Day 37: Urumqi and Heaven Lake (烏魯木齊和天池)

Heaven Lake (天山﹐天池)
After talking with the hostel yesterday we decided to avoid any tours that would bring us shopping and deal with the transportation to a lake about 2.5 hours from the city on our own.  This actually worked out pretty well, aside from the really slow buses that stop anywhere someone waves them down to try and get some extra passengers.

After finally getting there our bus driver decided to try and sneak Charlotte in as a local so she wouldn't have to pay the entrance fee, but someone he didn't know was working so she had to get out and pay like everyone else.  Charlotte ended up taking a gondola up to the top while I decided to hike, unfortunately for us out meeting spot was under construction, but luckily we randomly ran into each other and headed for the lake.  We hiked around the lake until it was time for the last bus out of the park.  It took another 2.5 hours to get back to town from then.

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The gondola up the mountain

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View of the lake

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A temple near the lake and at the peak of the other mountain is another temple

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Walking around the lake

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Charlotte likes playing dressup in China

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The guy who rented Charlotte the costume insisted that Charlotte HAVE TO do this hand gesture.  Charlotte was embarrassed because there were about 10 Chinese tourists standing around watching her.

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The local who sold Charlotte the outfit

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Night Markets
Arriving back in Urumqi we hit up the night market which was the largest we had been to in China so far.  There were tons of food stalls and also shopping areas.  Charlotte had some food, but I was once again recovering from my body not handling Chinese food so well, so I passed.  They also had some interesting displays of animals bodies here as well as some very interesting food which I will explain in the photo captions.  There is also a movie, that I do not recommend for the weak stomached!

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Night Market

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Charlotte bought some yogurt

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What is left of a lamb that is on display (notice the head with a rose)

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We had no clue what these were, but did not like how they looked

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Then we saw them mixed with cicadas and knew they must be the cocoon

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Then Charlotte got really scared, don't watch unless you really want to

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Charlotte bought a watermelon from a guy with a big sword

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This guy is definitely Uyghur as he does not look Chinese at all