I know everybody is dying to read my post. But com’on this is the Silk Road, I don’t want to ruin my own stories with rush. I was planning to go Urumqi, Turfan and Kashgar but there is only two and half day around those beautiful cities. So I leave Kashgar to next year. We had left our crazy schedule behind and take the flight from Pekin to Urumqi. It takes 4, 5-5 hours. The good thing Urumqi is 3 hours ahead of Beijing but using Beijing time. So you will gain time almost 3 hours. If you travel with endless options and limited time, count every minute you have in your pocket.
I don’t want to bore you with all classic details; if you want to know more about the country you may check different websites around the net. Before we land, we got great welcome with Bogda Mountains, it was marvelous view. Many passengers are taking picture of the mountains with snowy peak. It was end of May, but the snows are still fresh on top of it. Urumqi looks pretty big city from the top; it is also very rich in culture and natural preserves. Urumqi is the capital of Xinjiang province. It is rated 7th big city in China.
We scheduled our trip very fun but tight. I want to share it with you, you might steal it:
1st day: 14:50 arrive to Urumqi and meet our travel agency Silk Road Adventures
15:30 lunch at Uighur restaurant and visit Heavenly Lake (it takes 3 hours to get and climb)
20:30 dinner at another Uighur restaurant in Urumqi.
22:00 come back hotel and rest for tomorrow
2nd day: 10 o’clock leave hotel and go to city tour including
Erdaqiao market, city mosques, shopping centers and traditional Urumqi houses
afternoon we got to Turfan. The same day: Visit wind tools, Buddha caves, Karez underwater system, grape valley, Gaochang ancient city, Jiohe ancient city, Emin minaret and arrive hotel
3rd day:
Tuyuq valley, turpan tour and came back to Urumqi to take our flight to og back to Shanghai
Heavenly Lake
Xinjiang province is old Turkestan until 1962. China has declared to own the area and occupied it officially. Majority of population are Turkish nations such as Uighurs (Uyghurs), Kazakhs, Tajiks, Kirghiz, Mongols, Uzbek, Tatar and Chinese. Heavenly lake is a lake on Bogda Mountains and deserves its name, you feel in heaven. This area is actually Kazakhs populated, Kazakhs come here for summer. They stayed in “yurt” (it is very protective tent keeps warm in winter and cold in summer). Now, Heavenly Lake is national park, yurts are using a kind of hotels. You may rent yurts, it is about 200-300RMB including meal. Next time, I will stay in those yurts at least 2 days and hiking in Bogda Mountains. Isn’t amazing to walk though snow even at the end of May?
I had one weird habit, actually it is a kind of instinct when I see water, and I got thirsty terribly. When I come here and walk little, I have tested delicious water from the lake. Yummy and fresh! Feeling of my blood filled with clean water and minerals plus oxygen.
It was still sunny and shiny when we arrived the lake; we have missed the electric car to mountains, so took shuttle up there. I missed great chance of green valley view. It is very hard to take pics from the bus, shaking and pictures comes in blur.
With the beauty of nature, I felt dizzy. Not sure it was emotional or physical, but it shakes me well. I came to myself when I see Chinese tourist took my picture. They thought I am local Uyghur woman because we have the same style hijab/scarf covering. We burst into laughs when other people try to speak to me in Chinese or Uyghur. I could understand Uyghur because my language is Turkish and Uyghur has the same roots and 60% similar. It comes to me when I went to Bosnia last year; Bosnian has many Turkish words in their language. Now I see we don’t have any borders although thousands of miles, same language, same traditions and same heart.
Urumqi general
You may choice taking horseback tours with Kazakhs; I did not have time for that. But, I have enjoyed going inside roads in the mountains and taking pictures of cascading waterfalls. My mom picked some fresh thyme for food, smells very fresh. I live semi-déjà as if I came here before, I might be confused with its incredible resemblance to my hometown in black sea region. Even we have the same twisty road next to the river in Uzungol.
The park is almost closing for daily visitors, NOOOO I am not coming! Unfortunately, we are leaving the lake, but we have pinky cheeks and pure oxygen-filled lungs.