The gate of Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang)

Arrival in Turpan

In my sleep I hear a voice saying: “It’s time to wake up, the train will arrive in 20 minutes.” There, sheer joy wakes me because I will discover another part of China very different from the one I have seen so far. I hurry to gather my things to be ready to get off the train as soon as we arrive in Turpan. The luggage finally ready, dad asks me to take out the map of Oriental Turkestan. In front of the rolling camera, we look at our journey and think about the route. Suddenly, we arrive in front of a station and it hasn’t been 20 minutes yet. So, we keep on looking at the map. Finally, I ask Liu Jia if she can make sure that we’re not actually in Turpan. Well, indeed we are! Now it’s urgent; we manage to gather all our stuff and get off the train. We end up in a small train station. Next to each train door, a controller dressed in sky-blue is looking at me. They are aligned like soldiers. They repeat the same movement to go back into the train. A morning heat hits us and we end up in a place with lots of cars and busses. It’s a far cry from resembling a station exit of large Chinese city! At that moment, a short tanned man approaches us and says he can take us to Turpan for 6 Euros. There, we understand that we’re not in Turpan, but in a city 45 minutes away by car from Turpan. The Turpan station is actually outside Turpan. We accept this honest-looking man’s proposition. On the road, I see sand, lots of sand; it’s the desert. It’s beautiful and wonderfully warm. Dad can’t wait to arrive to Turpan to see how much the city has changed since he was there last, 13 years ago. Here, people are much more tanned, with round eyes and much friendlier than in Beijing. But that’s the effect of large cities, like in Paris where everyone is stressed out and often unpleasant. We stop in a restaurant recommended by the ma who drove us to Turpan, but dad always prefers the little restaurants where the locals go. Finally, this man, named Harkan, proposes to become our guide. After negotiating a good price and a route, dad accepts. A short stop at the hotel to freshen up, recharge the video, photo and telephone equipment’s batteries and to get organized, we meet up with Harkan, for discoveries. First step: resolve the technical problem with dad’s cell phone. I’ve been telling him for days that he has to change the charger and maybe not the telephone, like he thinks. Well, I was right. It’s not easy every day with dad; we don’t agree about everything. But I’m really glad we are taking this trip, we’re getting to know each other.