jiejie

Zhangye gets very few tourists compared to Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, Lanzhou, and even more remote spots in southwestern (Tibetan) Gansu such as Xiahe. Even most Chinese don’t seem to know this town exists. Clearly a marketing opportunity here. But luckily for the rest of us who aren’t enamored of what happens after mass domestic Chinese tourism reaches a place, Zhangye is pretty virgin territory. The large, clean public square area has a nice focal point of a 1000-year old Wooden Pagoda (Muta). Actually, it is made of both wood and brick/block, but is in remarkable condition considering its age. It’s been stabilized and cleaned up, but fortunately not overrestored. It’s climbable for RMB 5, but looking at it from the outside is enough and is free. (My favorite of this genre though, remains the huge Wooden Pagoda at Yingxian near Datong, Shanxi province—now THAT is a fabulous piece of architecture and up there in the my top 5 Pantheon of Chinese pagodas.)

However, the Zhangye Muta was just a tiny appetizer, as the real meat-and-potatoes was down the street a bit—the Reclining Buddha (Dafo) Temple.

Dafo Temple (Reclining Buddha)

This Temple is noteworthy for several reasons:
--It’s the largest indoor reclining Buddha in China. And there aren’t many left to begin with.
--It’s incredibly old (about 900 years).
--It survived decades of Silk Road visitors and Chinese warlord tussles.
--It survived the Cultural Revolution intact. (Which goes to show that even then, nobody thought Zhangye was worth going to, even to smash things up)
--It survived the tacky technicolor “renovations” that the Chinese have been doing at nearly all temple sites over the last 20 years. Instead, what you see is the real thing such as faded centuries-old paint. If you like authenticity, this is it.
--It is elegant in its simplicity, almost primitive. Nothing like the over-the-top gilt you see in Thai temples. If “charming” was an adjective that could be applied to a Reclining Buddha, this would be the one.
--The grounds of the Temple are well-kept, peaceful, and have some other great features (Stupa, Guild Hall) within the complex.
--It has a really odd entry fee—RMB 41. I have no idea what the extra RMB 1 is for, but there is definitely good value for your entry fee at this Temple.

From the first step inside the complex, I loved this place. The lack of tour bus groups makes for a peaceful and contemplative visit. Unfortunately, my 16:30 meet up required me to speed-visit the back of the complex including the Guild Hall area. This place is a Winner, and worth about 1.5 hours of your time.

Danxia Landform

Danxia is an area of geological interest and now a World Heritage Geopark. A sandstone formation, it’s notable for the visibly technicolor rocks and outcrops due to the variety of minerals. The director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony) has used the place as a backdrop in at least one of his movies. Because the rocks and canyons are most vivid under late afternoon sun, the best time to show up there is about 2 hours before sunset, given time of year of your visit. During summer, the optimum time to leave Zhangye for Danxia (currently 1 hour drive each way) is about 16:00-16:30. And of course, a bright sunny day is ideal, not one with clouds or overcast.

My driver was raring to go at 16:30 sharp, so we headed west out of the city. The road at the beginning is good, and we passed a lot of new low-rise construction, including what taxi girl told me was a new high-speed rail station, to be opened in about three years. Zhangye will get a High Speed Rail station before anywhere in the USA does--Ha! Then we got into an agricultural area, then the road got progressively worse though still paved. Lots of construction on the road including some bridgeworks and temporary go-arounds. My driver did an excellent job of maneuvering without losing too much time or speed, and she knew all the peculiarities of this road. She said she comes out to Danxia (for travelers) about 20 times per month. Sheesh! At RMB 180 per pop (OK, let’s say 150 average), that’s RMB 3000 a month just for Danxia trips. Have to hand it to her, she was enterprising and with a sunny personality to boot. And couldn’t have been more than about 25 years old. Good for her.

We arrived at Danxia parking lot about one hour later, at 17:30. All private non-VIP cars and taxis park in the lot, tourists buy two tickets: RMB 40 official entry fee and RMB 20 for the required small eco-shuttle buses that actually drive in the park itself. Arriving at about the same time were about 10 more Chinese in various cars, so I was grouped with them into a Shuttle and off we went with our hostess/guide. The tour is done in Mandarin and I’m not sure if they do any English language tours—perhaps by request with advance notice. But even if English is not available, you don’t really miss out that much if you don’t understand Chinese—it’s a natural site and speaks for itself. By now it was about 6 pm and the sun, which I feared had disappeared for good behind a cloud, reappeared nicely. Danxia shows up at its most colorful in strong late afternoon sunlight. So don’t go on a cloudy day, but fortunately Zhangye area is pretty uncloudy, unhazy, and sunny for most of the year (at least that’s what the natives told me.)

The park shuttles operate on a standard route with stops at four viewing points. At each location, you have between 15 and 30 minutes to walk around the boardwalks and steps and take photos. (Time allotted per viewpoint depends on its size and pathway extent, but it’s enough time). You see a cacophony of color and pattern: oranges, yellows, browns, purples. Not a bad place to play with your camera settings. It’s not the Grand Canyon in that epic sense, but a nice natural geology that helps bring to life the variety and grandeur of landscapes along the Old Silk Road. The fourth and final viewing point requires a bit of a climb to get up to a ridge line. On the day I went, while up on that ridge, we saw some weird clouds in the distance that looked like they were rolling on the surface of the land, towards us. Plenty of yells from the bus drivers below were pretty clear: sandstorm coming! I quickly took some neat shots of that sandstorm progressively swallowing up the panorama/scenery, then we landscape viewers scuttled down the steps as fast as we could, fortunately getting to the buses in time. It was pretty impressive watching the sand haze obscure one hill after another as it marched towards you. And a bit surreal when it overtook the (fortunately parked) bus. I reflected that I’d much rather be in a vehicle for this rather than a camel per Lawrence of Arabia. The things the ancient travelers had to put up with.

The parking lot at the base of the Geopark was fortunately not getting the sand, so I got to the car and patiently-waiting taxi girl set off about 19:30, so a good 2 hours in the park, plus one hour each way for driving. For a Danxia visit, carve out 4 hours for a round-trip out of Zhangye, including transportation time.

Arrived back in Zhangye about 20:30, absolutely starving and in need of a good meal. Although I thought it was late, lots of people were actively eating. Things shift later here, probably because local lifestyle time doesn’t fit normally with official Beijing time. Even though the clock said 8:30 p.m., the westbound distance from Beijing that would put this in a different time zone in any country other than the PRC (which has a single official time zone for the entire country), meant that the natives were treating it more like a 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. normal dinner hour. I found a street of restaurants by following my nose and other hungry-looking people walking down the sidewalks. Went into a pretty nice looking Chinese place (white tablecloths, etc.) and even though very busy, found me a table. A very friendly hostess and wait staff, surprised that I was on my own. I, in turn, was surprised to see three big round tables for 10 each, filled with a big French touring group. So maybe Zhangye is making it into the French travel agent and touring books. Ordered up some pork with the scallions and pancakes, and some sijidou and rice. It was delicious! The pork was very tasty and the whole meal hit the spot, including 2-3 bottles of nice light COLD beer, which I finally looked at the label and saw “MONS” brand.

