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Baked to perfection
By Alexis Hooi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-23 10:30
Baked to perfection

The Jiaohe Ruins is one of Turpan's major historical sites.

The most fitting introduction for a trip to Turpan in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is to take a hard-sleeper bus there. Inside the standard coach are three rows of adult-sized cradles, with barely enough wiggle room to move in each half-reclining compartment.

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With a full load of 39 passengers, the smell from tired passengers on a poorly ventilated overnight ride melds with the heavy heat of summer.

Through the desert plains, the temperature in the bus rises steadily with the break of dawn.

As you arrive in Turpan and emerge from the bus soaked in sweat, you realize this is just the beginning of a very hot vacation.

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