Lunch at a Muslim Home in Turpan

One of the things I enjoy most in China is having lunch or dinner in a local family's home. This can usually only be done during a private tour and it is an experience that let us see what daily life is like. Above we visited a Muslim home in Turpan. The people were grape growers and friends of our guide. As you can see by the photo above we had home made noodles, my favorite, with lamb and several other dishes. It is impolite to eat everything on your plate as it causes a loss of face by the host in that they did not prepare enough food for us. That is a Chinese custom too; but it was difficult not to eat everything in sight as it is so good. They gave us boxes of their grapes also to snack on during our trip. For snacks they brought out many of their dried fruits that they sell along with a cooling tea during the hot day. Notice we eat out of doors during the summer time as most families do. This family had three generations living under one roof thus a very large table. We ate at noon as we are use to but in this area lunch for the locals is common at 2:30 and dinner not until 9:30 on weekends because of the desert heat. The best time to visit Turpan is in late August and month of September during grape harvest and the weather is best too.