Trip to the North

          The journey to places around Turpan is over, and a new trip has begun.  It is to the north - to a city that depends on one of the most important resources in the world to make it rich.  The city is Karamay, the resource is oil, and it's located about 400 kilometers from Urumchi in the northwestern part of Xinjiang.

          While spending almost 4 hours traveling, we passed the Production and Construction Corps on the way.  They were founded in the 1950's and recruit local residents to be part of industrialization  The members are called possemen.  They're not regular army.

          Four hours really isn't a short time.  By the time we finally got to Karamay, it was already noontime, and after a simple lunch, we drove to our first destination - Ghost Town.

          I've been told that over 100 million years ago, the area was covered by a large lake with dinosaurs living in it.  Over the years that followed, the earth's crust shifted twice and the lake disappeared. 

          People don't live there:  the area is covered by large mounds of earth that have been formed by the action of the wind and the rain.  People say that when the wind blows, they hear terrible noises - especially at night.  It sounds like fierce beasts bellowing, but neither man nor beast can be seen so it's called Ghost Town.  We heard nothing as it was early afternoon and the wind wasn't blowing very hard, but we saw some very special scenery as we drove along the sand road.

          When we stopped, I was surprised that the sun wasn't as strong as it usually is at noon.  Perhaps that was because I could feel the wind blowing on my face.  That helped me understand how Ghost Town had been formed, and I climbed on a large mound of earth to look at the physiognomy of the amazing Ya Dan area.  I was shocked to see similar mounds spread out on the landscape as far as I coulde see.  They were uncountable, and I suddenly felt as if I were just a speck in this vast world.

          When it was time to leave, we started on our way to our last destination on this visit to Western China.  It was located to the northeast of Karamay, the "City of Oil" and was called (as the sign says below) "Black Oil Hill". 

          A Chinese scientist was the first to find oil there.  The whole mountain is made of it.  In walking around, I found many little pools with black liquid. 

          It had to be oil though it was my first time to see it in its natural state.  I was curious and poking a little stick in it I found that it was viscous as I expected.  I wanted to take some home but had no container.

          I learned later that the city of Karamay was constructed in 1958 because of the rich supplies of oil and natural gas in the area.  Karamay means "black oil" in the Uiger language.  Over 340,000 people now live in that city, and 30,000 of them work in the oil industry.  Over 1000 oil pumps are in operation.  

          That was the end of our sightseeing trip.  Our time was up and we'd soon have to return to our home in Beijing.  We spent the last days with my great aunt in the place where I'd been born. 

          It had been a fun trip, I'd learned a lot, and vowed to return.