Goodbye Kuching

This is what I had for brunch today - Kam Pua Noodle (干盘面). Something that I had since childhood time (which is not available over here in Penang) before I bid farewell to the Land of Hornbill. It looks like Wantan Mee but the taste and texture of the noodle is different. I still remember during my secondary school days, the noodles was sold at RM 1.30 per plate in Sarikei. Now the price is already RM 2.80 in Kuching. Talking about those good old days when everything is still cheap and affordable :P

Yeah, I'm leaving Kuching today. This is just a short balik kampung trip but quite an enjoyable one too. Especially I managed to meet up with quite a number of my secondary school friends/classmates and two of them I haven't meet for 16 years. Seems like most of my Sarikei friends and classmates/schoolmates have either migrated or are now working in Kuching. ;)

A night in Turpan

Roast Lamb is a known delicacy in XinJiang province. Tonight our tour group had the whole roast lamb for dinner.. The photo above showing our whole roasted lamb (together with it's head) before ending up subsequently inside our tummy. Didn't take photo of the dishes as too busy makan-ing :)

It was a long day in Turpan. After dinner it was time to check in the hotel. It's already 9:35 pm at night but the sky was still bright, which was good as we had more time for sightseeing. For your info, the photo in the earlier Flaming Mountain post was taken around 7:30 pm at night but the sun was still shinning brightly.

Yeah, this is our hotel entrance gate. Kinda unique huh? Of course I took photos of the gate door and the knob too but I decided not to post it up this time.. If not Jason will become worried again with my obsession. By the way, did u notice the donkey cart opposite the road?This is a nearer view of the donkey cart if u didn't notice or see it properly in the previous picture. The donkey cart serves like a taxi in Turpan. You can take it to tour around the town :)
More donkey carts on the road.. This particular donkey cart carried greens and vegetables.

We see mainly motorbikes, bicycles and donkey carts on the road. Picture showing one old wise Muslim man riding bicycle on the road (I saja saja call him wise man).

Another wise old Muslim man on the road. This scene somehow reminds me of Kelantan. And he looks like Nik Aziz from afar. Hehehehe

And yeah, this is the hotel that we stayed for the night. Since it was already 10 pm and we had a long day in Turpan, it's time to go back to the hotel and Zzzzz... And the following day we will have a long journey to Hami, the melon town.

Imin Minaret (Sugong Pagoda)

Let's continue with the series in Turpan, XinJiang Province again... And I'm still stuck at Day 3 out of the 10 days tour.. o.O
Sugong Pagoda (苏公塔) also known as Imin Minaret was completed in 1778. It is the largest ancient tower in XinJiang Province. It is also the only Islamic old tower among the hundreds famous towers in China.
The magnificent Imin Minaret or Sugong Pagoda. The tower is 44 metre in height with a base of 10 metre in diameter.
The pagoda body assumes the shape of a cylinder with a column in the center of the tower and 72 flights of stairs. The pagoda was built with bricks and woods and displays features of Uyghur architecture.

Let's have a closer view how the bricks were arranged. There is an observation room on the tower roof. There are windows on four sides of the tower roof for a complete view of Turpan town.
This is just a saja-saja photo.. Since i like to snap here and there. Nothing significance :P

The door and the door knob again.. My obsession :P

A stone tablet at the entrance of the tower with Uygur and Chinese writing at the bottom. I still cannot figure out what is the drawing on the stone tablet :P

Wooden roof and the ornamental windows..

Praying ground with red carpets. This is a mosque mah :)

Cross sign, which reminds me of hospital. Hehehe, but of course this building has nothing to do with health related service lah :P

And Misti, this Uyghur young chap has smooth skin without any wrinkles.. Unlike the donkey cart uncle and 100+ years old grandpa in the previous two posts . ;)

And.. several raisin stalls outside the Sugong Pagoda with ith different names and colours. There's even raisins for different gender :P

Meow...

Purrrr...
Guess what?
Meow again :)

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 :)

GaoChang Ancient City

The ruins of the Ancient City of GaoChang (高昌古城) is located nearby HuoYanSan or Flaming Mountain about 46 km southeast of Turpan. The ancient city of Gaochang and Jiaohe, are two of the well preserved ruins of the ancient cities in China.

Donkey Cart

Our donkey cart "driver" :D

On the dusty road... Go Donkey Go :)

The ancient city of Gaochang was built as a garrison town in the 1st century B.C. As one of the key points along the Silk Road, the ancient city of Gaochang was also a sanctuary of world religious culture. Xuanzhang, the Buddhist monk in the Tang Dynasty stopped here in the past on his way to India.

The GaoChang city was damaged and burnt down during the war around the 14th century.

After 2,000 years, the ancient city still displays its past greatness and glory. Even though the walls are incomplete with ruins, the magnificent outline still remains.

Some of our tour group members riding on different donkey carts.
Enjoying the ruins of the GaoChang ancient city on the donkey cart.

Another donkey cart trying to overtake us. This donkey very cekap wan. Take a look at his hind legs. I meant the way the donkey runs :D

The local Muslim chubby boy selling keychain.

The infamous toilets.. Although extremely smelly, this is still a "proper" toilet with doors in comparison to the "natural" open air toilet on the road :P

The city, covering an area of 2 million square meters, is composed of 3 sections ~ an outer city, an inner city and a palace city.

And we have reached the inner city of the ancient GaoChang. The ruins and remains here give us a glimpse of the grandeur and prosperity of the ancient city in the past.

In the middle of the city lies the round castle..

Looking up... Mmmm.... Once upon a time...

How nice if there's time machine... (Ok, I'm trying to imagine how's the city like in the past :P)

Sha la la la.. (Of coz they didn't sing sha lalala leh..). If Ah Ben is here, he will start io ka chng.

As we are good citizen, we didn't leave any unnecessary marks or prints on the ancient wall except leaving behind our foot prints on the ground and sweet memories... :P

Frankly speaking, I'm thirsty lah as u can imagine how hot it was. I wanna drink COLD BEER :P