Monday, June 23, 2008

Grape Valley

Yeah, we are still in Turpan. Turpan produces the sweetest grapes and the best raisins in China. And believe it or not, the grape valley is located not far away from Flaming Mountain. And this place is kinda cool in comparison with Flaming Mountain, the hottest place on earth. :P
The walkway to Grape Valley is beautifully shaded by overhanging grape trellises. Too bad the grapes are not in season yet.. Have to wait till July or August loh to taste the seedless sweet white grapes. *Bawl* :(
Grape Valley
Besides the grapes vineyards, there are also other fruit trees, and not forgetting Afanti former residence and Uygur despots residence.
The door of Afanti former residence. Dunno why lah.. I confess I am obsessed with doors and door knobs.. I love to take snapshots of door and door knobs. Can hear the "krakkkkkk....." sound when opening the door :P
The simple furniture and porcelain bowl are kinda cute.
The 100+ years old Muslim Uygur uncle. o.O at the snowy white beard.
The Uygur despots residence. Mmm.. Seeing this remind you of anything?

Mulberry tree with colourful mulberries. We plucked and ate the ripe mulberry there and then.. Syiok habis. First time eating fresh mulberries leh :) Wait, where are the silk worms???
And not to miss out plucking and eating the fresh apricots too. Sedap lah.
Of coz lah. Free stuff are good stuff. LOL
This is the place where raisins are produced, with the help from mother nature. Presenting the Drying Room. The fresh grapes are dried inside the air drying room with the hot and dry airflow for about 2 weeks. Yeah, they are not sun-dried. The walls are built in such a way to provide the best airflow. The raisins here are free from preservatives.
And the huge sweet raisins are available everywhere, since those are Turpan's specialty products :)

28 comments:

day-dreamer said...

Aiseh... puto gua. Hehe. Eat with fried rice very nice. :P

Anonymous said...

The raisen are big hor.. I love raisen..

Chen said...

day dreamer,
Eat with fried rice?
Oh yeah. It is equally nice when eating it together with corn flakes and milk.

And the raisins are sweet :)

keeyit,
Yeah, the raisins are huge.
Unlike the ligo raisins which is minute in size :)

There are different categories and grades of raisins, with different price tag in Turpan. From 20 yuen per kilo to few hundred yuen per kilo :)

moz monster said...

I eat raisins simply by scooping them by the handfuls and then swallowing :)

So nice ... but always kena diarhhea ... vitamin C overdose mah ...

Wyn said...

wah...nice ler...if you dun mention that its hot, i really duno lor...cuz d place looks so "cool" hehe...like cameron?=P

dat unker looked strong wor...hehe...anyway, jiejie, i really cant stop feel that its sumwer kat arab dat u travelled to ler...hehe

rainbow angeles said...

no wine?

*cheers*

Chen said...

moz,
Hehehe, the way u describe sounds like u eating raisins just like eating peanuts :P

Wah, this is the first time I heard people getting diarrhoea from over eating raisin. LOL

wyn,
Oh, u misunderstand what i written liao. What i meant is the Flaming Mountain is the hottest area in China, which is within the same region. I have rewrite the sentence again. Hehehe, the grape valley is kinda cool.

LOL, looks like Arab, but it's not Arab :)

angeles,
Red wine available. The red wine I tasted is dunno what brand wan which I bought from Sundry shop. That one tak sedap wan :P

Anonymous said...

I would stuff my backpack with those apricots :D

kyh said...

That old man doesn't look like 100+ leh! so young... the most looks like 70 only. Maybe the grapes there can help ppl feel and look young? LOL

those apricots no pesticides meh? all naturally grown wan?

khengsiong said...

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing. How long you spend in Silk Road?

I have been wanting to go there for a long time, but I just don't have the time and money :-(

Chen said...

fibrate,
aiyak, i should have done that too...
but now too late liao :P
LOL

kyh,
but he does hv lotsa wrinkles on his face. He looks like a wise old man :)

i dun think they use pesticides leh
regarding the fertilizer..
Might be the "natural" fertilizer kua?

khengsiong,
Thanks KhengSiong.
I spent 10 days for the Silk Road Tour, following tour. But the first day is the traveling day. As the flight fr Pg to Guangzhou took almost 4 hours and the flight from Guangzhou to Urumqi took 5.5 hours.

Jun said...

ppl in asian countries dun reli look their age huh? saw a malay lady in the wards the other day who was 101 but looked like she was 80 -__- maybe u shud seriously consider getting a fake student ID for "chap fan" discounts hahaha..

Doreen said...

They don't produce wine out of the grapes? Did you buy big guni bag of raisins home?

cutiepie said...

*scoop scoop raisins*

Chen said...

jun,
And lately I saw a female patient at 60+ who looks like 40+ too.

Hahaha, I cannot use the fake ID card in Penang lah. Later they recognise me then paiseh liao :P

doreen,
Dun really know about the wine (but they do produce red wine, which is not as popular as the raisins).

Hahaha, cannot carry so many things back home leh. Only buy a little bit of this and that :)

mudpie,
the raisins are very sweet,
and oh yeah, it's the natural sweetness :)

mistipurple said...

first the driver of the donkey cart, and then this unker. i love their wrinkles. so dignified.

Pink Cotton said...

wow..very interesting la ur silk road tour...

keep em coming!!!

just read ur flaming mountain post..luckily i kno abt journey to the west or else i die liao...kena piak

Chen said...

misti,
Kkkkk... I dunno u like wrinkles geh?
Okie okie, don't piak me :P

Err.. wrinkles = dignity ah?
Mmmm... Cham loh...
cos i have no wrinkles woh
but i dowan to hv wrinkles also lah
Hehhehehhe..

pink cotton,
Hehe, I still remember u googled for Silk Road after u sms-ed me while I was in Silk Road time :P

Luckily u know about Journey to the West. If not I sure piak u kaw kaw liao :P

L B said...

Hey, we can have flying raisins this time instead!

mistipurple said...

hahah i knew you're going to say that. i always respect old people's wrinkles. mother teresa got plenty too, hahahah

c a r c a r said...

i see nice portrait and nice pic here!~

ms liu lian is yr new neighbour is it?

(refering to winn's niece)

kekekeke....

seefei said...

great reportage with well composed photograph to go. i like!!

Chen said...

carcar,
Thanks Carcar. Long nice no see.

Wah..
Winn's niece are Reece and Regine mah. Since when they change name to Liu Lian woh? :P

seefei,
Thanks Seefei.
Glad u like the post :)

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

That photo of the lattices is wonderful!

Chen said...

CSC,
And that scene can be seen almost everywhere in Turpan, including the Pedestrian walkway in the street :)

Anonymous said...

wahh!! that apek doesn't look anywhere near 100 at all. and the house reminds me of cultural village. :P lol! not a fan of raisin although they say good for memories.

Chen said...

ehon,
That grandpa still looks healthy and "young" for his age. And i cannot find a single thread of black or grey hair.. All the beard is white in colour :)

U should eat more raisins then..
good for u when u r studying pharmacology
heheheheh :P

Redsponge said...

really sayang la..no fresh grapes to curi!! ;p