15 Day Xinjiang Tour - Day 2

Day 2 (10 June):


We woke up early, left our backpacks at Ramada Hotel, carried our 2 days day pack, and went to Nanjiao Bus station to take a bus to Turpan - 吐魯番. I couldn't remember how long we took to travel from Urumqi to Turpan. But we all slept throughout the bus journey. When we arrived, we were blessed to be approached by a tour agency boss who offered to bring us around Turpan for two days for 500 Yuan for all 5 of us (about S$100). And we started lying - The people over there seemed to treat students better and gave us better deals. They had the perception that students are not very rich. So we all became "students" for the next 14 days.

We travelled around with this man called, MA MA TI, to visit a few cheap hotels. Though the hotels were cheap, we were concerned with their hygiene and safety. So we decided to stick to our plans and checked into Turpan Hotel at 22 Qingnian Nan Lu. The hotel was nice and they had a room for 3 person. Finally we could have a bed each. The price was decent too. 240 Yuan for a 3 bed room and 180 Yuan for a 2 bed room.

Ma Ma Ti got his brother to be responsible for bringing us around. And he took us somewhere for lunch. Here's what we had for lunch:

The oily Zhua Fan - 抓饭

Ding Ding Mian - 丁丁面

The "never-go-wrong" and nice Xi Hong Shi fried egg - 西红柿炒蛋

BBQ Lamb and veggie

After lunch, we went on our tour to Emin Minaret - 苏公塔.

(I shall not touch on the history of this place. Do read up online if you are interested to know.)

The weather was very hot at Turpan. The locals selling things at the Minaret told us that it was 42 degrees celcius that day! I bought a hat there for 10 Yuan to protect myself from the scorching sun.

Elaine and I trying to lean on the tower.

The front view of the Minaret.

An artistic shot - Guess what it is...

Ans: The D _ _ R

Another artistic shot...

Yanling and myself posing for a shot in the inner praying hall

The outer praying hall...

Artistic shot again - Inner circle

Outer circle

Check out the fine "prints" on the tower

Artistic shots yet again...

See how tired we were, walking in the scorching hot sun.

Found this structure at the back.. I supposed it's for praying too because of the crescent on top.

These tombs are found at the back too.

Then, we moved on to the Mansion of the Turpan Prefect.

The inside is pretty typical of what we always see on TV series.

And we went into the basement.

The pictures had faded. But they surprisingly appeared if we used flash to capture the photo.

This looks like the Summer Palace shown in the picture.

The different types of stove right outside the Summer Palace for cooking.

After this, we visited the Karez System. 

  I can't remember why I didn't take much pictures here. Probably they were in Yanling's camera. All I could remember was, there was a huge underground shopping area as we walked deeper into the irrigation area. I bought some souvenirs, postcard and a traditional top here.

After which, the person who sold postcards to us told us that we could visit the village head and it turns out to be a tourist spot where tourists bought their raisins from. We had a feast on a wide range of raisins and were told the different gradings and specific healing effects that these raisins had on human. Again, we told the village head that we were students. In the end, he didn't pester us or bring us to the raisins shops.

After this, we went to Jiaohe Ruins - 交河故城. Paid for the entrance fee, walked a few steps in and was greatly disturbed by the strong wind that's blowing the sand into our eyes and mouth. So we informed the person in charge of the area and was granted entry the next day instead.

Before we move on, this was what some of us did to try to brave the strong wind before we gave up trying. (Note: It was already 7.30pm but the sky was still so bright and clear.)

So we went for dinner instead. We had the local delight - 大盘鸡

 

The naan that got the girls excited. It was super hard! Not my cup of tea.

So we asked our driver if there's any softer ones and he ordered a big plate of softer naan which was, basically bread...

On our way back to hotel, we passed by some street market. We requested to get off to get a watermelon and two honeydews to replenish the water loss due to the hot weather.

And this is how some locals travel from place to place.

And so we bought the fruits. Introducing Mr Wa(l)ter and Mr Hamid!

And to end the day off, we went to John's Cafe which is located just behind our hotel!

And we had Sinkiang Beer for the first time! (Note: A bottle of beer is cheaper than a bottle of green tea.)

I'm finally done with Day 2! Let's see if I'm still keen on updating the rest of the 13 days. Hahaha!