Where is this place?
Whenever I showed my friends this picture, the first thoughts that came into their minds was that this is either Switzerland... or New Zealand ... or somewhere in Europe. They were all wrong, of course, for this picture was actually taken in Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake) in Xinjiang, China !
Here's proof, if you ever need one.
This picture was taken in summer
Tian Chi is 110 km east of Urumqi, covering about 5 square kilometers. The water is crystal clear because it's source is melted snow (which you can see at the top of the mountains).
We took a local tour from Urumqi to Tian Chi, and as you may know, all local tours have a few mandatory stops whether you like it or not. And so, we found ourselves stopping in this place along the way... some people call this the "tourist trap". It's a matter of personal opinions though, for some tourists do love to have these stops, while others may think that the time wasted here could actually be better spent otherwise.
A tourist set-up to set-up the tourists?
We were herded into a room, where we were to be "softened up" with this hard-sell ...
Believe me ... this sales person has acquired the art/science
of speaking without drawing any breath for at least 5 minutes.
Then comes the "kill" ...
Let me feel your purse pulse ...
Until you see this medical practitioner, you'd never realised that you had so many ailments before .... he can detect them just by feeling your racing pulse and looking into your eyes (and the bulging wallet) ... Of course they have a cure for each and every ailment
We also stopped by a "typical" Uighur village and enjoyed some local entertainment.
A yurt
An Uighur dance
We climbed 1200 steps to visit a Taoist temple nearby the lake, and the view from there is just awesome.
A Taoist temple
As we walked down the steps of the temple, we came across this sign ...
We are taking this message, seriously.
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