Turpan

My Books > The Great China Quest > Turpan

Map updated!

We arrived in Turpan (Tǔlǔfān in Mandarin), the grape capital of Xinjiang, via the old Silk Road (now boringly called G312) yesterday with the intention of facing our next challenge:

Challenge 2: Work on a farm for a day.

Before we left Urumqi, a taxi driver in told us that Turpan is the hottest place in China. To Albert, it felt just like home in Phoenix, Arizona but Adrian was a bit surprised by the sudden wave of 41 degree C (105 F) heat.

But at night it cools down nicely and we saw lots of people sleeping outside on big metal-framed beds. We’re still on Beijing time here which means the sun sets two hours later than expected (around 10:00 PM). But, as in Urumqi, most Uighur people use their own Xinjiang time when talking to each other. Albert asked one Uighur man in the Urumqi bus station what time his bus left and he had to look at Albert’s watch instead of his own. He said, “In one hour” because the two watches were set two hours apart!

We’re optimistic about being able to find a farm today because within one minute of getting off the bus from Urumqi yesterday, we met a man who not only speaks English but also owns a grape farm. Unfortunately, he has already harvested his grapes but he’s sending a friend of his to meet us today to take us around looking for another farm that needs work. Better put on sunscreen!

Videos

[youku id=”XMTk1NDM4MTcy”]

[youku id=”XMTk1NDI5NTEy”]

[youku id=”XMTk1NDMxNDAw”]

[youku id=”XMTk1NDM0Mzk2″]