Then headed back to my hotel room after a nice pleasant evening walk (not quite dark when I finished up eating at 9:30 pm,). Still many, many locals wandering around. My previous plans to try to go to Mati Si the next morning got scuttled, as I was very tired and did not want to get up to make a 7 am public bus. Also reflected that it was probably a mistake not to book a hotel ahead, in such a small city that has relatively few acceptable places and a lot of dumps.

jiejie

Although I usually feel a bit guilty about foregoing a sightseeing opportunity, I needed to sleep in and had the first long continuous sleep I’d had in 3-4 days. So my previous night’s decision to forego going to Mati Si and the cliff caves was a good one. Mati Si would have required a 5:60-6:00 am wake up and getting over to Zhangye’s South Bus Station just before 7 a.m. Ugh. Also, I felt like I was coming down with another Jiejie travel bugaboo—a sinus infection. So about 9:30, I got my day started with a visit to the West Bus Station next door, purchasing my usual pair of tickets for the next morning’s 7:25 bus to Jiayuguan....and got front seats 1-2 which is perfect for viewing and photo taking enroute. OK, my exit plan was set for next morning.

Then walked a different route from previous day and found the entrance to the “Cultural Center” which appeared to be a big park/amusement park (I didn’t enter), then a pedestrian walking street with piles of vendors and little restaurants. Walked on to Zhangye’s Drum Tower (yes it has one just like Xi’an) which is much more austere and less impressive, but more appropriately scaled for a small city like Zhangye. It’s the largest Drum Tower in the Hexi Corridor. Following some photo-taking and managing to avoid getting hit by traffic whizzing around the circle surrounding the Tower, I next walked to the central market where I found a treasure trove of decent-looking food and noodle stalls and small restaurants. Some Chinese and some Hui. Went into a Chinese-owned one and had a steamer basket of pretty decent pork baozi for RMB 5. Filled me up so can’t beat that!

Earlier in my walk, I’d had a curious encounter while in a shop buying a cold water. I was about to exit when in walks someone excitedly saying something to me in heavily Gansu-accented Chinese. Finally got that he was asking me if I was a “Yesuren.” Light bulb went off and I made the sign of the cross plus praying hands to doublecheck his question. Yep, he was asking if I was a Christian (Yesu-ren = “Jesus person”)! We left the shop together and talked for about 5 minutes walking down the sidewalk. When I asked, he said the Zhangye local government didn’t give them any problems, and there were in fact a lot of Christians in Zhangye—he said a few thousand. This surprised me—the Christians managed to find this town even when the Red Guards didn’t? Decided that at some point in the day, I’d definitely go by the church I’d seen marked on the map

So enroute to the church, I worked my way back around to the plaza with the Muta Wooden Pagoda and noticed a passel of swallows swooping in and around the pagoda. Sort of like a Chinese Hitchcock “The Birds” vision. I took a few photos then rested a bit with some cold water under a tree. It was blisteringly hot but after a brief rest, walked on towards the Church marked on my map. In the immediate vicinity of the church, I managed to find the few remaining examples of Zhangye’s old traditional houses and architecture, completely falling apart. The property seems to be somehow related to the church, which is fairly new and definitely not falling apart. Found my way into the Christian Church (a nondescript metal gate from the east street) and met a lady inside who was happy to open it up and show me inside. Simple, but roomy and bright, probably could fit 2000 people. Apparently the church in this city is quite active and had plenty of activity photos to prove it. And while this building is new, apparently Christianity has been around Zhangye for a very long time, way back to the Silk Road times when the Nestorians found their way along the Hexi Corridor all the way to Xi’an. (near Xi’an are some Nestorian Christian sites hundreds of years old). I had a simple but nice chat with her, took her photo, then headed off, snagging the backside of my favorite pants on some loose gate wire on the way out. Grrr.

The heat was getting to me so I went back to the hotel for a late afternoon shower and a rest, heading out at 19:00 to pick up my laundry—which was nicely done. Dropped that back at the room then went to dinner back at my previous restaurant, who seemed happy to see me again. Unlike the previous night, they were not nearly as busy, there were no Frenchies nor any other foreigners around. This time, I managed to have a good look at my beer before I started drinking it, and saw that my “MONS” beer brand from yesterday was actually a “SNOW” beer. Amazing what a label will morph into after 3 of them, and the clarity you get when looking sober at the label from the right direction. It had not been an incredibly productive day from a Big Sightseeing point of view, but a very slow paced and relaxing one, which really solidified my liking of friendly little Zhangye city.

Why is Zhangye Special?

Strictly my impression and gut feel, but I noted the following, which certainly cannot be applied to every place in China. :

--A nice scale to the city. The streets are wide enough but not really wide. The buildings are mostly low rise so you get a nice small town feel, and particularly in the Dafo Temple area and northward..
--Lots of trees line the streets, it’s quite pleasant in the warmer months of the year though as with everywhere else in non-mountain China, also hot.
--Friendly natives who seem to genuinely enjoy visitors.
--The natives seem to be nice to each other, I saw even strangers helping out others. There doesn’t seem to be the constant scamming and cheating attempts going on. Everybody seems to get along. There are some scattered minorities around, Mongols, Tibetans, Yugurs, but it is basically still a Han town.
--Relaxing atmosphere, nobody is in much of a hurry..
--Decent range of eats, straddling Chinese and Hui traditions.
--Inexpensive town.

Some people might find the following cons:
--Zhangye is not as wealthy as other Hexi Corridor places like Jiayuguan and Dunhuang, and it shows. It can be less shiny and polished though by Chinese standards, not dirty or scruffy.
--Very few English speakers anywhere. Actually I didn’t find any locals that spoke English except at Danxia--a fellow traveling Chinese from Shanghai. With some elementary Mandarin or a phrasebook with characters, one could manage. The locals will help you. Alternatively, a guide prearranged in advance with a tour company could smooth the way.
--No posh accommodation though there are some adequate places that should be acceptable for most people. I saw a brand new hotel just opposite the back gate of the Dafo which looked quite swish, so maybe change is coming to Zhangye.
--No western restaurants, not even KFC or McD’s. And so far, no independent westerner has opened a cafe here like in Dunhuang.

Bottom Line: This is a very worthwhile and pleasant stopover town on the Silk Road. Despite not being packed with tourist sights like Xi’an, I was quite taken with the place, and that doesn’t happen very often to me in China. If I ever do a Jiejie’s Hidden Gems thread, Zhangye would make the list.

mnredfox

And the adventure continues..... ^

Jamoldo

I'm going to have to +1 the above

jiejie

In Ming-era China, Jiayuguan marked the end of “civilization” and the beginning of barbarian territory along the Silk Road. West of Jiayuguan was a lot of desert, a few oases, and from time to time, varying levels of control by the Han Chinese. Jiayuguan is where the Hexi Corridor is narrowest, and in olden times keeping control of the Silk Road through this point was not only of economic importance but also military. A major fortification was called for and the Ming emperors built a substantial one in beginning in the 1300’s and not completed until the 1500’s. Fortunately, goodly parts of this fortification and surrounding walls, both reconstructed and unreconstructed, still remain for modern travelers’ viewing pleasure. But first, you have to get there.

