I took train Z105, and I left at 5:00 pm on September 7th. Due to the train being delayed, I arrived at Turpan North Station at 11:00 the next day. When I was leaving, I also met an old friend who was in Huining and is now in Liuyuanbei.
The seat of Cheshiqian State, one of the thirty-six states in the Central and Western Regions of Turpan. It has always been a multi-ethnic settlement, and the earliest residents were Cheshi people of Indo-European descent, who built the magnificent Jiaohe City. In the fifth century A.D., Jiaohe City was captured by Gaochang State. Cheshi people left Turpan and disappeared in the long river of history. They were replaced by Gaochang Uighurs, who are the ancestors of modern Uyghurs. After the 14th century AD, Turpan became the center of Islam, and together with Kashgar, it was called the two major Uyghur cultural centers in Xinjiang. This place is also known as "Fire Island", and there are more than 100 days of high temperature weather of over 35 degrees throughout the year.
The only car parked outside the North Railway Station is the No. 5 car. There is no No. 102 car that I saw when I was doing the guide. Moreover, the driver of the No. 5 car is a Uyghur, and his Chinese communication skills are not strong. I took out the AutoNavi map and asked him. After passing by the place I visited, he said he passed by. So I took a 5 yuan ticket and got on the bus. In the car, I heard a Han who works locally say that this car passed the entrance of the Grape Valley scenic spot, and two elderly tourists from other places happened to be going here, so I got off the car with them.
I wanted to find a place nearby to have lunch first, but the restaurants were closed. After inquiring, the time difference between Xinjiang and the mainland is at least two hours. Their working hours in summer are from 9:30 to 13:30, and in the afternoon from 16:00 to 20:00. My lunch was spent on a 3 yuan naan and a bottle of mineral water bought at the entrance of the scenic spot.
Grape Valley tickets are 60 yuan, which itself is a canyon about 8 kilometers long in the Flaming Mountains. So I carpooled with two elderly tourists, 50 yuan each, and the taxi driver took me to various attractions. At this time, the grape picking period has passed, and there are a total of four scenic spots to play in. As far as I am concerned, these are purely man-made scenic spots, which are not interesting. Means nothing. If you haven't seen adobe buildings, you can see an adobe building in the "Dawaz Customs Garden" and "High-altitude Tightrope Walking Without Insurance (Origin of Dawaz's Name)". At the last scenic spot, there is a grape drying room, which contains the famous Turpan "seedless white" raisins that are air-dried and dried. There are as many ditches as there are potatoes in our hometown, you can taste them as you like." Amidst loud laughter, all the tourists picked and tasted them one after another. According to reports, 10% of the raisins we eat are dried in a drying room, which takes about 45 days. The best ones are dried naturally at the height of the vine, which takes 100 days, and the other 90% are dried in the sun. of. On the small hill at the end of the scenic spot, there is a stone tablet of "Flame Mountain". I took a photo here as a souvenir, which is equivalent to going there.
During the chat, I learned that one of the two elderly female tourists accompanying me is a retired professor of Beijing University of Science and Technology. She is 70 years old this year. She and a 65-year-old friend have come to Xinjiang for more than 20 days. Is this a cultural difference? Most of the people at this age that I know mainly focus on raising their children and caring for their grandchildren. At most, they are filial to their children, accompanying them out or signing up for a local tour group.
After leaving Grape Valley, the two of you chartered a car to Jiaohe Ancient City and Kanerjing. After waiting for the bus to disappear, I took a taxi (20) and went to the "Grade 3 Class 2 International Youth Hostel" to put my luggage.
You can find it by walking for more than 10 minutes to the Turpan Museum. It is divided into three basic exhibition rooms and two special exhibition rooms, among which the unearthed documents hall and mummy hall are the most worth seeing. Some mummies are very well preserved, so don't stare at them for a long time, or you may suspect that they are breathing.
After watching for more than an hour, I took a taxi (7) to Sugong Pagoda (ticket 45) after I came out. This tower, also known as Emin Tower, is a memorial tower built by Emin, King Zhuo Jun and Qi Sulaiman, and it is also the largest tower among Islamic ancient buildings in Xinjiang. The tower is 37 meters high, and there is only one building material for the whole body, which is the blue-gray adobe bricks. However, Uighur skilled craftsmen used bricks to build more than a dozen patterns on the tower body, including ripples, rhombuses, group flowers, cross patterns, etc., which formed an infinite loop of patterns along the tower body. There is also a temple under the Sugong Pagoda.
Minta Mosque is the largest mosque in Turpan. After entering, only the administrator looked at his mobile phone lonely.
The Junwang Mansion (tickets 20) on the left side of the scenic spot is a new building. It is worth seeing that you have to walk through the reception room to get to the backyard.
After leaving the scenic spot, I couldn't stop the car. It took a long time to see off the passengers and return to the car for 10 yuan to go back to the city.
It was after 7 pm when we arrived in the urban area, and restaurants gradually opened at this time. I found a restaurant through the recommendation of Gaode Cuisine. Let’s have a plate of noodles and yogurt today.
Walked back to the residence and spent some time in the lobby. I fell asleep at 11pm, maybe because of jet lag or the hot weather. I woke up at 3pm. Luckily, I scanned the drink machine for WeChat payment in the store and drank a bottle of mineral water in one gulp. Only then did I realize that there were two guys smoking and chatting at the next table, they seemed to be in the same state as me.
