If you were to blindfold and airdrop me I would think I was in Iran. This is not the China of Bejing and The Great Wall. Breakfast was in the arabian style hotel again with lifesize aladdins lamps in the dining area. They were also making fresh noodles in the kitchen. There are two time zones in Xinjiang. Officially all of China is on Beijing Standard Time. However locals have adopted Xinjiang local time which is 2 hours back. You have to be careful as all official times such as bus and train are in Beijing time which is really 2 hours ahead of local time. So when someone mentions a time make sure to ask if its Beijing or local time.
I had taken two orange juice bottles from my hotel which were 8Y each ($1.20). I was told this was "very expensive" which it didnt seem so to me Heaven Lake. Later I found the same juice bottles sell for 3Y everywhere (.45 cents), and the cost of living is quite low in comparison. We began driving north out the city and passed Red Hill. This is a famous large cliff in the middle of the city. On top of the cliff is a pagoda style building. This was not part of the tour and would have taken a while climbing a lot of steps outdoor in the heat so maybe if I come again in cooler weather. Video : Driving to Heaven Lake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZt9_eL6 8sM The entrance to Heaven Lake was 170Y ($25). I didnt realize all the entrance fees were extra so this threw off my budgeting a bit, although I still should be ok. At the entrance you park your car and transfer to a park bus to take you 30km to the lake. Subtle politics come into play as the clock on the bus was Beijing time and all announcements were in Chinese not Uyghar.
The bus winds uphill and has some scenic views of the valleys below. Downtown Urumqi Skyline by DayThe car park is a small tourist area with souvenir shops and food vendors making fresh naan, kebabs, and samsa (bread roll filled with meat and onions). Heaven Lake was very spectacular with a clear blue lake and distant mountains stretching off into the horizon. You can pay extra to go on a boat tour. One such was an interesting chinese style floating boat. On the distance on the left was a Tibetan style monastery but at least an hour round trip in the heat. On the right hand was a chinese temple and kazakh yurts in the distance. We chose this route as we get to see two things instead of just one if we walked all the way to the monastery. Also there were many local Kazakhs wearing traditional caps trying to get some tourist business. The chinese temple entrance fee was 3Y (.45 cents). This was the same layout as a korean temple with a square perimeter housing a central building. Each perimiter wall had its own structure. Directly behind the main building were stairs leading to a second smaller compound. The difference with Korean temples was China and Japan use red paint, while Korea uses green Driving by Red Hill. For the first time it felt like I was truly in "China". Also there was a large urn with incense sticks, burning a hot fire so you could feel the vapours in the heat as you walked closer. We then walked further to the Kazakh yurts but it was getting quite hot. They were inviting tourists for lunch and to see their homes but I was told it was expensive and he had a friend whose house we could see for free. For lunch we went back to the village to see the food vendors. I'm told there prices were expensive and we paid 8Y for naan ($1.20) and 5Y for a kebab skewer (.75 cent). In the souvenir shop they also had pictures of Ashwariya Rai a Bollywood movie star and I'm told she is very famous here. We then took the park bus the 30km back to the entrance where our car and driver were waiting. However, we got off early to visit his friends local yurt. They offered us milk tea, nuts, and homemade breads. The inside of the yurt had carpeting on the floors and walls. It seemed like a living room, cooking and bathrooms where in communal outbuildings outside. Driving Uphill to Heaven Lake Sadly if this was Europe these people would be called 'gypsies' and looked down upon. Fortunately this is not the case in China where there are 57 recognized minorities. We then tried to flag down a bus to take back but they were all full and wouldnt stop as they loaded up from the lake. I thought we could walk and made it to a Kazakh museum nearby. Entrance was 60Y ($9) which is expensive even in western terms for such a small complex. Fortunately a large group had arrived so they put on a dance show which we were able to watch and film thru the railings. Video : Kazakh Dance Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrfRSAMG 5-I Since no buses were stopping we tried to walk some more. After a distance there was a van rolled into a ditch and people trying to push it out. We asked if we helped would they give us a ride back which they agreed since they had to exit the park anyway to get to ta garage. We didnt realize the battery was dead as the van had been parked for maybe months and we had to keep pushing it along so the motion could generate battery power Souvenirs at Heaven Lake. Our speed was maybe 20km and we kept slowing down on any inclines, but eventually we made it out. We then drove back to Urumqi to gas up for the 3 hour drive to Turpan. While the driver was servicing the car he left us in a music store so I could buy some local cds and dvds.
Video : Driving thru Urumqi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JSR4ov4 LcM I know of the three girl uzbek group Shahrizoda so that was my priority to get their cd and dvd. This morning in the car was another traditional folk song and dance dvd so I asked for that one, as well as other suggestions. I ended up with maybe 10 mostly dvds for a total of 115Y ($17.25). We paid 100Y which they agreed to ($15). Nearby was a supermarket which had many Turkish brand goods. I bought an ice cream, drink, and chocolate bar for 8Y ($1.20) to fill up for the long drive to Turpan. Along the way we passed Eurasias largest wind farm. It was quite scary seeing these many moving arms in the horizon, looking like giant spiders running across the desert to reach us Making Fresh Samsa. I'm surprised they havent developed solar farms since they have such vast desert land and sunlight. The driver was fasting and we reached Iftar the end of the fast en route so we pulled into a service station so he could break his fast and pray. I saw another twin cd pack for 30Y as the store only had a single cd if Sharizoda, so I bought it as the Urumqi store didnt have it and didnt know if it would see it again. The next two days I would see it everywhere in Turpan ranging in price from 20Y to 65Y.
The Turpan hotel was nice but not as impressive as the Urumqi one I had just stayed at as it was a bit more dated. The lobby was very impressive with a giant chandalier and elaborate detail on the arabic arches. (see later entry on Xinjiang Hotels). We then went to the night market to get some food.
This market was a bit more larger than the one in Urumqi as it was in a more open area. Some of the items were the same but some different. I opted for one where you chose different meat and vegetable items on skewers which are then fried while you wait. My guide had a hot pot which I felt would be too heavy for me as I was still having motion sickness from all the travel Approach to Heaven Lake. Video : Turpan Night Market
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=c5AAnlmT9kE Even though it was evening you can feel the humidity and heat vapours more as Turpan is supposed to be the hottest part of the tour almost upto 40 degrees. TV in the hotel was dissapointing. No Xinjiang TV channels, only state CCTV Chinese channels. The only foreign channels were Spanish and Russian versions of CCTV showing the same news items. Tomorrow we spend the day outdoors seeing many of the outdoor archeological sites and hopefully I wont die in the heat. ORIGINAL ENTRY WITH ALL PICS IS HERE Read more: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1314181775/tpod.html# ixzz1cgugSgvt