Turpan
We have been unable to get the Internet over the last few days. We will be posting the last 5 days of entries at the same time. Please simply follow the dates on the blogs.
I know you are probably tired of hearing this but it has been another truly amazing day at our third silk road stop. Okay so any place whose original name is Houzhou meaning "land of fire" should not surprise you that it is 113 degrees today. We are in the Gobi Desert. And I am sorry to all of you out there that say "it's not the heat, it's the humidity", ah whatever, it is hot. Ms. Becker and I are sweating like crazy! Now it is not the sauna like humid near our home, but it is hot. Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, I can go on.
Turpan is considered an agricultural oasis and is 80 meters below sea level, only the Dead Sea is lower. By 108 BCE, the town was made up of mostly famers and traders. The strategic location made it especially desirable to rule. For if you ruled this town the benefits were huge: control of the northern trade and caravans. It is not surprising then that this was a critical spot on the Silk Road. It is not surprising that the Han dynasty and the Xiongnu ( yes, you remember them too! Oh music to our ears. Yes, defeated by Wudi and distant cousins of the Huns who helped to defeat the Romans! Yes, yes, oh my students Ms. Becker and I are so happy) constantly fought for control of this area.
So today Ms. Becker and I went to see Gaochang established during the Northern Wei Dynasty. Settlement began here as a result of an expedition sent by Wudi of the Han. He sent Zang Qian here as part of an envoy to obtain the famous blood sweating horses also known as the celestial horse in hopes that this could gain them an advantage over their nomadic enemy the Xiongnu. These central Asian horses were much faster than the Mongol horses that the Han had. Zang and his envoy were told not to come back unless they have these horses. Many from the group decided to stay so this is how the town was established. Gaochang later became a capitol city and had diplomacy with the Tang Dynasty leaders and with 24 other societies. The famous Buddhist monk Xuan Zang also came here and taught Buddhism in the lecture room that we stood in! Later, the people of this city were able to establish an independent kingdom that lasted until the 13th century. They lasted this long due in large part to the Mongols. A Uygur general had gone to Genghis Khan (my Temuji!!) for help against threatening forces. He married one of Genghis's daughters and as a result not only did the Mongols protect the city but the Uygurs, with their better horses, became a large part of the Mongol cavalry. Gaochang is also an excellent example of cultural diffusion on the Silk Road. Many religions coexisted here including Buddhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Shamanism and Manecheism.
Upon arrival in the ancient ruins of Gaochang, we were greeted with an unexpected treat - a donkey ride to the ruins. I felt like I was caravanning across the Silk Road on these great little open carts and 4 of us hopped on. Of course, Ms. Becker and I got on the cart with the donkey that takes off. He was getting some good speed and of course we were hysterical and Ms. Becker's cackle (which I find truly endearing and it always makes me laugh more) I swear woke up some of those people from their long slumber in the ruins!!
Flaming mountains on the way to Gaochang:
Lecture hall:
In the lecture hall, getting to behave like a student:
Both of us getting "our Geek on" in the lecture hall:
More ruins from the sight:
Local guy playing at the ruins creates a wonderful soundtrack to this breathtaking site. In fact, we loved the instrument so much we ended up buying it in Kashgar:
More flaming mountains. They get their name from the cracks going up the mountainside and often times ribbons of steam seem to be coming from them making them appear as though they are on fire:
Apart from the awesome donkey taxi ride, my favorite part was visiting Jiaoche. Ms. Becker and I really enjoyed the visit here in the late evening. This ancient city is on a strategic location on the Silk Road. Its name means "confluence of two rivers" as it sits above two rivers. The cliffs form natural fortifications around the city. Our professor said that it is the biggest and oldest eastern adobe city in the world. Its origins go back 2500 years! The first settlers came here to escape attacks from the Huns. During its history it was ruled by many different groups including Tibetans, Uygurs, and Huns to name a few. It reached its peak under the Uygurs in the 9th century. It lasted until it was destroyed by a Mongol rebellion in the 13th century.
This is our artsy shot with us walking away:
The sight was a lot smaller than Gaochang but better preserved. Because of that you could really imagine yourself walking through the city and living that life with the ancients. It was perfect. We were literally the only tour group there because we went so late in the evening making it easy for the imagination to run wild. Ms. Bisconti enjoyed it too and we had a little moment walking around listening to "The Wind" again sharing headphones.
Later in the evening we were sitting on the hotel beds just chatting about our day and experiences away from home. Poor Ms. Bisconti came clean about how she just wasn't a roughing it kind of girl by saying and I quote, "I just can't rough it much longer; I only have one towel to take my shower!". I know she was being serious but I couldn't help but laugh at her idea of roughing it. Well that was it; we spent the next five minutes laughing about the various ways we have been made to "rough it" on this trip. List below compiled in laughter by both myself and Ms. Bisconti.
Horrors of roughing it on the silk road:
1. Staying at 4 star hotel with one towel
2. Being forced to use bottled water to brush our teeth
3. Carry our own toilet paper around in case of emergency (We now hold it like a trophy)
4. Not have use of her diffuser for her hair dryer (which she forgot at the last hotel).
5. Being unable to change the air conditioner in our room because we are too cold. Might I remind you we are currently visiting "the land of fire" and most people would be jumping for joy to have air conditioning.
6. Washing our clothes in a sink.
7. Say goodbye to chocolate for 25 days
8. Drink water at room temperature. (torture foe Ms. Bisconti who drinks an iced decaf Americano in the morning, even in the dead of winter).
9. No Internet access in our room
10. No clock so we never know the time. Or really so Ms. Bisconti never knows and has to ask me to read my watch.
11. Writing on a bus with no shocks.
12. Dripping with sweat from the heat and mostly unable to shower and feel human before going to dinner! Yuck!
13. Washing my sand and camel poo shoes in the bathroom sink ( dinginess on my part but germ trauma for Ms. Becker!)
To all of you out there who knows what it really means to rough it, I hope you got a good laugh out of our list.
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