Travel Notes | Turpan, the treasure city with the highest temperature in China

What's the hottest temperature you've ever experienced?

Turpan, the hottest city in China, has an average temperature above 40 degrees during the hottest period and a surface temperature of 50-70 degrees. Walking in this city in summer, you can experience a natural sauna.

Why is it so hot? According to my understanding, Turpan is a basin, and the surface temperature itself is high. Combined with various factors such as topography, the temperature increases when the sun shines on it.

I traveled to Turpan in mid-July 2019, which is the hottest month in Turpan. Many friends don’t understand and think that traveling is a kind of enjoyment. Shouldn’t it be to go to the most comfortable place in the most comfortable season?

In my opinion, it is travel. I think everyone is looking forward to going to a certain place, seeing beautiful scenery, eating delicious food, and having a wonderful encounter would be even better.

Traveling is a process of enjoyment. Only by going to Turpan when it is the hottest and Mohe when it is the coldest can you feel the truest world. Only by experiencing snow, rain, wind and frost can you discover your truest emotions.

Having said that, I am a more Buddhist and casual person. I often make some mindless mistakes, which will cause more trouble. But I don’t think this is a bad thing. On the contrary, I can experience some things that people in this generation would never have. things you will experience.

For example I rarely do strategy planning in advance, and I don’t even know how to look at a map. I will only take a quick look when I need it when I reach a fork in the road. As a result, I, who have traveled more than half of China, am a "road fool" in the eyes of my friends. ".

I really like taking the train, watching the scenery along the waystaggering to the destination, and enjoying the freedom in peace, which makes me feel extremely happy. There are two train stations in Turpan, the Railway Station and the North Railway Station. I bought a green train ticket from Urumqi to Turpan Railway Station.

When I got out of the train station with my friends, I was very surprised. It was as shabby and shabby as the train stations in many small cities in Xinjiang. It really did not meet Turpan's status as a must-pass transportation fortress when entering Xinjiang, let alone a well-known tourist city. When I navigated to the youth hostel where I was staying, I was dumbfounded. More than 50 kilometers?

Later I learned that I should buy a ticket for the North Railway Station to get closer to the city. Many people who came to Turpan for the first time had this experience. The railway stations in many areas of Xinjiang and Gansu are far away from urban areas because of previous strategic needs to prevent transportation lines from being easily destroyed by the enemy.

We chose the only way to get to Turpan city - take a taxi. It is worth mentioning that the taxi fare was enough for me to take the train from Urumqi to Turpan three times.

As night falls, the road from the train station to the city is full of desert. The city of Turpan is just a dot of stars in the endless darkness. During the day, it looks like an oasis in the desert from a distance.

My favorite place in Turpan is the White Camel Youth Hostel. It is a place that is even more unforgettable than the scorching Flame Mountain. The owner is a fellow cyclist who also happens to be my fellow Hunan hostel.

Everyone calls the boss Wen Laosan. He is easy-going and humorous when getting along, but he also feels calm and wise. She is a good cook, and she does everything she does in the youth hostel, including renovating the walls, painting the walls, and making pillows.

The proprietress, Sister Echo, is very enthusiastic and carefully decorates the hostel to make it very cozy. On weekdays, the boss takes guests to visit scenic spots, while Sister Echo stays at the youth hostel and takes care of everything. The youth hostel also has a very cute corgi named Wanzi.

The surrounding blue walls are full of messages, and there is also a photo wall showing the love for white camels from people who have traveled around the world. Walking into this warm and loving youth hostel, you feel as peaceful as a spring breeze, forgetting the unbearable heat outside.

A couple who respect each other like guests, a puppy, and a youth hostel. I don’t know how many wonderful stories they have, but they attract me and make me want to go to Turpan again to listen to their stories.

The most famous thing about Turpan is Flaming Mountain. I believe that people who have read Journey to the West will be deeply affected by the Flame Mountain in it, and it is as real as described in Journey to the West. The Flame Mountain runs from east to west, with a length of more than 100 kilometers and a maximum width of 10 kilometers. It is about 500 meters above sea level and the main peak is 831.7 meters above sea level.

Both the old and new scenic spots have a thermometer in the shape of a big golden hoop, showing the surface temperature of the Flame Mountain in real time. There are many sculptures of characters from Journey to the West in the scenic area, but they are so hot that they make people faint. Most of the tourists quickly take photos and leave in a hurry.

Grape Valley is a 5A-level scenic spot in Turpan. is about 8 kilometers long from north to south and about 2 kilometers wide from east to west.

It's like a paradise-like town inside. When you enter Grape Valley, there is a several-kilometer-long grape corridor, full of greenery and abundant fruits. Unfortunately, you can only watch it. There are many natural landscapes in the town, and you can also deeply feel the ethnic customs of the Uyghurs.

The Old City of Jiaohe is the largest, oldest and best-preserved earth-built city in the world. It is also the most complete urban relic in my country that has been preserved for more than 2,000 years. It was included in the World Heritage List in 2014.

It is hard to imagine that this is a city built from the ground down. What is even more rare is that after thousands of years of vicissitudes, the main structure of the city's architectural layout is still miraculously preserved.

Karez is a special irrigation system in desert areas. The Great Wall and Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal are also known as the three major projects in ancient China. The total number of karez in Turpan is more than 1,100, with a total length of about 5,000 kilometers. Today, large areas of fertile land are still irrigated.

In addition to the above four most famous attractions, Turpan also has many interesting attractions worth visiting.

Turpan Museum: Turpan was an important town on the Ancient Silk Road, where various ethnic groups and religions met and merged. With more than 4,000 years of cultural accumulation, it was once the center of politics, economy, and culture in the Western Regions. one. It itself is a museum of the history, culture and nature of the Western Regions. It is enough to imagine how much history is displayed in this second largest museum in Xinjiang. There are more mummies preserved here than in the Urumqi Museum. Tourists usually stay here for a long time and do not want to leave. I think it is because of the cool air conditioning inside.

Astana Necropolis : The Astana Cemetery was a public cemetery for residents of Gaochang City from the Western Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, with ancient tombs of various ethnic groups and classes. The hot and dry climate created a natural sterile environment in the tomb, preserving a large number of Ancient corpses and burial objects.

Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves : The caves dug on the cliff preserve a large number of murals, which are similar to the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.

Ayding Lake : It is the lowest point on land in China. The lake surface is 154.31 meters lower than sea level, and the lowest point of the lake bottom is -161 meters.

Sugong Tower and Prince's Mansion : Sugong Tower is a The tower is 44 meters high and has a base diameter of 10 meters. The ancient Islamic tower is cone-shaped, with a large bottom and small top. Inside the tower, there are 72 spiral steps leading to the top.

I have traveled to many places before and there are scenic spots with free household registration in a certain province, but Turpan is more hardcore, and all scenic spots have discounts for Hunan residents! During the Liberation War, the Hunan Army liberated Xinjiang, and now Hunan is also a province aided by Turpan.

Turpan is such a magical historical city. If it were not for the hot temperature, it would be as fascinating as Kashgar.

In a sense, Turpan is the intersection of northern and southern Xinjiang. The humanities and food of northern and southern Xinjiang can be found here. Speaking of food, I still have a small regret, that is, I didn’t try the baked buns from Koshimakla Baked Buns Shop. Every day, people line up in a long line at the door waiting for the freshly made baked buns.

Don’t ask me why I don’t write more details. I’m afraid that someone will go to Turpan because of my travel notes. You must know that many people go to Turpan just to take pictures at the Flame Mountain and then leave. They really can’t stand the heat.