They Invited me in the Hottest, Lowest and Driest Place of China
This is the hottest place in China, Turpan, where I am right now. It's so hot here, people are sleeping under the shade of a tree. This is the first time I have seen a rooster crowing on the road in China. She's giving me one. What place is this? It's a very antique place. It feels like a rural China here. So guys, I have left to explore Turpan today.
I will show you the place and tell you about it as well. There is a shop here. Look, there are different grains here. In the whole of Turpan, around 60-70% of the population is of Uyghur Muslims.
Rest, people of other ethnicities also live here like Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Han Chinese are also here. Till now we were travelling in Southern Xinjiang, now we are travelling in North Xinjiang. So people are saying that there is a cultural difference between these two parts. The specialty of Turpan is that it is the lowest point in China.
And the second lowest point in the world, Some sources also say that it is the third lowest point. There are a lot of restaurants here, but they are all closed. I don't know why.
Maybe they open in the evening, but everything is closed. I want to eat something, but I haven't eaten anything properly since morning. If I get something good, I'll eat it. I'm getting bread here. What is bread? It's just bread. Naan. It's a small naan.
This is the freshly baked naan. There is a mini market here in Turpan Look at this. You will get all the daily needs items here, I don't need it right now.
Everything is available here. Fruits are very famous in the whole of Xinjiang. These watermelons are not from here. They are from Kashgar and Southern Xinjiang. You can see the watermelons here, they are very juicy and sugary. No one is sitting alone, there are no customers.
Here in Xinjiang, different fruits are famous in different parts. Due to being the 2nd or 3rd lowest place in the world, Turpan is the hottest place or region in China. The hottest place in China is Turpan, where I am now. There is a lot of hot sun and it is very hot.
It gets very hot here around July. The temperature is around 48 degrees. And the Chinese call this place Turpan Housu which means 'A place as hot as fire' A place as hot as fire.
The Chinese also call it China's Death Valley. Along with being the hottest place in China, Turpan is also the driest place in China. The rainfall here is very less, almost zero.
There are shops here, shops for local needs, shops for hardware. Look, all the restaurants are closed. What should I eat here? Look, there is a barber shop.
Look at him, he's cutting his hair. Can I get something to eat? Or will I just keep walking around? The hostel owner said that I can get something to eat in this area, but I can't see anything. I saw an restaurant, it's also closed. Most of the activities here are in the morning and evening. In the afternoon, most of the things are closed here.
Turpan is my smallest town in China so far. You can say it's the least developed. It used to be a village, now it's a town. The population of this whole town is only around 0.2 million. So, I've spoken to him.
He's helping me a little, he's talking to me. But I don't understand, he's saying, let's eat and talk. Will we eat together or what? Let's eat and talk. She's taking something, ice cream. She's saying me to take it. She's giving it to me.
This is his shop. Ok, he is telling me to eat and come here. So there is a restaurant there, he is telling me, most probably it is open. I don't know if I will get anything or not. I will give one last try, if I don't get anything, I will take some drinks and leave from here. Then I will eat directly in the evening or night.
I will have to cross the road. It's so hot here and people are sleeping under the tree. We have found a restaurant.
It's almost empty, they have given me a menu. I won't be able to understand anything. I'll ask them what I want to eat. Here's the menu. It's written in Chinese and Uyghur. One thing about Xinjiang is that whenever you come to a restaurant no matter what, they serve you tea first. So here, whether you order tea or not, they'll serve you tea first.
So I got tea. This is their tea. It's in water. I can smell the orange. I think it's flavoured tea.
Orange or some fruit flavoured tea. And here in Xinjiang, everyone drinks tea in a bowl. Look, it's a bowl or something like that. It's very hot, it's very hot. And in that heat, they have served hot tea. What can I tell, it's a culture here.
Even Turpan means in the Uyghur language, lowest place. So this is the item I got. I ordered something randomly, I wanted to get rice but look what I got. This is noodles, this is egg, this has tomato, capsicum, onions. Maybe it's something else.
I don't know how much it is. We'll see later. Look at these noodles, they are so thick.
The food was good and the taste was better than I expected. They took 15 yuan from me which is around 2.20$. And the quantity was too much.
So this is the guy, he has called me to his shop and he is telling me to sit here. This is a melon drink in water. There is a picture of a melon. Of a Watermelon. He gave it to me. I'll give him the money.
I don't know how much it is. So he's saying this is our local beverage in Xinjiang. So this is the local beverage of Xinjiang. Watermelon drink. It has a whole watermelon taste.
