So, what did I do on the train for 35 hours? I slept through part of it, read a few pages of my book and fell back asleep again, walked through the carriages, played minesweeper, watched the landscape changing from region to region; dusty and hot Gobi deserts to factory towns and mountains, and more mountains and nothingness. This is also one of the least traveled routes for foreigners.
In the hard sleeper carriage. I traveled solf sleeper class because it was a long journey, and I needed a bit of privacy. I've never had so much packaged food in my life. I have so much acne on my face now :(
2500 KM and 35 hours later, I arrived in Turpan, which was once an important location on the silk road. In Turpan, Uighur people are the majority and Han Chinese are the minority. Most signs are written in both Han Chinese characters and Uighur language, which looks like Arabic but not quite. Uighur are so friendly; they are smiling all the time. I instantly fell in love. In terms of appearance, they look mixed; some look like they come from across the border while some have minor Eastern Asian features.
The weather is terribly hot and dry here, because it's the lowest point in China. The mountains are brown, the houses are brown; it looks like a desert. It reminds me of that movie "Journey to the West".
An Uighur kid.
Houses made of mud and bricks in Tuyok village.
Tuyok village.
Uighur bread; Nang.
Turpan is famous for their grapes. And look at that smile :)
Dated sometime before Christ, Jiaohe is the best preserved ancient towns. It also helps that it almost never rains in Turpan.
The whole town is sand-colored. You could walk for hours and hours in this deserted place. It was awesome; I've never seen anything like this before. This place is also a little mysterious; people have different versions of the reason for which it has been abandoned. Some say that the rivers dried out, some say it has been destroyed by the mongols. There was also a baby cemetery, and no one knows why so many babies died.
I love the desertic landscape.
