It was a three-hour drive from Urumqi to Turpan. Turpan itself is split by two Tien Shan mountain ranges, the north and south, and is set in a basin below sea level. Turpan is also the hottest spot in China and temperatures go as high as 121 degrees (shades of the Sahara Desert and Mali). It is also the lowest spot in China with low humidity. (Now this sounds just like Las Vegas – extreme heat but “low humidity.”)

We were heading to Turpan for several reasons:

- To visit the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves;

- Astana Graves;

- Gaochang and Jiaohe Ruins; and

- Grape Valley

Jiaohe Sign on the Silk Road, China

Jiaohe ruins in China
Our one-night hotel stay was at the Oasis Hotel…checked in and went to visit Jiaohe. Jiaohe was established as a Chinese garrison town to defend the borders during the Han dynasty. Genghis Khan did a great job destroying it and there wasn’t much to see, but you could still walk through the old streets and see some old ruined buildings.

The ancient city of Gaochang. the capital of the Uyghurs when they moved into Xinjiang from Mongolia in the 9th century was more interesting. The town was founded in the 7th century and became a major staging post on the Silk Road. It was easy to make out the walls and surrounding moat. Gaochang was divided into an outer city, inner city and palace and government compound. It was a large city built from earth and adobe, and defended by nine city gates.
We, and everyone else, hired donkey carts to ride through the complex because of the extreme heat. Actually, we’d jump out and walk most of the time but still hired the donkey cart to plod alongside us just in case one of us dropped from the heat. Again, there were only Chinese Nationals here and we had a great deal of fun taking photos of each other. ex-Marine and I are probably in countless Chinese scrapbooks and the token unique Westerners these people have ever seen. Unlike many of the movie stars, we were gracious posers…

View image… It also seemed that every tourist we saw was wearing a straw cowboy-style hat with Marlboro written across the headband. Very curious.

Gaochang horse cart to see ruins, China 

on our horse cart in Gaochang, China 

taking photos of each other in China