Goodbye Kashgar, Hello Urumqi.

Distance covered - 2047km

We bid farewell to Southern Xinjiang, as we boarded the plane to Urumqi, the provincial city for Xinjiang. The locals say, 南疆风情妙，北疆风景好, (translated as Southern Xinjiang has remarkable culture, Northern Xinjiang has awesome views), and I could not wait to witness that myself. 

Breakfast

Tea with boiled milk

Unlike Kashgar, Urumqi is a huge bustling and hustling city, as the bus ride from the airport itself to our hotel took us around an hour! We alighted the airport bus and took a cab eventually to reach our hotel; it was already 7 in the evening when we finally settled everything, hence we explored nearby and had noodles in a near by Muslim shop. We ended up having breakfast and dinner at this shop for the following few days.

The weather has turned cold earlier than I anticipated, and I had to tweak my travel plans. Initially I was thinking of visiting the Northern plains of Xinjiang, but words from fellow travellers that we met during the Tashkurgan trip has it that snow has fallen the roads are closed. Hence, I would have to save Northern Xinjiang for another time.

We woke up early as we would be visiting one of the most touristy sites in Urumqi and Xinjiang itself, in addition to the fact that it was the beginning of the local's holiday season. Thus, we were expecting a major crowd at our destination, Tian Shan Scenic National Park. 

There are constantly touts flagging down independent tourists and backpackers who are heading for Tian Shan, and I must say that the rates are actually better with the official government tour buses. Hence, we managed to share a car with another local Chinese couple for half the price that we expected. The journey took us around an hour, so the four of us dozed off as the car sped through the highway northwards. 

Entrance to the national park

We were welcomed by a horde of local Chinese tourists, everywhere, as what Malaysians would say, "people mountain, people see". Troop of tourist buses lined up in the parking lot neatly, as tourists crept towards the entrance gate like ants making a beeline for a sugar lump. Anyway, the entrance fee for Tian Shan is quite costly, but the breathtaking view that it offers simply made it worthy of its exorbitance. 

The only way up to the lakes is by the tourist bus, aside from treading by foot for hours, and it took us another 20 minutes until we reach the entrance of the park, followed by 30 minutes of hiking up the semi-steep path to the lakes. Since it has just snowed the night before, there were snow and frost at the trees lining along the path, and that got us very excited! Snow!

Wonderful view of the lake.

Ah... heaven

Heavenly Pool.

Around the lake we go.

Snow capped mountains

Upon reaching the summit, I was just dumbfounded by the awesome view of the lake. The calm and peaceful azure waters, with snowcapped peaks at its background, and most of all the splendid autumn scene which has begun to churned in, as evident by the orange brownish leaves on the trees. It was just awfully lovely. 

Autumn is coming!

We decided to walk around the lake, enjoying the beauty of its surrounding, as well as some people watching - observing the local tourists. Chinese tourists are notorious of being very obnoxious and somehow a little disturbing in their behaviour, which I find it at times funny. 

Heavenly Empress Dowager Temple.

The main temple.

Main prayer hall.

I just love this lake, a lot!

Having spent almost half a day, we decided to beat the crowd and head down the mountain before the other tourists decided to flock down en masse. Still, it took us almost an hour to reach the exit where our driver, along with the Chinese couple, has been waiting for us. 

Snow!

Do you know the way to the lake?

Snow everywhere!

Swarms of local tourists

The night was well spent with noodles at the same restaurant, and as usual after a day in TianShan TianChi National Park, we hit the bed earlier after watching some local cable TV.