Sunday 7 October 2012

Hello,
Before I forget, below is a picture of Moon Cakes taken in our hotel room in Urumqi. This is the festival where everyone celebrates with Moon Cakes.
On last Tuesday morning we boarded a bus and drove to Turpan, or Turfan as the locals in Turpan pronounce it. It was a beautiful drive east along the Flaming Mountains of the Tianshan range. The bus drove just to the south of the mountains into the Turpan Depression which is the second lowest place on earth, next to the Dead Sea. It is also the hottest and driest place in China, along with being the lowest. Once a temperature of 62 degrees F. was recorded. There is almost no rainfall here. It was a rock desert and when we stopped at a WC it was cold and windy. There are wind farms and oil wells along the way. It is a rich mineral province but very bleak and barren. The mountains here are red in the sunlight and farther to the north you can see snow topped mountains. They are high and majestic. That was a surprise. There is almost no vegetation to be seen and very few villages. The highway was good.

We drove into the Flaming Mountains to see the Bezklik Grottos which are famous for wall art featuring scenes of royalty and Buddhism. It was such a remote and impressive site. The murals have been raided and are in museums across the world, but we could see the remnants and they are detailed, colourful and interesting. It was a flourishing place for 1000 years from the 400's CE or AD. The grottos are caves and passage ways cut into the cliffs.

After a few hours we arrived at Turpan, had a meal and went to visit the Ancient City of Jiaohe which is located on an island which is a perfect strategic location as the vertical cliffs on the island are over 100 feet high. No city walls were needed. This site had been occupied for over 2000 years and it is a large city made with mud adobe bricks. Since it rarely rains here, much is preserved and there were wells, temples, monasteries, administration buildings, etc. Look this one up. It is an UNESCO site.

The area is still a Uighur area and we went to a Uighur home which opened up into a great courtyard with low tables, carpets all over and all under a grape trellis. We had raisins and were entertained with dancing. The raisin industry is interesting. The raisins are dried in buildings that are made with bricks so that the walls are a lattice work. The wind blows through and dries the grapes naturally, making raisins. We saw these building everywhere, even on top of the homes. It looked like a poor area.

I will save the rest of the first day in Turpan for tomorrow.

Good bye for now,
MOM/Grandma/Kathy/Kathleen