) were not heading to the city and in addition to our arrival at 0100 hr, there was only a lady from our train who was heading to the city. There are a few private drivers outside the station and we shared a private car with the lady for 100 yuan total. As we were “foreigners”, the police came to take photos of the car we would be travelling in and also noted down the contact number of the driver before we left.
Exiting Da He Yan (大喝沿) at 0031hr. On the right is a video of the darkest car journey I have ever been in. The driver knew the roads extremely well for I could literally not see anything except for the speedometer lights.
Turpan felt like a heated basin indeed. Da He Yan (大喝沿) is at 800m in altitude whilst Turpan City itself is in the negative. Our private driver raced along the straight empty road that stretched seemingly forever. There was no aircon in the vehicle and we were experiencing the heat of Turpan in the hot air that gushed into our faces through the open windows. I was amazed at our driver, it was evident he had been driven for years as our surroundings were hauntingly dark and ours was the sole vehicle tearing down the road from the Da He Yan (大喝沿) Railway Station to the city in the distance. The lady sat in silence, hoping to reach her family as soon as possible – she resorted to taking this late train as she had missed an earlier train. The ride took around forty minutes and we checked in to our hotel exhausted, but glad we managed to make it in the dead of the night.
After a dark silent ride on a road that seemed to stretch endlessly, Turpan City can be seen on the horizon. On the right is our very first view of the city.
Settling into Jinhua Jinxiu Hotel. 0135hr.
We have made it from Kashgar to Turpan in one night with a transfer at Urumqi!
3 June 2019
Turpan is well known for its four “misgivings”(四罪)/ characteristics:
1.) Its the most heated region in China (Especially hot in August) (最热 )
2.) It’s the driest region in China (It doesn’t rain here) (最干)
3.) It’s the lowest lying region in all of Mainland China (最低)
4.) It’s the region that grows the sweetest grapes in the whole of China because its soil is constantly exposed to the sun which is too hot and dry for the growth of pests and thus there is no need for chemical and pesticide sprays. Without rainfall, its only water source is the non-polluted minerals from the Tianshan Mountain Region which are said to contribute to the long lives of the people of Turpan. (最甜葡萄的地方)
In fact, the hostile environment meant that Turpan soil is only conducive for growing grapes and 瓜 like 哈密瓜.
We joined a day tour the next day via a pre-booked package on CTrip. It was a full day tour at about 238 yuan per person inclusive of lunch and transport which was an air conditioned van that sat about 10 pax. The meeting point was at Turpan North Railway Station which costed us 29 yuan to get there from JinHua JinXiu hotel by cab. Cab fares in Turpan start at a base fare of 7 yuan.
Leaving the Hotel the next day to Turpan North Railway Station , the assembly ground for our day tour. 0859hr.
Assembly at Turpan North Railway Station for start of Group tour. 0922hr.
One incident that made the group tour experience unpleasant was the hard-selling attempts by the tour guide herself. We had bought the tour package without lunch included, it was stated that we would have time to find out own lunch. However, since the start of the tour she brought up an optional lunch buffet package inclusive of a ride on the desert tram at an additional 180 yuan per pax. Whilst it was mentioned to be optional, we had no other choice for the tourist destinations we eventually dropped off at had no easy access to food stores. Most of the tour participants bought the lunch and desert tram package in light of convenience, including Christine and I except for two ladies who were given an hour to somehow find lunch outside.
Once we reached the venue for the lunch buffet, the two ladies who did not opt in for the additional package were instructed by the tour guide to return in an hour’s time. They went off across the road to nothing beyond, I wasn’t sure how they were going to get lunch.
Grape Vineyard. 1023hr.
Complementary Lunch Buffet. 1130hr. There was a fruits and desserts section outside the main buffet area, however to access this fruits and desserts section we would need to pay an extra fee.
Some of the food variety served at the Main Buffet area.
My own plate, I took about two more servings after this before feeeling very full. Other participants of the tour also did not eat much, the tour guide did not eat at all.
Our lunch came with a complimentary performance. At that time, only our tour group was present. The dance was enjoyable to watch however, they had an audience interaction segment after that where the audience would be invited to dance which was a little awkward with only about 10 of us around. Being one of the youngest, I got ushered on stage. Was reminded of one of the reasons I did not like participating in group tours in the first place, watching performances however enjoyable were not as fulfilling for myself as walking through the local streets, biding my time.
With the performance, we took at least two hours for our buffet lunch. The ladies who did not opt in were waiting when we finished.
After lunch, it was time for the Flaming Mountains. This might have been where battles were filmed in many Chinese Historical dramas, the mountains itself are made from earthen rocks admist an area that sees an avergae temperature of 30 degree celcius. Which honestly does not sound so bad until Turpan reaches its hottest month in August, the temperature at the Flaming Mountains can therefore rise up to 49.6 degree celsius.
Site of the Flaming Mountain. 1330hr.
A working themormeter sculpture right in the middle.
Desert Patrol Vehicles on standby for rent.
