Believe it or not, today (17JUN) was WINE DAY !!! Yes – the truck visited a grape farm and a winery for tasting on its 189km journey to the city of Turpan. We set out at 8am and the main feature of the drive was an enormous group of wind farms measuring approx 50km long by 10km wide. The main farm is known as the “Xinjiang Dabancheng Chaiwopu Wind Farm” and by itself generates 114,000MW of electricity each hour – this is enough to power 620,000 average Sydney homes – this compares with the 92,000MW per hour from the solar farm we saw 2 days ago. Chinese infrastructure continues to amaze me. We then entered the Taklamakan Desert. Grey dirt. No plants. Pancake flat. Approx 400m elevation. Super-hot. We arrived in the city of Turpan around noon.
Turpan (Pop 693,400. Elev 169m) is on the original Silk Road and home to many ethnicities dating back to 107BC. It is now the centre of the Uyghurs who are descendants of the TURKIC race. The Uyghurs have traditionally inhabited a series of oases scattered across the Taklamakan Desert within the Tarim Basin. These oases have historically existed as independent states or were controlled by many civilizations including China and the Mongols. The Uyghurs gradually started to become Islamised in the 10th century, and most Uyghurs identified as Muslims by the 16th century. Islam has since played an important role in Uyghur culture and identity. The Uyghurs claim to have started grape cultivation and wine making in this area now known as the Turpan Grape Valley around 2000 years ago. This is now the largest wine region in China and the greatest source of premium table grapes and raisins. It is actually an oasis in the Taklamakan Desert kept alive by the Karez Canal. This wine region now has more than 550 grape varieties covering 42,000 hectares cultivated by 42 larger wineries and 25 smaller ones. It is an emerging industry exporting to 10 countries.
We drove along the Grape Valley which is literally a valley bounded by the Flaming Mountain Range. Our first stop was a tourist trap nestled in the valley with restaurants and souvenir shops. Boring. I researched China wine on my iPhone using my newfound eSim – constantly online !!! Our second stop was even worse. Frog Alley. Just shops. But it had access to the grape growing farms so I left the group, jumped a fence and was swimming amongst the vines with fruit showing and could easily now see the Flaming Mountain Range. I am the only one with photos of this range and grapes. Everyone else has photos of shops !!! Our third stop was the worst of all – a petting zoo !!! Would have loved this place if I was 9 but at 59 it was piss-weak world !!! The only saving grace were some odd emus and a double horned goat that I have NEVER seen before !!! Greet them in the photos below !!! The fourth stop was THE BEST. A winery. Chateau Yimao. A very new, modern private concern growing 3,056 hectares of grapes and producing a flagship Muscat and Muscat Cognac that retails for over $200USD a bottle. One of the owners and the winemaker took us on a tour of the facility which is world-class with 50 huge steel fermenters for their whites and 100 French Oak Barrels for their reds. Their signature white is a local variety called NOBLE FRAGRANCE and their signature red is a 100% MERLOT. Their huge and utter surprise is their double-distilled Muscat – 67% alcohol and tastes like a sweet cognac with raisins in it !!! The Chinese Wine Industry is fledgling but growing. There is evidence that China first grew grapes in 7000BC but not clear if they were used for wine. Wine featured in all the major dynasties. France was the first foreign nation to set up wine production in China in 1980. Chardonnay, Merlo and Muscat are the predominant varieties in China. At the end of 2024, China's wine market export revenue accounted for 6.0% of the global wine market revenue. China's wine consumption in 2024 was 5.5 million hectolitres, ranking it 10th globally, and representing 3% of global consumption. This is much smaller than major wine-producing countries like Italy, France, and even the United States.
My 6am sunrise run in Turpan on 18JUN reminded me of running in Sudan. 6am and 28C. Good news is that there was some moisture in the air and a very slight breeze. All the difference I needed. No way of getting lost here – roads are enormous and dead straight. At 9am we made or way to the ancient city of Jiaohe, also known as Yar City. This unusual city was built on a platform-like peninsula terrace formed by two rivers on either side sitting 30m above the river beds – this formed a natural defence without the need for walls. This was necessary back in 108BC when this area was being constantly invaded. First a fortress was built and then later dwellings were added to accommodate a peak population of 7,000. Last of all Buddhist Temples were added around the 9th Century AD until the 13th Century AD when Genghis Khan managed to gain entry and partly destroy the place resulting in its abandonment. The peninsula terrace is 1.65km long and 300m wide. I walked the entire length visiting all the remaining temples in 40C heat. Could not wait to get to the next much cooler site.