And it has a sweet and sour taste. It's good. So he's asking if it's hot or not. He's showing me a movie. He has his own portal. There are many movies of different countries in this. I think there's Chinese, Hollywood, Bollywood.
There are a lot of South Indian movies in this And all the movies are in their Uyghur language. Looking at the poster photos, I can understand, but I can't understand what's written. Look at this, some South Indian movie. Akshay Kumar's, Salman Khan's, Ajay Devgan's. Dhoka! It's written in English. There are a lot of Ajay Devgan's movies and South Indian movies.
He's saying that he really likes this movie, Khiladi 786 So see, the movie is being played in Uyghur language. Subtitles are coming in Chinese. He is telling me in the translator that Earlier Indian movies used to be very good It used to be fun to watch But recently such good movies are not coming We are not able to enjoy as much as we used to.
Even Uyghurs say 'HA' to yes. Here in Turpan, I don't feel like I'm in China. Once I come out of the railway station, after crossing all the security checks, I feel like I'm traveling in a Central Asian country. Because the culture here is closer to Central Asia compared to China. I'm asking him how much did he pay, and he's not taking the money. I knew it when he gave it to me.
I had a feeling that he wouldn't take the money, but still. They are doing some repairing work. When I came here 20 minutes ago, it was completely out. He made it completely in 10-15 minutes.
This is the first time I have seen a rooster crowing on a road in China. Look at this, they were walking this way, now they are walking that way. What kind of place is this? There are a lot of hens here, look at this.
There are a lot of hens everywhere. What a place this is, it's a very antique type of place, let me show you first. There is a madam here making some videos, I don't know. Here, I found a unique antique shop. Look at these antique items placed here.
Jugg, Aladdin's lamp, I don't know what else is there. I think some people are recording an advertisement here. Look at this shop. It's amazing. It's in Turpan. He's speaking English. That's good. I don't understand what he is saying.
There are so many items here. Here is a photo of Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. What kind of items are kept here? There's a lot of household stuff. So this antique shop is inside their house. They have a kitchen here too. So aunty is making something. I think she's making tea in the evening.
Aunty is making tea. They are making it out of wood. It feels like rural China here. It's a rural location. They are burning it with firewood.
A lot of locals have come here. Turpan is such an amazing place. I don't want to leave from here. There are so many amazing things here. It's 7 in the evening, and now all the restaurants have started opening.
This is one of the restaurants that was closed, and this one is also open. And there are a lot of restaurants around my hostel, all of them are open. This guy is making fresh Naan bread, let me show you. Very good, fresh Tandoori Naan bread.
It's too hot. Someone is giving it to them from inside. So, look at this the design is made.
And in Naang bread, there are chopped onions. They are putting onion juice in the bread. Look, the Naan bread is ready.
Their bread is quite big. They have broken the record of Uzbek bread as well. Look, the bread is being made.
Water is dripping from my hands. It's all crumbly fresh bread. This will be open all night, people will eat. Look, she is rolling the naan bread.
Now, as far as I know, they will make a design out of the hole. Because is already designed. I don't know how it will be designed. Maybe they will make it with this.
Let's see. It was done within seconds, I thought it will take time. I am taking 1.5 liters of water for 3 yuan. 1.5 liters of water for 0.35$.
Hey guys, very good evening. It's so hot in the afternoon that I don't have the courage to go out. It's 6 in the evening now, but the sunlight is so bright here that it feels like it's 2 in the afternoon. So today we are going to explore some places before nightfall.
I have rented an e-bike here. You can see 1, 2, 3, 4 e-bikes here. Its rent is 60 yuan for the whole day and 40 yuan for half a day. So I have rented it for half a day from evening to night for around 6$. And this gentleman has also joined me. I will go by my e-bike and he will come by his bicycle.
Okay, so his bicycle is also electric. I thought it was a normal pedal bike, but it turned out to be a charger. So this is also a pedal and electric combined bike. The special thing about him is that he came here cycling from Shanghai. He's been cycling around China for a year now.
So I was going to go with him. Let's go together. This is the owner of our hostel.
You have to charge it all night with this adapter. It charges for a full night, it runs for around 60 km Once it's fully charged. Look at this e-bike, it has a number plate as well Which is green in colour.
Okay A lot of people keep riding this e-bike here. A lot of people, school kids are coming and going home on this e-bike. This is the first time I am riding an e-bike in China. This is the key. There is no sound. The accelerator is very fast. Here is the meter. Here is the speedometer.
Here is the battery. To check the battery. So we have stopped on the way, he liked this house, he is saying that he likes this house. He is saying that he likes this house, it's very unique in China. When I saw it for the first time, I thought it was an Indian building, it looked like an Indian house.
