First leg on the road trip: Turpan
August 13th, 2010 at 22:24 
The plan keeps changing as the map of xinjiang with roads that I have used is changing after finding out that road after road seems to be closed down due to landslides or flooding. Original plan of train to kashgar is still on and then down to hotan. Thereafter we have to improvise how to cross the desert and get back to urumqi as roads eastward seems to be closed and whether the road to yining across the west mountains is open or not on the way back after crossing the desert. We will find out.
Today the roadtrip around taklamakan desert started with a bus ride to turpan, a legendary oasis on the old northern silkroad, the third lowest depression in the world (154m below sea level) and the hottest spot in china with highest recorded temperature of 49.6 degrees celsius.
Turpan is at first sight a slow and boring city but with famous attractions close by.
The de facto time difference of two hours but still official Beijing time makes the days feel very long. Which of also makes you do more. After settling in we had time to walk around in the city and visit an old mosque in its outskirts.
