Desert of Deserts Enroute to Turpan

Imagine the most barren desert you’ve ever seen (I’m picturing the stretch of I-15 between Mesquite Nevada and Las Vegas). Now, remove any distant mountains, any sage brush, and any rocks or formations. This is what we experienced in Western China. It is as featureless as you can imagine. To think that caravans regularly traversed these routes boggles the mind. Can you imagine sitting atop a plodding camel as it slowly walks a route marked by no milestones and no sense of progress? I imagine the travelers of that era were plagued by constant hallucinations.

After 3 hours, our bus wound through some narrow streets in Turpan, and finally into a very backward-looking area. From our bus windows, we couldn’t imagine that we would be staying the night—but that’s where our hotel was. From the perspective of the locals, it was the cream of the hotel crop—luxurious in every way. For many of the BYU contingent, however, it was probably among the roughest lodgings they’ve experienced. We found it to be quite adequate. The only “issue” was the lack of a vacuumed floor. Once again the beds were rock hard, but perhaps a little softer—or maybe that was our imagination.

We had to laugh when Laraine entered the bathroom and found . . . not two rubber duckies, like the night before in Urumqi, but two rubber . . . rubbers! Yes, the hotel provided two condoms for our room.

Turpan would turn out to be an extremely interesting place. Again, it was largely Muslim, and security was probably even tighter than in Urumqi. It is hard to describe having to go through 15 or so security checks just to wander the streets or enter a few shops. 

Entering an historic area

An example of Uyghur writing

An example of security checkpoints

The hotel dining area in Turpan. Notice the tables with liter bottles of soda. Those are designated  for our group.

Sheepish welcoming committee into Turpan

This plateau is surrounded on all sides by a natural moat. It is an ancient village destroyed by the Huns. They thought they were safe, because the natural cliffs and moat kept intruders away, but even still they were destroyed. It was an extensive city built with mud bricks. 

Remains of burial grounds in ancient village

Standing in front of what used to be people's homes

An ancient Buddhist temple, made of mud bricks

Walking the "street" of the ancient village

Not ancient. This is a drying building for raisins--a major crop in the area. This is currently used for raisin drying by air--not by sunshine. The raisins keep plump if they dry in these buildings.

Our guide explaining the way the buildings were laid out anciently. The bottom level was completely underground, the second layer was partially submerged, and the top layer was totally visible. 

Our guide mentioned the finding of hundreds of baby skeletons. When the conquerors entered the city, mothers did not want the babies to become slaves of the conquerors. They chose to kill them instead. Very sad. 

Apartment buildings? Nope. They are raisin drying buildings. It is THE major industry in the region. 

This large room would have been underground. It was thought to have contained a bank, I believe. 

A different city and it's wall. 

We enjoyed seeing these ancient sites and imagining life in those days. 

An ancient Buddhist building. The area is a mixture of Buddhist and Muslim sites. 

The Buddhist site we were just in.