99 In the Shade

6 July 2009

The very reasonably paved roads of China (and I am a qualified connoisseur of roads by this point) make it a quicker journey these days, which is just as wlll, as we have been driving through seemingly endless desert for a few days. Occasionally pierced with a bit of green at an oasis, like Turpan. Now, oasis might seem a strong word for Turpan, which is also blindingly hot (imagine yourself in a blast furnace, being smelted into some sort of liquid metal. Turpan is slightly hotter.). It's also 154 meters below sea level, making it the second lowest place on earth, following in the footsteps of the ever-cheery Dead Sea.

The city of 57,000 is, however, an ancient oasis on the Silk Road, and laced with streets winding along underneath vine-draped trellises. The green shade is more than welcome, especially when one is travelling with a truck full of English people who think that 50 degrees Fahrenheit calls for ice cream. Not that they understand Fahrenheit, but they do actually eat ice cream in vast quantities, descending on bemused vendors like piranhas on a skinny dipper. Note: you can buy purple potato ice cream in China. It's a thing.

Once the blistering heat had settled down a bit, we drove out from the Turpan Hotel to Jiaohe Ruins, a 2000 year old city of unbaked-clay bricks, one of the world's largest, oldest and best preserved ancient cities. Initially impressive, but there's only so much excitement to be mustered by dirt-coloured mud ruins. And the vendors have cold beer and tea and a hilariously pro-China DVD at the gates, which also proved entertaining.

Dinner in a little cafe, super cheap stirfry and chicken drenched in chili sauce, all lovely. One of the nicest things so far about China is the food—hot and freshly cooked and god, just not shashlyk.