I’m standing here at Jiaohe, one of the
most visually spectacular sites here in Turpan.
Jiaohe was once one of the capitals of the
36 kingdoms of the Western Regions of the
Han Dynasty. This city has been occupied by
the Han, by the Tibetans in the mid-8th to
9th century and also by the Uyghur in the
9th century as well.
As you can see behind me here, the Jiaohe
ancient ruins stretch for 17 football fields
in length. They are 30 meters above the two
rivers on either side that come to a head
on the southern point of the plateau.
The paths that meander through this ancient
city follow kind of a city layout that’s
been around for a couple centuries, which
is pretty neat. What I love is being able
to walk through and visit some of the residential
areas, the government offices and even the
Buddhist temple complexes.
As a tourist it really makes a difference
being able to see the layout as it was a couple
centuries ago and has always been. It does
get really hot here, though, and I’m even
out here sweating right now. So it makes a
big difference if you can arrive just when
the doors open or right when they close in
the mornings and the evenings. You not only
avoid a lot of the tourism that tends to congregate
in the middle of the day – all the tour
buses that come – you also avoid a lot of
the heat, which in Turpan is hot!
If we take a bird’s eye view of Jiaohe you’ll
see that you enter the city from the southwest
corner where you’ll be walking along a mostly
brick path throughout the city. The first
site of real interest is the government offices
and the nearby viewing platform where you
can get some good panoramic shots.
Continuing on the east side of the city you’ll
run into the residential district where you
can get a sense of homes during this period
and how the people in the city lived.
To the west of the residential district and
at the end of the main road running north
south, is the Great Monastery, the biggest
in the city. It’s of particular interest
because of rock statues that are still visible
in the central pillar of the main hall.
Finally, if you have the time and the energy
you can walk up to the northernmost stupa
grove where you’ll find 101 of Xinjiang’s
earliest Buddhist stupas dating from the 5th-7th
centuries.
Entrance to Jiaohe will run you 40RMB per
ticket if you’re not going with a tour group.
To get here, take the 101 bus from LaoChengLu
to its terminus at Yaer Xiang.
At this point you can get a minibus for 2
renminbi per person, a 3-wheeled truck for
3 renminbi per person or a taxi which will
probably run you about 15 renminbi total the
rest of the way to Jiaohe.
I hope this has been helpful! Please give
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