A smorgasbord of photos from Turpan.

This is the last Blog about Turpan, but when we were there I took a heap of photos, and I think that you will enjoy having a fast perusal of some of them. 
I am fascinated by the differences in the lives of the people of Western China, to our own, and find this endlessly interesting.
The photos won't be in any particular order, but hopefully, the subsequent mish-mash will not detract from your enjoyment.
So here goes.....

Firstly, some of the people:

 

Two young boys, smiling for the camera. Turpan.

They were sitting on the footpath, chatting and laughing between themselves.

They were happy to have their photo taken, and approved of it, when I showed them.

A man with his son, and their luggage, waiting for a bus. Turpan.

Both are Uighurs, as you can tell by their head wear.

These two women had been washing clothes in the stream. Now they're having a happy chat, while waiting for the washing to dry.( you can see some on a line above their heads) Turpan.

Secondly, some of the transport options:

These three wheeled motorised bikes are used all over China, to carry anything and everything. 

Here the men are unloading building materials at a building site in Turpan.

And here is another, absolutely laden.

And if you don't have motorised transport, a donkey and cart will fit the bill admirably.

At a village, just outside Turpan.

 And if the worst comes to the worst, there's always your own man power. 

 

And thirdly, scenes from "suburbia":

Goats in a household pen. Turpan.

And sheep in a similar pen, 2 houses along the same road.

We walked two blocks away from the city (& bazaar) centre, and we were in "suburbia".

The streets were unsealed, and many houses had small pens in front of them.

The pens housed goats or sheep.

And opposite the houses were small fields/paddocks of vegetables.

We saw corn growing, and what looked like a type of choy....possibly Pak Choy

Corn...Turpan.

Pak choy??

And we also saw a lot of mud bricks, which had been piled up for sale or use, presumably. 

Most of the houses we saw in Western China were made of bricks like this.

And in the background there is another red 3 wheeler motorised bike....see it?

And here is a close-up of the bricks. Their neat piles looked so geometric.

And last, but not least, I couldn't NOT include this photo.

Can you recognise the contents of the basin?

Guess!

 This basin of offal was on a table, near the bazaar, so presumably it was for sale.

In it there are lungs....the lobes are inflated, and you can also see trachea.

Not my idea of good eating, but there are probably recipes for such ingredients.

And if you are in a poor country area, I imagine that nothing is allowed to go to waste.

And on that note, we shall leave Turpan.....an interesting and fascinating place to visit.

A village outside Turpan, Western China, and a local family.

After our morning seeing the tourist sights of Turpan (see last Blog, if you haven't read it) we had a long drive back to the city. Hunger pangs were beginning, and getting more serious by the moment, so we persuaded our driver to stop at a small village we were approaching.

He wasn't too pleased, and tried to persuade us to wait until we reached Grape Valley where he assured us, food was available.

(When we reached Grape Valley later that day, we were pleased that we'd insisted on the village stop, because Grape Valley was a big disappointment!)

Our lunch, "on the street"...kebabs, noodles, "sausage rolls" and a pot of tea.

The village was very small, but we found a roadside food seller, and sat at the ubiquitous small stools and laminated table, and dined on noodles, and small pastries, which were something like sausage rolls, but lamb was the filling, not beef. And of course, the aromatic tea, drunk from bowls.

Our meat and pastry bites...delicious.

Friendly locals at the next table, waiting for their lunch.

A group of local young men sat at the adjacent table, (well, the only other  table...it was a 2 table eatery!) ate their lunch, and presented us with a pomegranate!  Diagonally opposite us was a tea-house, with older Uighur men sitting on the verandah, drinking tea, smoking, chatting.   A flock of sheep was herded around their corner.

A gift from the men at the next table...a pomegranate.

The sheep being herded to ???? Note... another eatery on verandah behind the sheep.

