Sign in with FacebookTop Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Province hotels
Sponsored Links
This is a very beautiful and famous lake in the tianshan mountains near to Urumqi. However, it is very touristy and crowded, and there are many stores here selling souvenirs. Usually tourists only come here for a short while, which include a short boat ride around the lake. If you are more adventurous, it is possible to arrange for simple 1-2 trekking in this area with tour agencies in Urumqi. More photos are at the travelogue section of this VT page.
The tianshan mountain range in the centre of Xinjiang is a beautiful and remote mountain range. It is located near Urumqi and stretches all the way west into Kazakhstan. I managed to visit the Tianshan Mountains when I was in Xinjiang during September 2002, more photographs are at the travelogue section of this VT page.
Yak milk tea, butter and bread is their every day food. We ate this every morning. But not only here, even in the North those people also served us yak milk tea. The yak milk tea is a bit salty, at first it tasted funny but after while I got used to it. The bread of course needless to say it was hard like a rock. But when you were there, you didn't have many choices.
The Tijaik family had a few yurts and we stayed in one of them. When meal time we went to there yurt to eat together. Food is simple. Inside the yurt at night, it was very cold. Blankets were heavy because we had a few on us but still they were hard to keep us warm.
The lake is not very big but it is absolutely gorgeous with snow moutains range aound it. In the day time the temperature was warm but at night it got really cold. We were there during Sept, stayed there for 2 nights, each morning we woke up we saw more snow on the mountain than each day.
When we got off the bus, there was a few guys waiting already at the bus stop try to sell their accomodations. We followed one of them and the family was Tijaiks. We stayed in their Yurt for 30 yuan a day including meals.
Some of the Uygur women still wear the burka. You can see them on the street very easily. But during that time it was pretty hot, I can't imagine if I had to wear one of those walking under the hot sun.
It is much more interesting to go to the old city of Kashgar because there you can see all the Uygur people the way they live, their shops, their food, their religion and their culture. Pita bread is very common. We liked to have juicy pears and pita bread with honey for breakfast. There are many bees flying around in Kashgar and honey is cheap and famous in the city so don't forget to get some in the shops.
You have to know the conditions of the bus in Xinjiang to all these far away places are not good or advanced like in the Guangdong province or Beijing. The bus that we traveled was dirty and stinky and people smoked inside. In this case, always try to request the front sleeper seat and you don't want to be stuck at the back with all the smog.
Our next stop was Kashgar (west), but we had to head back to Urumqi first in order to go there. The Chinese people that we met on the yurt area was so kind that offered to take us back to Burejin by their Jeep and bought us lunch in a nice restaurant. There we had a good time with them again and we had to say goodbye and continued our journey.
Hong Fu Urumqi
1 Review and 9 Opinions When in China, westerns should choose a "5-star" hotel. Not because its fancy, but it helps being...
Wen Zhou Mansion Kashgar
0 Opinions
Jiaotong Hotel Turpan
7 Opinions
Reviews and photos of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Province attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Province sightseeing.
Q: I will be in Kazakhstan for a month and thinking of going into China. What cities near the Kazakhstan borders are worth visiting...
A: I think this might be better posted in the Kazakhstan forum?
Read 3 Replies
Sponsored Links