Jiayuguan is now accessible by plane from Xi'an and Lanzhou (maybe also Beijing) but flights are not plentiful and tend to be pricey, as the route is geared to business travelers not tourists. If one is already not too far away like I was, it makes more sense to get there by train or bus, of which I chose the latter. The journey from Zhangye to Jiayuguan was the first intercity bus ride on this trip, since while getting into Zhangye by rail is useful, the schedule of outbound, westbound trains was either too early or too late for my needs. The bus trip, departure promptly at 07:30, was expected to take 4.5 hours. It was a nice a/c coach, I had my usual purchased pair of seats, right up front so I could see the road ahead, and it promised to be a comfortable trip. The first 2 hours were on local surface roads and included an annoying long 25-minute stop at a nearby town. But eventually, we entered the Gansu-Xinjiang expressway and things sped up quickly on an excellent, 4-lane, divided highway. This particular stretch was fairly desolate except for quite a few trucks, and on a bright, sunny day threading our way between two parallel lines of mountains, the “Corridor” part of Hexi Corridor was truly emphasized. Lovely views of the mountains in the distance. We left the expressway at Jiuquan, a city nearby Jiayuguan that is famous for hosting China’s Space Launch Center where they send up the rockets and taikonauts (foreigners are expressly UNinvited from even using the road approaching that facility). We arrived at Jiayuguan bus station at noon straight up, and I immediately got a taxi to my hotel on the big square.

Jiayuguan City

Modern Jiayuguan is a strange place, one of the oddest cities I’ve ever visited in China, and it probably stems from the fact that it is essentially a ‘company town.’ The largest economic enterprise and employer is the Jiuquan Iron and Steel Group (JISCO). There is an enormous steel mill that you can’t miss when you approach Jiayuguan. It owes its existence to the discovery of iron ore in the nearby mountains to the south at Jintieshan, and to coal to the north in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia proper. Fortunately on the day I arrived, there must have been a break in production schedule, as there were no emissions from the factory to mar the brilliantly blue sky day. So far, since leaving Beijing, my record of blue-sky days was 6 for 6.

Although the city is not that large in population, it is laid out on a monumental-scale urban grid of new boulevards, the size of which would be appropriate for Beijing but quite out-of-place for a city of this population. Huge streets flanked by huge sidewalks. The effect was to make everything and everybody unnecessarily spread out, which gave the city a pretty soulless feeling. Too much paving, not nearly enough greenery. Overly big statues, squares, fountains—the entire effect was one of somebody’s big ego trip...and I’ve no doubt it was the City Fathers + JISCO. JISCO also owns the three ‘best’ hotels in Jiayuguan and is into a variety of other non-steel enterprises as well.

After a quick set-up in the hotel and purchase of a city map, my first errand was to advance purchase a train ticket for one segment of my return journey, from Urumqi to Dunhuang. The 10-day sales period had just opened, and I wanted to get my paws on a sleeper before they sold out (which in summer, they quickly do). This required a taxi trip over to the train station, as the remote ticketing office near my hotel wouldn’t sell anything not originating in Jiayuguan. The driver waited while I successfully purchased my future soft sleeper berth, after which I had him take me to what on the map appeared to be a major junction in the center of town, where surely I’d find restaurants or snack shops, etc. He gave me his name and number in case I later wanted to recall him for the trip to the Great Wall and Jiayuguan Fort. Then I started out on foot.

Another strange quirk about Jiayuguan: it is a city that’s hard to find food! Almost unheard of for a Chinese city, there seemed to be no restaurants except for those inside hotels (which were mostly closed as it was now mid-afternoon). I passed a couple of very grubby snack bars and even grubbier market area with snacks of dubious vintage laid out...and kept on walking. Blocks are long and the day was hot. I managed to find a bakery with some not-too-tasty goods to tide me over, then kept working my way down the endless boulevards towards my hotel. The locals were not particularly welcoming although not nasty either, but the ‘vibe’ of this city is just weird and off-putting—I don’t know any other way to describe it but as a long-term resident of China, my antennae are pretty well-tuned. My impressions of Jiayuguan were sinking by the minute and not helped by my increasing sinus infection.

Change of Original Plans

I had originally thought I would spend the first afternoon at the western end of the Great Wall and associated old remnants. Then take the entire following day to go to the Qiyi (July First) Glacier in the nearby mountains. Requiring two nights in a hotel in Jiayuguan then a morning day train out to Turpan. However, additional research done during the trip on Qiyi caused me to decide to scuttle the Glacier mission entirely. It really required heavier clothing than I had with me, I had no travel buddy for safety, there were likely to be few people up there, and with no tour group to join in, transport was either expensive or convoluted via the Jintieshan mine workers’ train. And the physical exertion required was not going to square with my problematic sinus. Although I moaned at having to scrub the Glacier mission, it was the only thing that made sense, so I decided to just take it easy this first day, spend one night at a hotel, the next morning at the Great Wall, then rest up in the afternoon and leave on an overnight train the following night.

Previously in Beijing, I had purchased all the train tickets I could before I left, sequentially as each sales period opened up. For Jiayuguan, I had a funny feeling I needed to hedge my bets, and actually purchased two separate soft sleeper tickets Jiayuguan-Turpan: one on an overnight train for June 21st and one for a morning day train June 22nd. With the intent of getting to Jiayuguan and then deciding which one to use, and refunding the other. Including the Glacier meant using the later ticket; punting the Glacier meant using the night train ticket and refunding the one for the 22nd, which I did for a 5% penalty—which turned out to be a cheap RMB 17 loss. Tip: If really in a quandary about time scheduling at a future destination yet critical to get a train sleeper out, sometimes buying two separate tickets as a hedging strategy is a good idea. (Buy at two separate offices, or ticket windows of course!) When you get to the departure point and make the decision, refund the unwanted ticket and get 95% of the face value back. Usually larger train stations will have a special window (tuipiao 退票 ) for returns—you’ll need your ID along with the actual ticket to give back.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon mostly walking straight down the main boulevard, looking pretty much in vain for restaurants. I eventually found a grubby looking Muslim-owned noodle shop near my hotel and got a fairly delicious spicy beef noodle soup with naan bread for quite cheap. Actually was just what I needed, as it got my nose opened up nicely, at least for awhile. Bought some water from a shop nearby and back to hotel for a wash and a rest. Was rather unhappy that I had yet another bathroom setup which wet down the entire place trying to take a shower. But the room itself was pretty nice. Around 19:00, I heard music (the Paso Doble!) start up in the square outside and looked out to find several hundred dancing locals, with the kids running through the cool water of the fountains that had been turned on. The most social life I’ve seen going on here, ending promptly at 21:00, after which time the ample sidewalks, squares, and plazas went back to that unworldly state of desolation and absence of people.

jiejie

The first order of business at the hotel was to arrange a late checkout for a partial day rate. With a 22:00 evening train, I didn’t want to be a refugee in this city for endless hours, and wanted my resting pad until 20:00. Then outside to meet my taxi driver promptly at 8:00 to head over to the Jiayuguan Fort.

Yesterday’s rather negative impression of the city as a soulless artificial construct continued to be confirmed today. The entire concept of the modern town is just wrong, and the city didn’t have compensatory factors to make up for it like friendly, outgoing locals. When I questioned my taxi driver about the scarcity of eateries, he confirmed that was indeed the case in Jiayuguan.

The Fort

The main tourist attraction of the town opened at 08:30, but curiously, the ticket windows didn’t open until 08:35—as clearly posted in the curtained-off booth. It’s quite close to the city, so my arrival at 08:10 resulted in a wait, jockeying for position in front of the four potential ticket queues along with a passel of tour guides holding fistfuls of RMB 100 notes to cover all their bus loads of tourists. At least the bus hordes themselves were busying themselves in the shopping vendor area and buying snacks while they waited for their tour guides to get their tickets. And I do mean “hordes.” I positioned myself right at the front of one of the windows and prayed that when the curtain opened, a ticket seller would be in front of me. Fortunately, my prayers were answered and I got my RMB 120 entry ticket quickly, then scampered up to the entry gate to get a head start on the tour groups. It usually takes big Chinese groups awhile to get organized and march to their target.