After lunch, we went for a walk through the village, and came across a group of women, spanning probably 3 generations, sitting outside a building, chatting, and watching another woman wash fish under a tap in the street.
My Chinese-speaking daughter-in-law stopped to speak to them, and the younger ones could speak Mandarin. They'd been taught it at school. The elder women could only speak Tajik.

Smiles all round, as my D.i.L chats to the women.

And here the group of local women are happy to be photographed.

Washing fish at an outdoor tap.

The next meal for the family.

We, via my D.I.L. and her command of Mandarin, had a conversation, and then we  were asked into the house. We were given a seat in their eating area, where we were offered grapes.
They did not have a lot in the way of material goods, but their generosity and friendliness was characteristic of the area, as far as we were concerned.

The young girl in the family, about 8 or 9, showed my 2 granddaughters her swing, and the 3 girls played happily on that.

The swing was simply a rope suspended from the ceiling. This is a large space, like an entrance area. You can see the ladies sitting outside, in the background.

This little girl is firmly strapped in, don't you agree?

Nearby lay the latest addition to their family.....a baby, strapped into its cradle.  I can almost hear you ask..."what about China's 1 child policy?"  The Uighurs, and probably other ethnic minorities, are exempt from that law. Consequently in this far western part of China, families have more than one child.

Three generations, and aren't they beautiful?

And chatting with the father of the two girls, husband of the fish-washing woman.

This was an unexpected part of our day, and was full of memories of happy, generous people.
Such instances made our unforgettable trip to Western China even more memorable.

What can you do in Turpan??

What can you do in Turpan?

Well there are things to do, that is, besides going to the bazaar, eating lamb, and watching all the people.

We went to four of Turpan's tourist spots.

The first was The Flaming Mountains.  They are large sandstone mountains which, at certain times of day, with the sun shining on them at just the right angle, look as if they are on fire. Sadly we did not see them "on fire", but other things grabbed our attention when we were there.

Flaming Mountain, but sadly, not aflame! And the area is so very dry, and dusty.

Strapping in a tourist.

As we drove into the huge car park, an ultralight came down over our heads, and onto the road! Yes, down on  the road! What on earth was going on? We soon discovered that ultralight flights up to the mountain face was activity de rigueur for intrepid tourists, and the huge car park was not really for cars but for take-off and landing of the ultralights.

What a surprise.

And when we looked at the aircraft (can the be called that?) they were made in Australia ...... a second surprise.

None of our family was interested in flying around the mountain, but our granddaughters were interested in trying the alternative tourist offer....a ride on a Bactrian camel.

A young Chinese tourist mounts a ladder to reach the camel's saddle.

We also visited a village nearby. Some houses were occupied, others looked deserted, but all were built from mud bricks. 

 

Self-serve of dried fruit, under the young vendor's watchful eye.

And we presume that the vendors scattered about were locals, selling dried fruits, and water, and drinks. 


The Bezeklik Caves  are in a desert gorge, and once the caves stored Buddhist murals. The site was also known as "The Caves of one thousand Buddhas"   The many caves had various interpretations of Buddha painted on the ceilings and walls, but they were in a very poor state.
We were not allowed to take photos in the caves either so I can't show you what they looked like.
But sitting outside  the caves was an elderly Uighur gentleman, playing a traditional instrument.
An American girl joined him, and together they made music.

A Uighur musician,and his keen American pupil!

We had Grape Valley to go on our "tourist" day. The tourist blurbs had waxed lyrical about the Grape Valley, and with a grape grower and wine maker in the family, we were eager to see, and sample, what was offered.

Sadly, it was a huge disappointment. The property was large, and very cool after a hot October day in Turpan, but it was a tourist trap, after the style of our Western tourist traps.

There was a folk dance group, who stood around looking bored, waiting for the music to begin, and the tourists to gather.

Let's start the show.....