There are such houses in India, in this style, in this architecture, they are made of such bricks. Now we are driving at the top speed, it has stopped at 25 kmph. Now the place where we are going, it will be around 4-5 km from the hostel. It is called the symbol of Turpan. It's 6 in the evening and we have started to leave.
When you leave here in the afternoon, it's completely silent. All the shops are closed. There are a lot of e-tricycles here.
Just like my A-Rickshaw. Even the ladies come here in A-Rickshaw. Today I have worn a cap for the first time. You might have seen me in a cap before. But it's too hot here. The heat is unbearable.
Now we have come to the most iconic building of Turpan It is called the symbol of Turpan It's name is Emin Minaret. This is the only Islamic minaret or Islamic tower in the whole of China. And it is the tallest Islamic tower in the whole of China. There is no minaret higher than this in the whole of China.
It is made of mud brick, sun dried brick. People have written something in Chinese language. This minaret was built around 1777, around 250 years ago.
In the honor of Turpan General, whose name was Amin Khoja To enter the Amit Minaret, you have to pay 7$ for the entrance ticket. Jeremy has not come inside, he is saying that in China, the entrance ticket is so costly and nothing special to see. Some things are fine, but most of the places have overpriced tickets.
'So I am not coming, you go and visit, I am waiting outside' Let's go inside and see what's inside. How heavy and big is the door made of wood. It's very hot outside and it's very cold inside compared to outside. Because it's so old, there are cracks in many places.
Look at this, the wall is cracking. They gave him these papers and a tape. In Turpan, there are a lot of texts related to Buddhism and Christianity Artifacts, paintings and images have been found. Along with that, texts of Sanskrit have also been found Converted into Uyghur language. There are some school children here. We have been invited by them.
Everyone has their own electric bike. Everyone's size is different, someone has a small one. Two people are sitting. Let's go, see if I can record or not, I'll try to do it with one hand. So the local kids we met are all Uyghurs. They are taking us to their home.
This road goes right next to the Minaret. So they live somewhere around the Minaret. There's a group of electric bikers. I'm the last one behind them.
There's a lot of dust flying around. Some roads are rough, some are solid. The roads are not maintained properly. It's been a long time since the roads were built. The roads are broken, just like in villages.
It's exactly like that. This is the first time in the whole of China that the roads are not maintained properly. Look at the houses here, all of them are of old architecture, mud brick houses. I feel like I'm in a different world.
I don't feel like I'm in China. Look at the localities and their houses. This is the local house. These people keep playing games all the time. They either work or play games.
If you go to the other side, you will see people playing games on phone, and here its a board game. This is the typical house of Uyghurs people. I think this is the first time I am getting a chance to film here.
They randomly invited us. Look here. The speciality of Xinjiang, watermelons. Here we have dry fruits, almonds, walnuts, and apricots.
They have tea and everything here. It's compulsory here. Its called 'CHA' here This is dried apricot.
In 'GOOD', it's called Hotsha. We call it 'ACCHA' If Jeremy wasn't here , I wouldn't have been able to come I wouldn't have been able to talk to them. I don't know how many people would have invited, but I wouldn't have been able to understand them. They asked me, if you want, you can stay over at their place at night Tea, look at this, tea with water I thought they are the same family, But they are all different. They are all neighbors. They are all friends.
So let's try the juicy watermelon here. The watermelon here doesn't have that many seeds I can see only one seed in the whole. There will be so many seeds in Indian watermelons.
They are saying that the name of the Indian movies. But movie name also changes in their language. So I am not able to understand that much. But they are saying that they watch a lot of Indian movies.
In Uyghur language, India is known as 'Hindustan', and in Chinese language, it is known as 'Hindu' So, look at this, they are showing us their books. This is their English book. They study English. They study, no one is able to speak. Here, it is written in English, and then it is in Chinese.
Their entire curriculum is in Chinese. All their studies are in Chinese. Their own language, Uyghur language, is not taught in school.
He is telling that 'I failed' Guess what time it is? It's 9.45 in the night and the sun is still out. Although the temperature in Turpan is high, but it also has a benefit. Because of this heat, melons, grapes and other fruits grow very easily here. Because this is known as the ideal temperature. Because this city gets sunshine for a very long time.
That's why Turpan is known as the hometown of grapes. Turpan is famous for its grapes. If you go anywhere in Turpan, where there are no houses, no buildings, no residences, you will find only grape gardens. You will find only grape gardens. It's not the season of grapes. It's the season of grapes is around August and September.
The grapes are small and these are big.
2023-07-19 09:39