Note: the RMB 120 ticket is a combo that entitles you to three entries at three separate locations: One at the Jiayuguan Fort and associated Museum, one at the Overhanging Great Wall (Xuanbi), and one at the First Beacon Tower. Anybody making the effort to get to Jiayuguan should go see all three, so keep the ticket safe and handy until completely done. (The Shiguanxia Great Wall is close to Xuanbi but not included in the ticket, and at any rate is redundant so no need to specifically visit it.)

Scroll down to the satellite image on this website to get a good feel for how these sites are laid out in relation to the city, and how the Mings located their Wall segments to bottle up this strategic corridor:
http://www.greatwallforum.com/forum/...ll-review.html

I got up directly to the East Gate without dallying, and into the Fort itself. I found I had about 45 minutes before the tour groups got up there, so during this time I managed to take quite a few decent photos without crowds messing them up, also savored some of the architecture, gates, and the General’s Residence. The jousting field in the middle of the fort was pretty corny, as were the “soldiers” dressed up in old armor garb (which couldn’t have been comfortable in the growing morning heat). Irritatingly, two major buildings, including the iconic West Tower facing the barbarian/desert side, were covered in scaffolding for renovation/repair/stabilization. This is apparently going to continue for awhile. However, it was still quite impressive coming out the back and looking over the expanse of desert, with the mountain ranges on the south and north marking the Corridor, and the Wall snaking out from the Fort. As lore has it, this very West Gate is where undesirables were kicked out of Ming “China” and sent into exile to find a new life out in Xinjiang or beyond.

Unfortunately, pandering to mass Chinese tourism has kicked in here. Beyond the Fort proper, touristy camel ride ladies were ready to pounce, but not my thing. (I hate camels!) However, I did get some good shots of a couple of local camel-masters in a caravan riding in from the distance. Less amusing were the costume-dress up places to get one’s photo taken as a Han soldier, a turbaned merchant, etc. I have no idea why the Chinese love these silly activities so much.

I returned through the imposing West Gate back into the Fort to hear a cacophony of tour groups in the distance. They were pretty much heading straight up the ramparts to walk around rather than stay on the “ground floor.” So up I went, too. Some very nice scenic panoramas, and one could imagine hundreds of years ago, the soldiers guarding the way into China proper, and repelling the barbarians at the gate. The Qilian mountains in the distance looked especially enticing, and I felt a pang of regret that I had decided to forego the Qiyi Glacier trip. Ah well. Qilians were blueish and snow-covered, in contrast to the opposite range, the Heishan (Black Mountains) which were much lower and looked geologically completely different. I spent part of my rampart walk getting pulled into photos from visiting Chinese, but it was all in good fun, particularly the nice small group that had come all the way from Guiyang in Guizhou province. Goodness, Chinese everywhere are traveling these days!

I finished up at the Fort part of the site just before 10:00, one of the first ones in and one of the first ones out, but saw everything at a reasonable pace—so allot up to 1.5 hours here. I met many more group tours coming in so was glad I did this first thing. After heading out the East Gate, I walked down to the left to the Museum which wasn’t bad but wished it had more complete English captioning. I particularly liked the painted bricks that had been found at the nearby Wei—Jin tombs, which I was NOT planning on visiting since I’d heard there was not much left onsite there to make it worthwhile, and tourists at Wei-Jin are limited to only a couple of small tombs. The Museum was very sparsely attended, but a worthwhile investment of about 30 minutes of time. The only sour note was the huge souvenir shop that was unavoidably placed in the Exit path. Grr.....I hate when the Chinese do this shameless attempt to coerce you into stopping and shopping—it only makes me close my wallet more firmly.

Xuanbi—The Overhanging Great Wall

As I walked back through a less-traversed path through a semi-forested area, I called my taxi driver to come pick me up and take me onward to Xuanbi Overhanging Great Wall (he didn’t wait, but went back in town to pick up more fares while I was at the Fort). It took about 20 minutes to get to Xuanbi, as it’s a bit distant to the north of Jiayuguan city. The entrance is over a mostly dry gulley with a “Water Gate” structure, then you get up on the low Wall segment and walk towards the very large hill with the Wall snaking up it and into the Heishan (Black Mountains). This section of the Wall was rebuilt in the late 1980’s and to me, it looks it, particularly up close. It takes about 30 minutes to walk/climb up to the tower in the Heishan, but on a hot day with no shade, I decided to forego the effort. Frankly, anyone who’s seen Mutianyu, Jinshanling, Simitai, Jiankou, etc. in the Beijing area will have seen better, IMO. However, if you look at the Wall in this location in the bigger context as a defensive device, it’s still worthwhile to come out here and spend maybe 20 minutes even if you don’t want climb. I think if my visit had been during a cooler time of year, I would have gone ahead, taken an extra hour-ish, and done the climb to the end and back. If you do go to Xuanbi, you will no doubt come up with snarky comments about tacky contrived-for-tourist attractions such as the caravan of fake sculptured camels, etc.

Instead of exerting myself climbing, I spent more time with a group of four Gansu Tibetans who were intent on taking me + them in various photo combos. I had heard them speaking an odd language which I couldn’t immediately place and thought maybe something Central Asian, but no, it was Tibetan. Sounding like a different Tibetan dialect than the Sichuan-Aba Tibetan I was more used to hearing from acquaintances in Beijing (which I later found out was indeed the case). We could communicate a little bit in Chinese though, and a few English words. I did get out of them that they were devout Buddhists and big on the Dalai Lama. And they seemed really thrilled to meet an American.

The First Beacon Tower

Back to my taxi (this time he waited for me) then onward again to the final of the three GW sites: The First Beacon Tower. Our route did not take us back through Jiayuguan city, but sort of skirted the desert on some rather questionable roads. In the vicinity of the FBT, you can see a lot of actual unrestored Great Wall, now weathering away and deteriorated, but still impressive.

Unlike the Fort, there were almost no tourists at the First Beacon Tower and zero groups. My driver first went to the parking lot next to an underground “cave” (completely manmade) which held tourist trap facilities and a couple of very bored salesgirls. At the end of the cave is a viewing platform that overlooked the river, which functioned in olden days as a huge, steep-sided moat. The river wasn’t very impressive, as it was perhaps too late in the year to see what snow melt can do to swell it. Also, some construction equipment looked to be dredging another channel in the gravel river bed...for what purpose, I have no idea. I spotted the lines of a Zipline ride across the river to the other side, but nobody was using. It looked a bit dangerous to me and I wouldn’t trust the thing to be maintained. It’s just a shame that the Chinese think this sort of “enhancement” is a good way to treat an important historic site. A quick 10 minutes in this disaster of a tourist trap and we went back out to parking lot. At least the Underground Cave was nice and cool for a quick break, and had toilet facilities.

Up top again, we drove one minute to the actual remains of the First Beacon Tower, right on the edge of the cliff over the river, this was the farthest lookout for the Ming Great Wall. The original earthen Great Wall is right there, projecting all the way back to the Fort and beyond. Fortunately, a open metal fence has been placed around the ruin itself to protect the ruin from modern Chinese marauders and vandals, but still allows for easy viewing. It’s pretty humbling to think of soldiers being stationed out here, literally at the edge of “civilized” China. What a lonely spot to be assigned. A cut through the wall had been made to allow for vehicle passage, so we went 5 minutes to the other side (outside the wall) to overlook the river again, and to see the recreation of the soldiers camp. It was a bit of a climb down to get there, so I just contented myself with staying up top on the plateau and taking photos from above. A very desolate spot, indeed.

