After leaving Gaochang, I walked the same road I had come in on. I was again taking photos. I could not resist, but I was more watchful. I was still tired from walking in the heat of the desert afternoon. I had recovered from my dehydration, pounding two liters of water, but my energy was …
Galen was down sick again, so I took the camera out by myself to see the ruins of Gaochang. The bus dropped me off where I had expected, at an intersection in Second Fort Village. I began walking in the direction of the ruins of Gaochang. Interested in all aspects of village life, I tend …
The day was doggedly hot. I had walked a long way to get to the ruins of Gaochang, downing a bottle of water at every store I saw. But, as I got closer to the ruins, the landscape became more rural, and there were no stores to buy water. The road came to a T-intersection. …
For I was hungry, and you gave me food: I was thirsty and you gave me drink: I was a stranger and you took me in… Matthew 25:35, King James 2000 Bible We were wandering up a hot dirt road in a rural area, looking for water and a way to get back to Turpan. …
Galen had been sick, so we wanted to leave our campsite at Bezeklik as early as we could. We came out of the canyon and found shade in a cellphone tower. Galen balled himself up, trying to keep his insides inside of him. We had hitchhiked to the site, so we would have to find …
As we were leaving camp, an old man with a toothy grin appeared, wading across the river and stomping into our campsite. He had come down from the nearby village, around the cliff face where the vineyards began. The man was completely bald, his head shinning bright in the morning desert sunlight. His ears bowed …
The next day, we went back to the Bezeklik. This time, we got rides from local vans leaving from Turpan’s bazaar, heading to the general area called Shengjin, an irrigated valley that drained into the canyon where the Bezeklik caves were. It was in this area that the mummies and the world’s oldest drug dealer …
The sun was beating down on us. We walked the half mile down the road to where the Bezeklik Caves compound was. Caves is not an accurate way of describing Bezeklik. Bezeklik is actually a series of man-made grottos carved into the side of a tall cliffface above a small river. The Mutou river runs …
All of the guidebooks mentioned Emin Minaret. The tower was built in 1777 and finished in 1778. Its construction was blessed by the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong Emperor to honor Emin Khoja, a local ruler and general who had teamed up with the Qianlong Emperor, though the details of their collaboration were always left vague. I …
The afternoon was hot. It was easily over a hundred degrees. We were in the dry, Turpan depression, near the second lowest point on Earth. My idea to bike to and back from the Jiaohe Ruins had seemed like a better idea earlier in the morning. Now, after two and a half hours wandering around …