Maria hardly slept a wink last night as she felt as if she was the midnight snack for gazillions of hungry little visitors.The western breakfast, as advertised, wasn't, so we were in great spirits for the day ahead!In fact, we had contemplated scrapping some of the day's itinerary as the guide book advised against visiting the Bizaklik Caves and Grape Valley as there was nothing worth seeing there.We decided to judge for ourselves and set off on the 30-minute d...

We drove the 2-3 hours to Turpan on the 113 mile expressway, passing vast wind warms that, judging from the lack of motion from the turbines, were generating about as much electricity as a Toyota hybrid breaking.Turpan is a basin in the mountains of east Xinjiang, has the lowest elevation of any place in China and is the third lowest depression in the world at 154m below sea level.It is insanely hot and the temperature in the summer reaches over 40°C, which is...