There was wine to taste at a winery on the property. We did not  buy any of it. (Read between the lines)   Lime green wine did not appeal to any of our senses, so we  left that. Some of our family tasted the other wines on show, but as I said, none were purchased.

Back to our hotel, and eager to get to the bazaar again.

And back in Turpan we headed to "John's Cafe"....an outdoor cafe, shaded by grape vines, and providing local and Western-like food.....just take your pick!

The vine-shaded walkway to John's Cafe, and the Turpan Hotel.

John's Cafe is written up in several travel guides.....as a cafe, as a place to hire  bikes, and as a laundry. Put your dirty washing in by breakfast, and it is washed and dry by dinner tine. As any traveller would know, having clean clothes every now and then on long trips, is a luxury.
The cafe always had tourists sitting at tables. The early games of the Rugby World Cup were being played when we were in China, and we had "boasting or skiting competitions" with French, Italian, South African and New Zealand travellers, while eating at John's Cafe.
We frequented it when we weren't eating at the Bazaar.

Yes, there is plenty to do and see in Turpan. 

Our lamb dinner in the Turpan Bazaar.

We happened upon the scene below, when we were wandering about the bazaar in Turpan.

Two men were coating a lamb carcass in a mixture if saffron and yoghurt.

It looked so tempting we decided that we'd enjoy eating there.

My daughter-in-law  speaks Chinese, and luckily, so did these stall holders-cum-cooks. She chatted to the men.

The lamb would be ready in about 2 hours, and yes, we would be welcome to eat there.

The coated lamb goes into this large oven.

And water is added...notice the steam rising.

I am not at all sure of the relationships between the stall holders at this site, but assuming they are all related, there seemed to be a mother, 2 young men (sons?) and a young girl of about 10 or 11.

Our two granddaughters with the young girl of the family.

Our dining room....and sharing the table with a local Uighur man.

Our meal was simple, but mouth-wateringly wonderful. The lamb was tender, and simply served on a platter of flat bread. We had chopsticks, and served ourselves from the one platter. 

And the aromatic tea, which we had enjoyed in Kashgar, was poured from a bottomless teapot.  I became quite addicted to this tea.

Ready to eat the lamb, and drink our bowls of tea.

Our dinner....succulent lamb served on flat bread.

Still now, warnings are given to potential travellers about eating such "street food" in the countries they visit, but we have never had a problem with it. No food poisoning or diarrhoea. Were we lucky, or did we simply choose carefully? I don't know the answer to that question, but would recommend any traveller to try street food.

Back to the farm for a chicken update!

I shall leave Western China just for a short few minutes, and give you an update on our chicken. (Do you remember reading about our chicken way back in November?  It was the "We have a New Chicken" Blog)
I am a little hesitant to do this story because a local, who reads this Blog, and who shall remain nameless, but he knows who he is, told me that he doesn't want to hear about the chicken.....he wants more on China!!! (sorry,C.W., but others have asked about the chicken's progress.....so you can just skip this Blog, and wait for the next one, which is on China)

Over the Xmas-New Year period we spent two weeks away, in Tasmania.  (and, yes, that will initiate a few more Blogs, you can bet your bottom dollar!)

We were a little concerned that our chicken would be no  more by the time we returned to the farm. If a fox or quoll had chosen it for a tasty snack it was well nigh defenceless.

When we got home we were thrilled to see it, grown certainly, and reaching independence.
So here are a few photos to show its progress.

Our poultry family....heads down, tails up, searching for food.

It is now about 6 or 7 weeks old, and developing the characteristic black feathers on its neck and tail.
Sex??? No idea, mainly because I don't know how to sex a chicken.
I will have to wait until its comb develops.....will it be a female-type comb, or a male comb?
Patience.....I will just have to be patient!

Mother hen with her chick.

Happy families...mum,dad and offspring!

It has lost its cute fluffiness, but is still an interesting little bird.

When its sex is apparent I shall probably post another Blog to let you know. (apologies to C.W.)