Back in the taxi with my Great Wall sites completed, we headed back to the city where I had him drop me off at the “best pharmacy in town” so I could by some badly needed antibiotics for my sinus infection. Parting ways, the driver and I had a little misunderstanding about the fee for the day’s services. He wanted RMB 210 (70 per site) and I thought he had originally said more like total of RMB 110. We compromised at RMB 150 (50 per site), since he didn’t wait for me at the Fort but went into town for another 1.5 hours to earn separate fares. I don’t think he was trying to cheat me, I think in this instance I screwed up and the previous day when I did the deal, didn’t get absolute clarity. My bad. At least though, for him it was easy money, compared with having to earn a bunch of fares, 6-8 yuan at a time.

Final hours in Jiayuguan

Fortunately, the pharmacy had just what I needed, a closely related drug to what I normally use for my recurring sinus problem. I only prayed that it was real and proper strength to work. And the shop girl was the friendliest person I'd met in the city. That done, I walked around through a market area (winding down at this point) and back to the main Xinhua Boulevard. Still didn’t see any restaurants...or anything that looked clean enough to try. By now the temperature was in the upper 30’s (C), so I just decided to get a taxi back to my hotel and eat lunch there. The Mao-themed restaurant actually had good food. Back up to room for a rest, some internet, and a wash up. The extra cost for the 8 extra hours of airconditioned bliss, plus a decent shower and hair wash before travel, was worth it.

I got a taxi to the train station and arrived well in advance of my 22:00 train. The Jiayuguan train station waiting area is small, dirty, crowded, and incredibly hot. Completely awful, an embarrassment to the city. And to make matters worse, my train was delayed an hour. I ended up going back outside the building to wait—and of course it was a very still evening with no wind blowing. Finally went back inside a bit before the gates opened for boarding, and sweating like a pig, got to my compartment (soft sleeper, bottom bunk), set up my silk sleep sheet, and tried to cool down a bit before laying down and nodding off. Probably not the most stellar day of sightseeing in my travel history, but hey, I did get to see the Western End of the Great Wall. But Jiayuguan is a city that just didn’t hit me right.

I just KNEW that my next stop, Turpan, was going to be a whole lot more fulfilling.

Bottom Line: If Jiayuguan can fit into one’s itinerary naturally, then definitely make a stop there specifically for the Great Wall-related sites but don’t linger. If it is possible to get in, spend about four hours on these sites, then leave again the same day, do so and spend your time elsewhere. Or, arrive, see the GW sites, spend a night, then leave as soon as possible the next day to your next destination. If your time on the Silk Road is short and you can’t get to every possible destination, then definitely put Jiayuguan as the lowest priority on the list unless you are a professional Great Wall researcher.

moondog

Like I mentioned previously, I'm eagerly awaiting your thoughts on Turpan; that place is simply cool. Regarding Jiayuguan, the bath house opposite the train station was (is?) pretty mind blowing.

mnredfox

Congratulations jiejie for getting props in being mentioned in this week's version of FT Talkmail. Well deserved!

AA_EXP09

Very detailed and informative report of North China, jiejie!
It's nice to read this considering the only place in N China I've been is PEK.
The places I go in China frequently are PVG, WUH, CGQ, and lots of places in Guangdong (CAN, SZX)

moondog

+1; jiejie is now famous! Most of my trip reports consist of monthly journeys to SH and HK; this stuff simply doesn't compare with the west. All future China visitors should consider making their way inland (after getting their fill of BJ/SH/HK); lest I say it again, Turpan is pure bliss.

jiejie

I am honored and surprised to have made Talkmail. Ooh, the pressure is on, I can't abandon this Trip Report now in midstream....

OK, now for some more adventure.....

jiejie

Today marked the trip’s passage from Gansu into Xinjiang, which occurred in the wee hours on the overnight train from Jiayuguan to Turpan. The wisdom of purchasing the sleeper ticket way back in Beijing was apparent, as this train was completely sold out in all classes. I once again had a soft sleeper lower berth, along with a compartment mate also heading for Turpan. The two upper bunkies were going all the way to Urumqi. The journey was decent although it seemed like the train was crawling along for the last 2 hours into Turpan and we were already an hour + behind schedule.

Turpan itself currently has no in-town rail station; the railhead is at a small junction called Daheyan, from where you need to get motorized transport to actually get to town. Immediately outside the station, I was met by a driver who wanted RMB 80 for the ride in (which is about right)....or I could wait for him to find 2-3 more passengers and pay just a proportion of the full fare. I elected to get going immediately and solo, and off we went, taking about 45 minutes to get into Turpan city over a dusty and fairly busy road. It’s not a big deal--roughly the equivalent of taking a taxi from the average big city Chinese airport to/from town. Driver gave me his card with phone number in case of future transportation needs around the Turpan area, and dropped me off at my hotel. It was now not quite noon, and very hot (40 degrees C) so I saw few people on the town streets. Likely eating and resting. The desk staff was similarly sparse but friendly, and obligingly gave me a room on my requested north side of the building (cooler and the a/c doesn’t have to work so hard). I rested a bit than went for a walk through the middle of town, heading over to the fabled John’s Cafe for lunch and to talk about some local wheels for sightseeing.

Turpan City

Turpan is a legendary stop on the Silk Road. Between the far western part of Gansu and Turpan, there was desert and nothingness. In modern times, the small city of Hami (famous all over China for its melons) has sprouted between Turpan and Gansu province and there is now a good expressway that overlays the old camel trails. But in olden times, Turpan must have been near-Nirvana for weary Silk Road caravanners heading in both directions. For the modern traveler coming from the East, Turpan is also the first settlement of size you’ll encounter, that has a distinctly non-Han Chinese feel to it. Although there has been some in-migration of Hans from the east and particularly in the last 20 years, Turpan is still fundamentally a population of Xinjiang-born Hui (Chinese Muslims) and Uighurs (a completely different ethnic group speaking a Turkic-related language). The Mosques, bazaars, restaurants, ladies’ headscarves, and a multitude of other characteristics give you the feeling of “ooh, we’re not in China anymore.” Well, sort of.

Turpan owes its existence to the interesting geological fact that it is in a depression on the Earth’s surface. In fact, the Turpan Depression, at about 150 meters below sea level, is the lowest point in China and the third-lowest on earth. Although extremely hot and dry (probably one of the hottest and driest cities in China), it has access to water, specifically meltwater coming from the nearby mountains. The below-sea level siting of Turpan and nearby villages allows for a man-made, ancient gravity-fed irrigation system that has been able to sustain life and agriculture since the time of Christ. In particular, one sees grapes as far as the eye can see. The immediate area surrounding Turpan is one of the world’s biggest sources of quality grapes and raisins.

Area Sightseeing Plan

Until recently, Xinjiang including Turpan was of marginal interest to foreign travelers and no interest at all to Chinese domestic travelers. However, over the last 5 years or so, mass Chinese-style tourism has indeed come to Turpan, with all its warts. Per the current marketing literature, Turpan has many places for the tourist to see, but be forewarned that quite a number of these are very contrived tourist traps specifically designed to appeal to Chinese. This is one place for which you should really do your advance homework, and come up with a shortlist of what is worthwhile to you so you don’t waste time and money. If you engage a tour agent, give them the list of where you want to go rather than submit to their standard set-up, lest you end up in places you really don’t want to be. Due to required timing of getting to Kashgar two days hence via Urumqi, my time in Turpan was limited, and in practical terms, I had one afternoon and evening, and the following morning (one overnight) only. But with a private vehicle engaged locally, workable. My shortlist of See and Avoid came up as follows:

See: Jiaohe ruins, Gaochang ruins, Karez well system/museum, Tuyoq village, Flaming mountains but only from the road, Ejin Minaret but only for exterior photos, Turpan Museum

Avoid: Grape Valley, Flaming mountains tourist enclosure, Desert Ecological Tourist Zone, anything to do with camels.