Our last stop was the Karez Underground Canal Irrigation System or Karez Well System. It is an ancient underground irrigation method, particularly well-known in the Turpan region of Xinjiang, China. It utilizes a network of interconnected vertical wells and horizontal tunnels to tap into ground water (from melted mountain snow) and channel it to the surface for irrigation and other uses. This system is crucial for agriculture in the arid Turpan Basin, where surface water is scarce and where rivers evaporate due to the intense heat. Wells are dug at intervals along the slope of the land, providing access to the underground water source and serving as ventilation shafts for the tunnels. The underground tunnels, dug between the wells, channel the groundwater downhill, utilizing gravity to move the water. At the end of the underground tunnels, the water flows into open canals on the surface, distributing it to fields and residential areas. The Karez System was invented 2000 years ago by a bloke called Karez and at its peak covered a total network of 5,000km. Simply amazing. So much so that it is UNESCO protected !!! We were also treated to a traditional dance show before entering the underground irrigation hall.
We got back to the hotel at the very descent hour of 2pm and an indecent 40C !!! That aircon room was salivation. Like diving into a cool stream. This was an ideal opportunity for me to book my hotel for my extended stay in Beijing plus day tours and my flight to and hotel in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. I also booked my 10-day tour of Mongolia with a local company with no more than 4 people in a jeep. By the time I looked up from all my bookings, it was 6pm and time for wine !!! I never drink during bookings so I do not make a mistake with dates !!! I finished the day with another great green veggie takeaway washed down by the wine I bought at my first Chinese Wine Tasting and Winery.
Now it’s your turn to taste the fruits of Turpan…
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Our 417km drive to Hami commenced just after 9am. A terrific sleep-in and brekkie of fried rice with egg. The Chinese also eat a lot of veggies too for their brekkies. Just 30min out of town emerged the “Flamming Mountains” which are barren, eroded, red sandstone hills with striking gullies and trenches caused by erosion of the red sandstone bedrock making them look like flames, especially with a rising or falling sun. The mountains are approximately 100 kilometres (60 mi) long and 5–10 km (3–6 mi) wide, crossing the Turpan Depression from east to west. The average height of the Flaming Mountains is 500 m (1,600 ft), with some peaks reaching over 800 m (2,600 ft). The Turpan Depression is below sea-level reaching 150m below with temperatures consistently between 40-45C – this is the hottest place in China !!! Record temperature here was 52.2C in 2023 compared to the world record of 56.7C in 1912 in Death Valley USA. Another characteristic feature of this area is the mud brick homes built like show boxes with ventilation holes in them. We passed a village of these set against the backdrop of a modern city as you will see in a single photo.
Once we left the Turpan Depression everything flattened out and rose. From below sea level to a peak of 1200m. Passed more wind farms in contrast to oil pumps I saw on my run back in Turpan. It is hard to read China. On the one hand they are into coal, gas and oil but on the other, it looks like they have embraced solar and wind like it’s going out of fashion !!! Suffice to say all the roads we have been on are excellent and mostly divided for safety. There are also many speed cameras mounted on overhead poles throughout these highways, even in the middle of nowhere. The only sad observation I have “on the road” is the poor smelly dirty state of fuel station toilets. All this magnificent infrastructure and they cannot manage a clean toilet !!! In the last hour we entered the famous Gobi Desert, not far from the border with Mongolia. A very dusty desert, bereft of colour – this pale-yellow grey. More on this desert later. At 5pm I was glad to see the tree-lined main boulevard of Hami.
Hami (Pop 446,000. Elev 759m) is well known for its production of agricultural products and raw resources and especially famous for its sweet “Hami Melons”. It is an old place founded sometime in 1000BC. Marco Polo actually stopped here on his 13th Century journey on the Silk Road from east to west. There are no tourist attractions in Hami – this was just a stopover to get to our next destination which we could not do in a day. Our hotel was terrific and I settled for its restaurant given it was far from the centre of town. A comfortable evening with wine and rest…
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