Dunhuang – Turpan #6

So how’s the world doing? I thought of continuing my long lost China posts after 3 months 😂

Basically from last #5 post we were in a train from Liuyuan to Turpan, the first city in Xinjiang in the second half of the trip. Turpan/Tulufan means ‘the lowest place’ in Uyghur and ‘fertile place’ in Turkish. Yep, we were nearer to the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region’s capital, Urumqi. Just the language used in signages, the people and culture were already noticeably different.

This route (Dunhuang – Turpan) has a few different stations that catered to it, and if you took the wrong one it’ll definitely spoil your plan by arriving at the edge of the city in the dark and cold with no means of transport to wherever your hotel were. After some researching the lonely Liuyuan station were the one with the most connections to other Chinese cities. There are 2 train stations in Turpan, the difference between them is the distance from downtown and the type of trains it served. We took the Z train, a type of fast train (that we could afford) and it will arrive in Turpan North Railway Station. This was closer to city centre and was so huge and well lit.

There was a sandstorm at the time. It was so cold and we were anxious to step out into the night but we pushed on to catch a cab. You can see the locals were rather unfazed. As usual..just some humans from the tropics stuff 😆

When we arrived to the city it was lit with the morning sun. We had nothing since last night yet plus the cold were eating away our energy. We tried to show the map to the hotel and the driver helped looking for a while but I think he was tired too and he dropped us in a location he said should be close to the hotel. We stepped out and walked around the area with no real clue of where we are. Some police forces/guards tried to help these obvious lost tourists lol he led us to a place and said this must be the place. We looked around the dilapidated building..seriously man Im hungry and cold I can’t think clearly. There’s no way that was it! We said thanks and went on to the side of a main road and tried to catch another cab.

Steampunk looking building with an adjacent bread shop

This whole process took about 40mins~. Around the main road there was many attraction signs and estimated time by car and walking. We used that to find the hotel but failed. We decided to approach polices stationed near us. They were so helpful they even offered WiFi inside the building. It’s a nice shelter against the storm that was finally dying down. Still, we couldnt find it! It was around 8am now and the streets were buzzing with activities-kids walking to school, small shops opened. After a long walk by the street a cab finally stopped and allowed us in. Prior, a lot of cabs refused us because of language barrier. This driver was able to converse in English and were the one to bring us to the right spot. We realized we have been here before but missed the sign! This whole situation would be different if a) we speak Mandarin b) get online to access text to speech app

Dap Youth Hostel signage. So small!

Inside the traditional, ambiguous building, a rather lively ambiance awaits. We felt our morning given a chance to restart. A lovely lady welcomed us to our room. It was a little bit uncomfortable as it was a room inside another room. Everytime I’m entering the first room I had to announce myself because it was a bunk room, coincidentally there was a couple at the time. It was awkward but that’s was how it went. Dap Youth Hostel converted an actual residential to a lodging. I get to sleep on cement based bed 😁

The lovely courtyard

The next thing to do of course is to look for breakfast. We walked around, hungry and cold for another 20mins and was stopped by a local lady on a bike. She immediately guessed where we were from and offered to lead us to a nice breakfast place. I can’t say it was just a pleasant surprise, she was literally a savior. The place was crowded with the morning traffic and smelled delicious.

Pulled noodles, steamed buns/bao, fried bread? (not sure of the name)

It tastes soo good! The lady gave us her number in case we’d need her help again and we bid our goodbyes. We’re so grateful for the chance encounter. At around 11am we booked a one for all pass for 152CNY. We didn’t include Bezeklik Caves as we have seen Mogao Grottoes (from what I read it’s good enough to catch either one if you don’t have much time).

1. Gaochang Ancient City

You’d have to enter through the museum and chart the shuttle van to the actual site. There will be security checks at each entrances where you will need to remove your outerwear and the insides of your bag. Again, a thunderstorm swept us so hard that we had second thought whether we’d continue. But it was an experience I’ll never forget. Once it dies down I get to take some pictures without stinging my eyes.

2. Jiaohe Ancient City

We only met a few other travelers at the time. It was my first experience in a huge open archeological site like this. Prepare to spend 2 hours~ to soak in the environment and imagine how it’d look like in its heyday 😁 these 2 sites are a testament of how old this region was inhabited and flourished.