Omitted: Astana-Kharakoja Tombs, Beziklik Caves (decision on these was due to marginal value of an on-site visit due to site conditions and accessibility, future viewing of key artifacts now residing in Turpan and Urumqi Museums, and better sites of the genre to be seen elsewhere on this trip)

My walk from hotel to John’s Cafe behind the old Turpan Hotel was hot, but fortunately partly shaded under very atmospheric and practical grape trellises that cover some of the town’s side streets. The grapes weren’t quite ripe yet but the foliage was thick enough to provide substantial shade from the heat. John’s Cafe is run by Hans and I ate a so-so quality and overpriced Chinese lunch. But sitting alfresco under the thick grape arbors was relaxing and very “Turpan” and John’s managers were helpful, arranging a driver for that afternoon’s sightseeing and also for the following morning, plus a transfer from hotel to bus station at conclusion of time in Turpan. They charged me RMB 320 for everything since it was on split days (RMB 300 if all on one day, which didn’t work with my schedule). A bit steep but not completely outrageous given the distances and time involved. This was a per vehicle price, so 2-3 people traveling together would just divvy up that total between them which would be quite good value. We also divided up the sightseeing geographically: Karez Well System and Jiaohe (which are west of the city) that afternoon; Ejin, Gaochang, Tuyoq, Flaming Mountains (east of city) the following morning. Start time and a pickup at my hotel was set for 16:00 and I left to check out the Museum which wasn’t too far away. Turpan’s new Museum was completed around 2010 and replaces the old one—it is in a different location about 0.5 km away so get updated information if you head there.

The Museum is free and has some decent artifacts, and is a good midday/midafternoon activity during the summer when it’s too hot to be outside. I would rank it as a decent “filler” site in Turpan but not a priority, and particularly if one will be stopping by the Xinjiang Provincial Museum in Urumqi, where a lot of Turpan-area artifacts actually ended up. It was not crowded when I was there. An hour would be enough for most visitors.
Had enough time to get back to my hotel for a brief rest and a camera-battery recharge session.

Karez Well and Water System

The driver picked me up right on schedule at 16:00 and we were off to our first stop, the Karez Well irrigation system display and museum. “Karez” is the Uighur word for “well” and is also used more holistically to describe the ancient, gravity-based method of getting fresh water from the mountains to the Turpan settlement area. A system without any pumps, it starts with a headwell in the mountains, that takes advantage of height and meltwater from accumulated snow. The main irrigation channel is underground with vertical shafts spaced at intervals to allow construction and access. It all ends in a holding pond from whence they irrigate fields---nearly all of the substantial grape production of the region is done this way, also saw some vegetable hectarage and of all things, cotton. The karez system is fairly limited to the Turpan region of Xinjiang due to the geography of the depression, though there are a couple of other places in Central Asia that can support a similar system. It’s all quite ingenious. Wikipedia has a pretty good overview description of karez.

Although a drive through the countryside and villages surrounding Turpan will reveal active karez (you can spot them by the gopher-like surface access holes lined up in formation), it isn’t particularly user-friendly for the casual tourist to head off and hunt for them, nor could you see the underground channel that is central to the system. This is where the tourist venture of the Karez Museum comes in. It actually is not a bygone relic, but a real working karez where access has been created via an underground gallery, to accommodate visitors and show the system in action. There are interesting displays (not completely English captioned) and while not extensive nor taking much time (20 minutes is enough), the cool of the underground is a refreshing break from the surface heat. Surrounding the underground building and access/exit points are walkways shaded by grape arbors, with well-spaced plaques providing interesting tidbits of information about the karez system (in English) where one could spend another 10 minutes walking and reading.

The downside to this attraction is an entry fee—RMB 40, and both entrance and exit require dodging a gauntlet of on-premises tacky souvenir stands and silly ancillary “attractions” that the Chinese tourists love so well. At the time, I was on the bubble about the value of a visit here, but in retrospect, I think I would recommend making a stop here, and just blowing by the shopping trap areas. With a little time and a willing driver, it would be possible to stop at one or more little villages you pass along the way and interact---if you want to do this, a Hui or Uighur (and English-speaking) guide is recommended. Most of the villages on this side of Turpan seem to be Hui.

The Fabulous Ruins of Jiaohe

From Turpan, it takes about 30 minutes’ drive to get to the Karez. I spent a total of about 45 minutes there, then it was another 15 minutes’ drive to get to Jiaohe Ancient City....called Yarkhoto in the Uighur language. We arrived about 18:00, which turned out to be a bit early this time of year (summer) when days are long. And in fact, it was summer solstice so the longest day of the year in Northern Hemisphere. Groan. My arrival was too early because a) At 6 pm it was still blisteringly hot and b) It was going to be too early to get those iconic Jiaohe sunset pictures. 18:00 arrival would probably be OK in May or September, but for June-August, probably better to arrive at 18:45 or 19:00, at least 30 minutes before Last Tickets are sold for the day.

Jiaohe is the old capital of this area, again founded around the time of Christ by the Jushi kingdom. It was built on a high, knife-blade shaped bluff surrounded by a river. The cliffs that form the bluff walls serve as natural defensive walls, so unlike Gaochang city (ruin on the other side of Turpan), Jiaohe has no classic perimeter city walls. The city lasted for well over a thousand years until Genghis Khan got hold of it, after which it went into decline and was eventually abandoned. Wiki also has a decent introduction on this place and UNESCO has some detailed documents accessible on its website, outlining the site and its preservation, for those interested in this sort of thing. Check out here (warning, large file): http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/001...4/145411eo.pdf
It isn’t a UNESCO World Heritage site yet, but should be. I’ve heard it is the largest and best preserved earthen city in the world. From the adjacent village behind the parking lot, I was able to get a peek at the adjacent area on the other side of the river that has yet to be excavated (it’s fenced off and not open to the public) but is supposed to have caves, tombs, and graves associated with Jiaohe. No telling what good stuff archeologists have yet to find out here. It’s certain that an unbelievably huge amount of both goods and ideas went through this ancient city, both eastbound and westbound.

From the parking lot and ticket booth/entry area, Jiaohe is approached through its south gate, then up a hill with a good path and steps installed. There is some lighting posts and garbage cans, and paved pathways and boardwalks to control site disruption from sightseers (tastefully done) but the site is mercifully not junked-up with extraneous vendors, touts, or trinket sellers. All the tourist souvenir shops and noodle stands are by the parking lot, and touts do not seem to be allowed up to follow and bug tourists. There are a few guards located in places along paths to watch for people trying to illegally climb or go off paths, but the few tourists that were scattered about when I was there, were all behaving themselves. Tip: Take all the water you can up from the parking/vending area with you, as there is nothing up in the ruins area itself. And you will need lots of water.

