This would be my 4th trip to Xinjiang in the past 3 years. I fell in love with this region for its diversity in landscape, and culture on my first backpacking trip in 2006 when I spent 2 months traveling from North to South covering most tourist destinations, and beyond. This time, we have decided to take advantage of some really great airline promotions and went to only the Heavenly Lake and Turpan for 3.5 days. When I did the same trip last year, quite a few came back to me and said that their trip to Xinjiang was the highlight of their travel experience in China. This year, the feedback had been equally positive.

The weather we had on this trip couldn’t have been better. It was sunny and warm the day we hiked up to the Heavenly Lake, and many postcard-perfect photos were taken. However, I must say that the highlight of the trip was Turpan – the place that can truly stimulate all of one’s senses. Not only we saw some really dramatically beautiful landscape, and tasted the most tender and juicy roasted whole lamb one can ever have in China, we were also treated to a live performance of the Turpan Mukamu at the home of a desert village family.

Turpan Mukamu is a part of the 12 Mukamu - a collection of folklores and poetry narrated through music, and it is regarded as one of the most important cultural heritage of the Uygur people.  A Mukamu performance includes music played by a variety of traditional instruments, along with vocals, and dancing. Every song tells a story, where some are happy, some are sad, and some are funny. Today, the 12 Mukamu is enlisted as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of the world. So it was quite a special treat to be able to witness this at the village where the Turpan mukamu originates. Coincidently, the leader of the troupe that performed for us that night was invited to perform for the Queen of England in 2000.

Turpan in guidebooks is often referred to as the layback grape growing oasis with a few interesting ancient sites which one could visit as either a day trip from Urumqi or an overnight stay at the most. When I first visited Xinjiang in 2006, I had traveled to Kashgar, and Khotan, and I had almost decided to skip Turpan altogether due to the luke warm review I heard from other travelers that I’ve met on the road. Looking back now, it was a true blessing that I had decided not only to go there, and that I have extended my stay to close to a week, where I was able to meet some very friendly and in-the-know locals who can introduce to me a side of Turpan that not many other travelers have had a chance to see.

Normally travelers follow the guide books and visit the 6 famous places all at one go, the places are namely: The Grape Valley, Flamming Mountains, Gaochang Ruins or Jiaohe Ruins, Karezs Museum; Bezklik Thousand Buddha Caves; Emin Minaret. I find that when people do that in a day or two, they get tired, hot and thirsty, and end up wanting to leave Turpan as soon as they can. Over the course of two days, our group went to only 3 out of 6 of these recommended places. They are the Jiaohe Ruins, Emin Minaret, and Karez Museum. We went to the Grape Valley for lunch but did not go inside the park. As the park consisted too many man-made attractions as in most scenice parks in China. We didn’t stop at the Flamming Mountains, instead we visited the ancient Uygur village of Tuyoq which is located inside the Tuyoq Valley within the Flamming Mountains. The village is a remote and small grape growing community, where all the houses made of mudbrick date back to as far as 400 years old. It is also the holy pilgrimage site for devout Muslims who cannot make it to Mecca. Then we also visited a part of the Taklimakan desert that’s not known to most tourists, where our group enjoyed the sunset before taking dinner at the village home.  On our last day, we took a donkey cart ride to visit the Sunday Animals Market just outside of Turpan through the backstreets of the city and village road passing vineyards, and village homes.

In the past, I’ve also designed itineraries for those who’d like to camp out in the desert to sleep under the stars, and a side trip to the Aiding Lake which is often referred to as the Dead Sea of China. All such experiences sets their travels apart from others.

Right now, there’s talks about an airport being underway for Turpan, so within a few years, tourism will certainly pick up for this sleepy oasis town. Whether it would still retain its current layback atmosphere that’s so endearing is hard to say. All I can say is that one should certainly visit Turpan while it is still not on the tourist radar, and take your time to explore the area, as opposed to rushing through it within a day or two. You will never regret it.

Lunch under the grape vines at the Grape Valley

Tuyoq Village

Taklimakan Desert - near Turpan

Dinner hosted by a village family

Mukamu Troup

Dancing to the Mukamu Music

Donkey Cart Ride in to the Turpan Animal Market