Around Turpan

Most of the sites for Turpan are actually outside the city so we had to charter a cab. It was a full day, but we managed to get lots of sites in. Below are some ancient Uighur Buddhist caves, that date back 1000's of years to when Uighurs were actually Buddhist, not Muslim. The walls were painted and there are some images amazingly left, but most of it had actually been cut out and sent to Germany by an German in the early 1900's. Something the Chinese were clearly perturbed about - especially since it was then lost/destroyed during WWII.

And you can't visit the desert without riding a camel! Jillene was a natural, but she said that she wasn't a fan of 'bare backing' a camel. Not too comfortable...
I didn't mind it, although going downhill wasn't ideal. I was just happy the camel didn't pull up lame from all of my weight due to the mass food consumption I've been undertaking.
A view of our surroundings while out and about on our camels.
This is flaming mountain. Nothing too spectacular on its own, but infamous in Chinese history.
We headed to Grape Valley outside Turpan for lunch. Rightly named after what they grow there. It boggles the mind that anything can grow here, but apparently this is the perfect climate for grapes. And because water is readily available thanks to the Karez's, they take off like wild fire. A plush valley of green grapes in the middle of a dessert. Beyond the grapes are stone buildings, this is where they will dry some of the grapes to sell as raisins. Grapes aren't quite in season yet, so we disappointingly didn't have the chance to indulge other than a few stolen sour grapes off the vine. However that didn't stop us from eating a ton of great raisins.
A little shade for lunch... Believe it or not, the roof is filled in by grape vines, so there is nothing but the leaves and thousands of grapes growing right above our heads. Not sure why, but it works great and the temperature difference in the shade below a 'grape vine roof' must be at least 10-15 degrees. Lastly there was Jiaohe Ancient City. 2000 years ago people lived in the middle of the dessert just outside Turpan. They are undoubtedly the ones whom started the Karez system and built an entire brick city out of the only land available to them. Amazingly enough, some of the city still stands today and you can really get a feeling of its layout and the buildings around you with streets. All pretty impressive stuff worth braving the 43-45 degree temperature it must have been to go and see.
A better shot of the city.
Remnants of one building.
This picture was taken from Jiaohe, but really has no attachment other than the fact it is right beside. We like it because it yet again really shows the vast difference in landscap seen here. The dry hot dessert, and then plush green valley of grapes and poplar trees.

Turpan was great, and by far a favorite in Xinjiang. A very memorable 3 days were spent here, if only we had more time...