The site is pretty big and seems even larger, since it all must be done on foot. The scale of the ruins, and the relative intactness of them, was very surprising. I suffered a bit from heat during the first hour of my visit there, but after about 19:15 or so, it started to get more comfortable, and I found a few shady spots to rest here and there. Regrettably, I did not make it all the way back to the far end of the site where the monastery ruins were, but just took pics from a distance. But I did manage to wander through most of the rest of the site—the ruins are still in decent enough shape that you can get a sense of what went where, and how the city was organized. That said, I recommend anyone planning a visit here come forearmed with a printout of a site plan from internet resources, to help you get oriented. It’s much harder to come by similar in English, once you are actually at the site. The site itself doesn’t have a lot of captioning, and a map in hand would have been very useful.

I loved Jiaohe and found it the biggest highlight of Turpan sightseeing—I recommend putting it at top of the priority list. The entrance fee is currently RMB 40—a BARGAIN for what you see, as Chinese entry fees go. Try to make it there before somebody wises up and puts it up to RMB 140 (for which it would still be worthwhile). I would advocate spending 1.5 to 2 hours on site (excluding transportation), preferably just before sunset. The sun angles and atmosphere is definitely heightened in late afternoon and early evening light. I notice a lot of pre-set tours put this during the day, which I think is a big mistake due to too-strong sunlight (poor for photography), and also it’s too hot for humans at least in summer. I was surprised that I didn’t see more tourists there—I saw a few foreigners with guides, and maybe 3-4 Chinese groups with 4 to 8 people each, some with/some without guide. Clearly this place is not big with the big Chinese bus tours, at least not this time of year.....Yippee!

We left Jiaohe at close to 20:00, which sounds late but the sun was still fairly high in the sky...more like 18:00 conditions if in Beijing. My friendly driver, who I was really starting to like (he was Han originally from Lanzhou but in Turpan for 20 years), dropped me off at a big supermarket very close to my hotel, so I could provision up for the next day, and then drop things off at the hotel before heading out to the bazaar area to find some vendors serving up some lamb skewers and that delicious flatbread that you find all over Xinjiang. When I’m overheated, I tend to have a tiny appetite for food. After that, a highly-anticipated shower and a little internet research on the next day’s Turpan sights. An interesting day covering a lot of travel ground. In stark contrast to Jiayuguan, I was really liking Turpan town and the “vibe.”

fimo

Congrats jiejie, don't let the fame get to your head now

I'm thinking of joining one of the hiking groups on a trip out to Xinjiang over the October holidays, they'll be hitting pretty much what you've covered as well. Now my big consideration is always just how insane the crowds will be in these parts.... I assume there'll be more people than usual but hopefully not so much as to disrupt the enjoyment of the sights. I just dread the crowds at the airports....

jiejie

A Word about Time Differences

The People’s Republic is officially all in one time zone: Beijing time. Public transport, attraction entry hours, and official government bureaus pretty much hew to this time because they have to. The problem is that once you get far enough west in Gansu and Qinghai, and to an even greater extent in Xinjiang, Beijing time is a little silly to live your life by. For instance, when it’s sunrise at 06:00 in Beijing, it’s still very dark in Xinjiang. And at 22:00 on a summer evening in Beijing it’s already dark, yet barely sunset in Xinjiang. It is as if Washington DC (Eastern time zone) dictated the official time for all of the USA, and people in California had to follow that clock.

To adapt to this, there are actually two times used, and on a Xinjiang trip, you must be aware of this to avoid misunderstandings. There is “Beijing time” and there is “Xinjiang time.” For nearly all day-to-day activities, the locals use Xinjiang or local time, which is 2 hours behind Beijing official time. In other words, if your Turpan (or Urumqi, or Kashgar) hotel check-out is 12:00 noon, make sure you ask if this is “local” time—normally it is—and not Beijing time. By Beijing time, your check out is actually 14:00. Similar with meals, if popular dinner hours in Eastern China are from 18:00-20:00 official Beijing time, you’ll see people in Xinjiang instead eating at 20:00-22:00 by Beijing time...which would be more like 18:00-20:00 to the local minds (and stomachs). Tip: make absolutely sure when you set up appointments like driver meet-ups, etc. that all parties are clear which time you are talking about. I found it better to leave my watch and alarm clock on Beijing time so as to not miss transport connections, and then ‘compensate’ by adjusting my mental framework for things like meals and sightseeing. Typically, you’ll be doing everything about 2 hours later than your watch in East China would normally tell you to do them.

Early Start on the Day

Because I was not going to have a lot of time later, between completion of morning sightseeing and leaving for the bus station, to get packed and check out of the hotel, I pretty much packed up everything ready for grabbing later. My pick-up by my driver was 08:00 BJ time (yes, like 06:00 Xinjiang time!) and I had up to 6 hours to accomplish the day’s sightseeing to-do list which would be in the opposite direction compared to yesterday’s visits, east of Turpan. First up was the Ejin Minaret (Sugong in Chinese). I only wanted to take some photos of this unusual, Afghan-style structure from outside the compound, and the blue sky and early morning light was perfect for this. The compound was not yet open to visitors, but it is possible to enter for a fee, though I believe visitors are not allowed to climb the actual minaret. We were early enough that the tourist vendor stalls were still empty and the vendors still waking up. Ejin Minaret is not far from Turpan city itself and is located in a little village. It is quite possible to rent a bike in Turpan and cycle the 5-6 km out there, but in summer it gets pretty hot and dusty.

I was fascinated by modern murals painted on the brick walls of many of the villages (again, mostly Hui, some Uighur). Most of these were blatant propaganda depicting all the wonderful things the PRC government was doing for the people in the region: lots of scenes with health care, maternity care, bringing water and better housing, and my favorite, the PRC soldiers and a group of Uighur men and women happily greeting each other and rushing into each others’ arms. I kid you not. Blech. (I simply MUST get some photos up on my flickr account.) While most of all this goes over the heads of Chinese visitors, the observant foreigner could surmise and intuit that there is some background tension and antagonism always lingering on in this area. It is subtle in Turpan and surroundings but more obvious in parts of Urumqi and places like Kashgar. Turpan in recent memory has been pretty much spared of the violence that has occurred nearly annually in other places in Xinjiang...I’m not sure why this is, except that Turpan has more Hui than Uighur (and Huis are still Hans or mixed-Han by ethnic background) and also Turpan seems to have a more equal level of economic prosperity and less in-your-face disenfranchisement. Though I am far from an expert on this very sensitive social and political Xinjiang situation.

Ruins of Gaochang

Gaochang (Kharakhoja in Uighur) is another ancient city with a completely different type of layout and feel from Jiaohe. Unlike Jiaohe, it was built on a flat plain and there is no nearby river. Hence, Gaochang has protective walls both Inner and Outer, which are still visible. Another difference is that Gaochang is mostly in poor condition—many of the earth buildings have completely crumbled into dust or shapeless blobs. The central monastery/temple area is one of the few major structures that still has enough of the original mass left to make out what it is. For much of the rest of the site, you’ll have to use your imagination.

My driver and I arrived at Gaochang just after 08:30, the first tourists to arrive and the fellow assigned to the ticket booth had to open it up and get set up. Entry fee is RMB 40. My driver waited in the small lot and one benefit of being early there, is he procured a shady parking spot where he could proceed to curl up and nap. I stocked myself with an extra water and went through the turnstile, to be greeted by a bunch of human braying at me—the standard method of getting around inside Gaochang ruins is donkey cart, since distances are too far to make walking a viable option, and I came to the site already armed with this information. The donkeys were also making a lot of noise. I selected a driver and paid the going rate of RMB 50 for the entire cart (ouch!). This is unfortunately a downside of traveling solo, one gets to pay full freight. The donkey cart has a seat for the driver and a flat back platform covered with soft blankets, and topped with a canopy to give a bit of shade, with room for up to 6 people. You sit with your feet dangling off the side. So one cart, split several ways, is not bad price-wise. But there was nobody around to share with; at least I had the place to myself for a while. Before starting off, I also bought a decent multilanguage guidebook of the place with map from a vendor (turned out to be a good purchase), then off into the blistering sun went my donkey.

