Turpan is famous for its heat, so I left early and descended the last metres to the second lowest place on the planet. I passed barren rocky plains and some saltbush plains before arriving in my backpacker’s hostel. Its great to sink into the backbacker’s environment and be amongst travellers.
The low flat plains
Turpan borders on what I thought was a salt pan. I imagined cycled through landscape similar to Lake Eyre in outback Australia. It was a bit underwhelming – just flat saltbush country. Also, it wasn’t as hot as I had imagined. Uzbekistan was hotter.
Arriving in a backpacker hostel was lovely. No worries about police registration. People that speak English and understand my questions. An oasis of familiarity amongst a sea of foreignness. And I could speak with people in lots of different languages. I love that. I spoke English, German, Swedish, Spanish and Chinese. Yay!
New friends in Turpan
arctic-cycler.com 
Sounds like an oasis for you! A nice break. 🙂