3. Karez Wells

So I just knew from this trip that Karez Well is considered a wonder of China together with The Great Wall but seems like it’s not well known as its counterparts. It was an irrigation system that literally ushered the region to another level; fertile crops that led to a whole civilization and became the land of grapes and raisins. Turpan contains the second lowest depression in the world at 154m below sea level. They built a museum on top of the actual wells that you can go down and look at it yourself. At the end of the tour you’ll pass a gift shop. If it feels touristy to you take comfort in the beautiful surroundings outside the museum.

We asked our driver where and what to eat in here. We ended up ordering a heavy main dish thinking we could share it with our driver. Obviously when the dish was served we were surprised! The cook served it himself and told us it took a long time to make because he had a whole chicken in there 😅😂 it was so delicious. Our driver ate a small portion. I had leftovers for dinner and next morning’s breakfast! We learned that you can’t simply order stuff without knowing its portion, like we did in Dunhuang, the waitress had an English speaking staff clarified the size. 1 chicken? Half/quarter? Apparently you can actually specify for this particular dish. Don’t make this mistake if there’s just the two of you to eat everything >.<

Named ‘Big Chicken Dish’ rather straightforward 😁

4. Flaming Mountains

On to the next! The Flaming Mountain got its name from being the hottest place in China. Here you’ve a choice to see it from the road (free) or pay for the museum and park. Inside, there are camel rides, photo spots and go karts.

Local uncles noticed me taking photo of them haha

We returned to Turpan city near dusk and reached the closed gates of the Emin Minaret. Regrettably we had to end our trip for the day. I managed to take a photo from a far though.

We stayed in for dinner with leftover from our big chicken dish and some flatbreads from a local stall nearby. There was a guy, a fellow Malaysian who stayed in the hostel as well and we had a good chat that night. He was heading east from Urumqi, where he said it was lightly snowing. I freaked a bit since we didn’t dress for snowing temperature…and I’m pretty much intimidated by cold weather by now 😂 I can’t wait to see Urumqi, and will miss Turpan. I made a pact with my friend that we MUST come again to see the city in blooms of grapevines in July – September next time.

Had to say goodbye to this cutie

Lanzhou – Jiayuguan #3

From this post on I will put the places as titles (because Im bad at titles) I’ll put up pics when Im able to get on pc

 

In early morning Lanzhou, the train station was already flooded by people as we tried to find ourselves taxis to tour around the key attractions as we dont have much time until 5.30pm train to Jiayuguan. I picked Lanzhou because of its history and significance other than as the connecting city as we go westward. We found a pleasant guy from the many locals who promoted their services and decided to talk to him.

We entered his car together with a kid and an old guy crammed inside thinking we’re heading to the attractions we thought we made him understand from the phrases and translations. Alas, we realized he’s going farther out from town and climbed onto hilly zig zagging roads. Me and my friend knew we arent going to where we thought we agreed upon but it was already too far and long gone…partly from our impatience to not wait around at the train station in the cold. The penance for this is getting a ride to an unknown location in a foreign country with the inability to speak the language. Fuck I guess! I kept talking to my friend to be calm and we’ll figure this out once we arrive to where he was also bringing the other 2 passengers. Because there was NO WAY you could ask to be let out on that mountainous road man…and it was so.cold. Our enemy is the damn weather!!

Suddenly he asked us if we needed a toilet break. We’re like yeah sure but WHERE? In the middle of these endless barren mountains? Then he climbed a steep road and put a break on the car. He directs us to a (can you guess it) local’s house that is situated halfway below the ground level where the car was parked. We walked to the yard with the driver and he presumedly tell them abt us needing toilet. The house itself was unlike any Ive ever seen before online nor real life! I tried to act normal but inside I was so intrigued. The paintings on the tiles, the design of the yard, the outhouse as the toilet etc not to forget the intimidating guard dog.

We thanked them profusedly and hike back to the car. As we get in the other 2 passengers smiled and seemed didnt mind abt the time we spent there. It was about half an hour I think. I wonder how did they control their bladder in this cold 😂

It took is ~2hrs to arrive at a town here. It was dusty, a little hot from a 10am sun but prickly cold. Once we get telco lines back we looked up the gps. We’re in Linxia.

 

One time I was in China #2 Xi’an – Lanzhou

So Im updating the previous post. The next morning we checked out. The management allowed us to store our bags at the reception and came back in the evening to pick it up and find a taxi for the ride to the train station. Actually the city is well connected with a metro system but sincr we were noobs and dont want to walk too much we decided to flag a taxi. To get us out from the alleys we took a small trishaw like vehicle and found a taxi afterwards.