My driver was Uighur, light brown hair and almost green eyes, and he spoke no English of course, and also no Mandarin. So we couldn’t communicate very well, but he could point to my guidebook, point to the ruins, and I could get the idea what was going on and where we were going next. He made 2-3 stops, motioning me to get out and head into the ruins where some of the ‘feature’ buildings had been preserved and captioned with some signage. Of these, the best was the monastery area which was fairly central in the inner city. I was surprised at the decent condition, and particularly enthralled to find some buildings with masonry buttresses, and a round building which originally must have been domed, and with some very interesting internal niche vaulting/corbelling still intact.

After the monastery area I noticed my guidebook had a very interesting looking stupa, driver got across to me it was very far away (about 1 km in the corner near the outer wall) and he wanted another 50 RMB. Told him no, let’s just go back, but he bargained down for 30 extra instead of 50, for total of RMB 80 for the entire carting experience. I agreed and he got the donkey moving smartly. It was actually a lot of fun riding in the cart through these ancient ruins. Probably an ancestor of this very donkey was tooling around these same paths about 1500 years ago! It’s definitely the smart way to see Gaochang, as it’s a gigantic site and you’d nearly die if on foot. Unlike Jiaohe which at least has enough little places to find shade, Gaochang is completely exposed with no relief. The people at John’s Cafe warned me to schedule this site for first thing in the morning, immediately after it opened due to the heat and exposure, and they were absolutely right. My exploration of Gaochang ended after about an hour overall inside the ruins, which is sufficient. Any more than that, and things start getting pretty repetitive, with diminishing returns for the average visitor. As my donkey approached the entry, he obviously knew he was coming back for hay, water, and a rest, and began braying loud enough to wake the dead, joined in by a chorus of at leas 2 dozen other donkeys singing in various baritone and tenor voices...many off-key. The obvious line for me to yell was “Shut up you stupid @sses!” but as they were Uighur donkeys, they surely wouldn’t have paid any attention. I paid off my rather Caucasian-looking Uighur cart driver with RMB 80 and went out to find my own driver, loading up with more cold bottled water. By now about 6-8 more tourists plus a bus of 20 Chinese had just pulled up, so I congratulated myself for timing this visit correctly.

Again, Gaocheng is different from Jiaohe in layout and feeling, and there is much less left of it. So it is hard to discern ruins and what might have been what. If only time for one, make it Jiaohe. If not really into ancient cities, could probably skip Gaocheng. But I enjoyed it, the silence and solitude, and the donkey, and was very glad I went.

Tuyoq Village

Next up on the travel agenda was Tuyoq village, which was about another 30+ minute drive further east. We pulled into the parking lot which was pretty empty, driver found a shady covered spot and went to relax. I took advantage of one of the ubiquitous “Xinjiang Tourist Toilet” facilities, paid my RMB 30 entry fee (for the Village, not the Toilet!), then walked down the path that skirted the little river (actually a stream) and into the town.

I had thought Tuyoq would be a very quiet and little-touristed village, but in fact it has apparently also started getting on Chinese tourists’ radar not just foreign backpackers. I seemed to be the first tourist of the morning and the town was still a bit sleepy, but there were definitely vendors around selling drinks, fruit, and bad artwork. I just explored on foot for about 45 minutes, past the mosque, through short covered arcade portions, over the stream, and just generally in and out. I did NOT go up the stairs leading to the Mazar, a very holy tomb and worship spot for Muslims. It didn’t feel right, my head was not covered, and I didn’t see a lot of point. Muslims come from fairly distant locations to make a pilgrimage to this tomb, and it’s rumored that seven trips to the Tuyoq Mazar is the equivalent of one pilgrimage to Mecca. I didn’t get the impression that the locals wanted non-Muslims to even go up that holy path, though later I saw Chinese tourists barge up there. (Oy, way to endear yourself to the local people. ) However, from a vantage point across the river and valley of the Grapes, I got some decent photos of the Mazar set against the hillside, as well as some nice views of the village as a whole.

The village is nestled into a fairly steep valley in the Flaming Mountains, on both sides of a fairly robust stream. Grapevines are nestled in the hollow, with the village structures of earth, adobe-type material, and some masonry and wood, rising up both sides. Paths and steps connect the village sections horizontally and vertically. There is a path (signed) leading up the east side of the valley, upslope to some Buddhist caves. I didn’t bother to follow this path too far since I’d heard it was a bit of a climb to actually get to the caves, and that there was nothing really left there. More interesting to me was the waterworks system that ran through the village and provided natural running water most everywhere.

While rather picturesque physically, I found the atmosphere in this village to be a bit strange—definitely not friendly or welcoming. Women looked completely poker-faced at me, no acknowledgement of friendly smiles or head nods, and one group of boys threw a watermelon rind at my back (it hit me, no damage done though)—I’m hoping this was just typical naughty young-boy stuff and not truly anti-visitor. Overall though, I got the impression that the villagers were either wary of, or sick of, visitors. I saw two other foreigners (with guide) enter as I was leaving, also a small Chinese tourist group. I could see where tourists, and particularly Hans, could overwhelm the village easily, and with the likelihood of Chinese tourists disrespecting the sacred tomb site, probably villagers were happy to see us all go away. I will have to find other foreign tourists who have been to this village recently, and see what their impressions were. Definitely not a place I’d feel comfortable spending the night in.

But I was glad I went. Mission accomplished, driver and I headed back into town, stopping near the road outside the panorama of the Flaming Mountains so I could get some photos. The fenced-in tourist part in front of these mountains (complete with ridiculous entry fee) was completely worthless tourist trap stuff). Please give this a miss. I needed to pay the back half of the RMB 320 as my transport was now nearly concluded, so driver and I decided best plan was to go back directly to John’s, pay up and me have a quick bite to eat, then over to hotel for 5-10 minutes to grab my things and check-out, then to bus station. All this was accomplished, and by 13:00 we were at the bus station. The driver commandeered my big bag temporarily while I headed to the window to buy a pair of tickets for me + the daypack. The pair cost RMB 90 total and I got the front two seats for the 13:55 bus. The 13:25 bus had just sold out. Despite the driver’s opinion that Saturday was not a busy day for travel between Turpan and Urumqi (unlike Friday and Sunday), there were piles of people traveling. Hanging out at the bus station for 40 minutes didn’t excite me, However, fortunately my particular bus had sold out quickly, so at 13:25 when boarding started, we were quickly full up and driver left at 13:30, 25 minutes early. Excellent.

Bottom Line: Turpan is a Must-See place on a Silk Road itinerary. I really liked the town and the atmosphere as well as the actual sightseeing locations that I did. If I'd had enough time though, it would have been even better to have had the rest of that day and one more overnight to relax and do more evening exploration of the town. In summer, the early and middle evening hours are the busiest times for local color, street life, and socializing. As moondog said in his above comment, Turpan is a really “cool” place. And there’s nowhere quite like it elsewhere in the PRC. ^

moondog

Yes, Turpan is really nice. The only thing I would add to your report is that it is doable by bicycle, and the ride between town and the ruins is particularly nice. You'll feel like you're in Tuscany!