Silk Road Day 13: Turpan

We arrived in Turpan this morning and went to visit the museum of the underground irrigation system, which was started thousands of years ago and is still in use today. Turpan is famous for its grapes, largely due to the irrigation system.

We saw the Emin Minaret (only from the outside) and visited the local bazaar where Kendall bought a Uighur hat and a Mao cap.

We also visited the ancient city of Jiahoe which was built in 100BC and is largely still intact. Quite fascinating and very picturesque.

We then spent nearly three hours driving from Turpan in the Gobi Desert to Urumqi in the mountains. Our bus driver did not seem to understand the concept of brakes, or driving in a straight line. Scary stuff but we made it in one piece.