We were then headed towards the highly anticipated Kumtag Dessert! I never knew walking in the sand was such a chore. With every step, my legs sank to almost knee level each time I trudge through to the top of a sand dune, there are only more sand dunes in the distance to be conquered.
Spending the rest of our afternoon at the Kumtag Desert. 1753 hr.
There are a variety of activities one can do for example sandboarding for 30 yuan per person and renting a Desert Patrol Vehicle to experience different routes of varying intensity (130-600 yuan per person).
My disintegrating shoe held well and lasted me through this ordeal.
Lastly, we ended the tour with a visit to home-based raisin production house. The accompanying scenery en route was breathtaking in every way.
We were seated at this large communal area, on those huge wooden benches decorated with patterns where they placed a low height table filled with fruits before us. After eating, we were introduced to the different types of raisins they offered for sale.
One encounter I thought was particularly memorable was when we headed to the night market that evening for dinner. We were in front of a night markets and was wondering if we should enter when a Uighur worker walked out. We asked him which market he would recommend, his or another one down the street. He looked at his workplace and the market in the distance for a while. “Both are the same.” he replied. In these regions where there are more Uighurs than Chinese, we would hardly experience any hard selling. The service staff are downright honest and serve with moving enthusiasm. Little gestures like standing up in a flash from a break when they see customers was heartwarming.
Our chicken dinner for 27 yuan each, at 2331 hr. We seemed to be eating late each day.
4 June 2019.
As our booking at JinHua JinXiu Hotel in Tupran did not come with complimentary breakfast, we settled our breakfast at nearby food stores.
煎饼 and a bowl of noodles at 0920hr. 17 yuan in total.
We had a train to catch back to Urumqi later this day. For the earlier part of the day, we visited Jiaohe Ancient City (交河古城). Built in the second century BC, it was once a thriving city during the Tang Dynasty period but was later destroyed and abandoned during the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th bentury BC over successive years of war. The entrance ticket costs 105 yuan with no student discounts applicable. Do note that the ticket itself includes entry to both the historical site of Jiahe Ancient City as well as a man-made Jiaohe Ancient Village which was constructed internally to provide more information about the daily lives of Jiaohe Ancient City dwellers back then.
Ruins of Jiaohe Ancient City (交河古城), 1231hr .
Interior of Jiaohe Ancient Village.
Outside Jiaohe Ancient Village. On the right, there was a rather lighthearted banner that reads “Lamb meat from a lamb that has yet to be married.” 1305 hr.
The cab fare from Jiaohe Ancient City (交河古城) back to Jinxiu Jinhua hotel was 33 yuan. Next up, we were to check out and head back to Urumqi to begin the last leg of our Xinjiang journey, the Kansas National Park. This time, we would depart from Turpan North Railway Station (吐鲁番北) which was closer to Turpan City, the cab ride from our hotel cost 37 yuan. Our bullet train from Turpan to Urumqi from Turpan North Railway Station (吐鲁番北) was scheduled to leave at 1706hr. My insect spray was confiscated here by security who had evidently not seen anything like it before and were suspicious of the potential damage it can cause. I tried reasoning with them that I would need it when I get to Southeast Asia later but it was in vain. They spared my insect repellent patches which was good enough.
Till then Jinxiu Jinhua Hotel, staying in Turpan wasn’t as hot and dry as I had feared it to be.
For this short journey back to Urumqi, we decided to take the bullet train.
There is a baggage storage area at Urumqi Railway if one needs it. We needed to store our luggage as we had yet to book our tour to Kansas National Park. From the first day we landed in Urumqi, we had noticed that our Hostel had no nearby tour agencies and thus we decided to store our luggage at the Railway Station, find a tour agency to book a Kansas National Park trip from, collect our baggage and then return back to rest at the Hostel. The fee was 10 yuan per luggage.
Arrival at Urumqi Railway Station, 1823hr. Baggage Storage area, one you have deposited your baggage, you will be given a receipt which you will have to later show to the staff as proof for verification.
Back in Urumqi!
We took a cab to the Tour Agency for 18 yuan.
I had initially planned to make our own travel arrangements of the area with the assistance of Chinese apps and information from websites but Kansas National Park was too far and inconvenient (Check-points) for self-arranged travel so we spent some time in Urumqi looking and signing up for a Chinese tour at a any tour agency. We settled for a 4 day 3 night tour priced at 1380 yuan each and were to depart on an overnight train to Beitun that very night. A few hours later, they called us to return to the agency to inform that the train option was not viable for foreigners and we had to switch to the bus package which would leave early the next morning for an additional 50 yuan. We weren’t exactly pleased but there were no other alternatives.
After finalizing the tour details with the operator by about 2000 hr, we took a cab back to the Railway Station for 25 yuan to retrieve our baggage and headed for our Hostel. Our tour will begin the next morning and we were to bring all our luggage with us since we will be staying overnight.
Bespoke Bestay Hostel at Urumqi, 0102hr (Centre Image). Although small without working Wifi, it was the cheapest accomodation deal (Which accepts foreigners) we would get at 74.50 yuan per night.