I was quite shocked to see the huge train hub. Even at night the place is packed and lines are long. In its proximity there were security gates and your stuff will get checked by uniformed forces. An officer asked me something in Mandarin but after 3 times he gave up and let me go lmao. It was dizzying to navigate for first timers but luckily diytravel.com website that we prebooked the tickets from had all the instructions to ease the whole process. To communicate I used translate app together with typed phrases on a piece of paper and plastered it wide on the surface of the glass interface lol the staff quickly get to business and we were done in about 15minutes from getting our tickets printed to queuing for entry to the waiting hall. Can you imagine only patrons with tickets get to enter the building. All the buzz we saw outside were people who had arrived early to wait for their entry when the time comes. The whole freaking building is ONLY for waiting! Then I remembered how huge this city is in itself. Couldnt be compared to where Im from lol!

As usual locals looked at you all the time when you’re around them. Walking through a super long horizontal seating area in like a huge ass hall to see the current trains docking and departing gets a lil overwhelming as we werent experienced travelers and never been to China. It was all very interesting and mind boggling at the same time just observing the way things are run and how the people acted around themselves. The walk to the underground railway was cold and unexpectedly long and rushed. I thought Im gonna miss it (I felt like this at every train stations on this trip 😂) we get to our 4people sleeper room. There was this old couple that stayed with us. Without understanding a word between us we all managed to somehow connect..idk how to explain it. But it was nice…I get to sleep the shit out of that 7hrs ride. On trips I tend to fully enjoy the act of sleep. In normal times this is unnatural to me. So anyway we arrived at 6.30am in Lanzhou. And omg it was so cold, to us, who are hot blooded creatures from the equator and it was 9c of the final tip of winter in central Asia.

Lanzhou Train Station

One time I was in China

Hello cursed 2020! My country is also in a nationwide quarantine. Like almost the entire world. I feel a kind of connection with people unlike any other time. It’s always tragedy that brings us together right? Well since people are on social media often it’s like an endless block of neighbors in one place. So anyway, flicking through pictures of my 2018 China trip made me feel sooo omg I havent been travelling like that for a long time. In 2019 I focused on other things financially. I was like 2020 will be the Year. Who wouldve foreseen such a disastrous year??! Especially travelling security and finances. It would be a full 2 years from the beginning of the trip today.

I was only attracted to China for the western part of it. Im lame like that, I think that famous places are overrated so I tend to research on places that arent mainstream in my effort to feel special loool I get to see the things in my own eyes and decide how I feel about it. Famous destinations already has so many being talked about them so I lose interest in it. Lmao. Im drawn to central Asia since I follow a few insta influencers that was from those countries. Then I made the research about the Silk Road and read more about colorful histories of the middle kingdoms that oversaw so many cultural exchanges throughout centuries.

I realized China should be my first stop if I ever want to venture to the -stan countries tho. It took fairly a year to research and book everything that could be done pre flight date. Talked to my best friend/travelbuddy about it and convinced her to take a 2 week long holiday. We went flying north to Xi’an where it’ll be our base city before going westward.

Checked in a Xi’an modest hotel in an alleyway. We arrived around 11pm local time and had to pay 150cny just for a ride to the hotel. Post trip I realized it was a LOT but then again we had no choice. It was late and we were concerned abt safety.

I was still in my head, I didnt think we really made it to China. I just never dreamed of wanting to go here like in my childhood or anything lol it was a recent yearning that I have, and nurtured. Now that Im here I have to make sense of it. My friend and I toured the area around it the next day looking for a local breakfast. But holy shit my taste palette just.cant.take. the herbs in their noodles! It was tongue numbing and hunger cancelling. We tried to not be wasteful and munch our way through and looking squarely at each other. Continuing the walk about 20mins we reached a major area of the morning market. It’s near to Xi’an Muslim Street where all the tourists and locals come for halal food. The vendors are from Hui Chinese although there were some other different races spotted. At the time, I was so foolish and arent aware about Uyghurs or anything. Ive read about it but news are just news until you saw it yourself…

We were 100% touristy at that day, just sampling and eating everything we could get our hands on, and checked out Xi’an Mosque. It was beautiful but it wasn’t open to females. This is kinda weird but we talked to its staff and they allowed us to use and look around the prayer hall. There was no one inside except some religious school kids and their imams. We were greeted warmly to just see a Quran class went by.

To punctuate such a pleasant day, we end up ordering a dish of meat and rice that we couldnt finish (again) because of the damned tongue numbing herbs (again!) since we couldnt speak Mandarin we left it at that. I swear local waiters could see our faces swelled when we realized what we’re eating.