We rose bright and early this morning and made our way to the bus station where we were on the first bus out to Turpan. 
Turpan is famous for several things including it's grapes, but it is most famous for being the second lowest place on earth and therefore one of the hottest! Later on in the day we were to question why we decided to come to the hottest place in China in the middle of summer!!
When we arrived we bartered very hard for a taxi out to the Flaming Mountains, and we ended up paying 60 kuai for the 70km return trip and an hour at the mountains.
We made a very lazy, slow walk out to the base of the mountains, and up them a short way before retreating back to the air-con car. The Uighur legend surrounding the mountains is that a hero killed a child-eating dragon, creating the red colour of the mountains and the flame-like patterns. Initially our driver took us to the proper ticket office, where rather stupid tourists paid to enter a gate, have some photos with captive camels and monkeys, and get the mountains in the background with modern statues. Instead we drove 100 metres where we got unobstructed views of the mountains, all to ourselves!
Back in town we struggled to find food, especially for Liv as there is an abundance of meat around here. Eventually we settled for snacks consisting of fresh bread, fruit, and samosas.
We were quoted prices of around 50 kuai to go to a village only 7kms away that seemed ridiculous, so we searched for other options. We ended up catching the 101 public bus from outside the bus station that took us west where we changed to a minivan. We thought the van was taking us all the way to the Jiaohe Ruins, but it dropped us 2km away - usually this would have been nothing, but it the 47 degree heat it was very hard work!!
The ruins themselves date from over 1600 years ago, and is one of the world's largest and oldest desert cities, boasting a population of 6500 residents at one point - why anyone would settle here beats us! 
We spent a sweaty hour wandering around the ruins, which now are just a maze of crumbling mud/brick buildings, but the size of it all was impressive. 
On a cooler day we might have lingered for a bit longer, however we were well and truly ready to be taken out of the oven! We were happily surprised to see a 3-wheel tuk-tuk at the gate which we caught back to the bus, and then the bus to the bus station! All in all or return trip cost us 13 kuai!
By 6pm we were on the bus heading back to Urumqi with ice cold waters in hand - on the way back we caught glimpses of beautiful snow-capped mountains and wondered why we went into the furnace when we could have gone to snowy mountains!
In Urumqi we got dinner and pretty much crashed into bed!!
Adlibing 47 degrees.
Turpan is famous for several things including it's grapes, but it is most famous for being the second lowest place on earth and therefore one of the hottest! Later on in the day we were to question why we decided to come to the hottest place in China in the middle of summer!!When we arrived we bartered very hard for a taxi out to the Flaming Mountains, and we ended up paying 60 kuai for the 70km return trip and an hour at the mountains. We made a very lazy, slow walk out to the base of the mountains, and up them a short way before retreating back to the air-con car. The Uighur legend surrounding the mountains is that a hero killed a child-eating dragon, creating the red colour of the mountains and the flame-like patterns. Initially our driver took us to the proper ticket office, where rather stupid tourists paid to enter a gate, have some photos with captive camels and monkeys, and get the mountains in the background with modern statues. Instead we drove 100 metres where we got unobstructed views of the mountains, all to ourselves!Back in town we struggled to find food, especially for Liv as there is an abundance of meat around here. Eventually we settled for snacks consisting of fresh bread, fruit, and samosas.
We were quoted prices of around 50 kuai to go to a village only 7kms away that seemed ridiculous, so we searched for other options. We ended up catching the 101 public bus from outside the bus station that took us west where we changed to a minivan. We thought the van was taking us all the way to the Jiaohe Ruins, but it dropped us 2km away - usually this would have been nothing, but it the 47 degree heat it was very hard work!!
The ruins themselves date from over 1600 years ago, and is one of the world's largest and oldest desert cities, boasting a population of 6500 residents at one point - why anyone would settle here beats us! We spent a sweaty hour wandering around the ruins, which now are just a maze of crumbling mud/brick buildings, but the size of it all was impressive. On a cooler day we might have lingered for a bit longer, however we were well and truly ready to be taken out of the oven! We were happily surprised to see a 3-wheel tuk-tuk at the gate which we caught back to the bus, and then the bus to the bus station! All in all or return trip cost us 13 kuai!By 6pm we were on the bus heading back to Urumqi with ice cold waters in hand - on the way back we caught glimpses of beautiful snow-capped mountains and wondered why we went into the furnace when we could have gone to snowy mountains!
In Urumqi we got dinner and pretty much crashed into bed!!
Adlibing 47 degrees.
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