Tianchi (Heaven Lake/Heaven Pool), Yurts and Back to Urumqi
The plane finally landed in Urumqi at 10:00am and new guide took us to the Hoi Tak Hotel for breakfast and leave suitcases. This hotel was gorgeous and we hated to leave after spending a night on the floor of the airport but there were places to go...
Today was a full day excursion to Tianchi Lake - a beautiful lake surrounded by the Tian Shan mountains. From Kashgar on, we possibly saw only two or three other Westerners beside us. The only people traveling the Silk Road were huge Chinese National tour groups, primarily from Southern China, who spent their time photographing us when not photographing the sites.
After a boat ride on the lake, we were supposed to overnight in a Kazakh yurt...the Russian name for this tent (referred to as a "Ger" in Mongolia), an entire yurt for just us.
After the long ride to "Heaven Pool" (the lake), our guide and driver parked the car in a big lot, and the guide led us to a yurt alongside the highway and told us this is our home for the night. ex-Marine gave me a look! We climbed into the yurt and had a furious and vigorous discussion...me, "...I am positive that we were supposed to stay at a yurt ON the lake, not by a road"...then spent the next hour trying to decide...should we stay or not? (I didn't have any of my paperwork with me - it was all back at the Hoi Tak Hotel.) Decision? Told the guide to take us back to the beautiful Hoi Tak Hotel after visiting Heaven Lake/Pool, we'd pay extra for it and sort out this mess later. Now we were two-for-two in the mishap department.
Took the vehicle halfway up this mountain to Heaven Lake (or Heaven Pool as it is also known) surrounded by the beautiful Tian Shan Mountains and fir trees, walked to it, and lo and behold...there were yurts in the distance not far from the lake, AND a gorgeous new hotel right there. Nearby was a peak that mountaineers with permits climb, or you could rent a horse and go horseback riding up into the hills and as far as the snow line (an all-day ride). All these choices..and we're supposed to sleep in a yurt along a highway? Not happy.
Back at the Hoi Tak Hotel, they don't have any rooms available - completely sold out except for a suite! ex-Marine talked to the Manager (always ask for a Manager) and begged and pleaded and groveled until she took pity on us and gave us the suite for $136 one night only, and would move us to a normal room the next day. Now...we're happy...
(FYI: Our tour operator did reimburse us for the mix-up at the Lake and we were supposed to stay at a yurt at the lake not alongside a road. A little confusion there.)
