Archive for the ‘Xinjiang Travel’ Category

Yining trip – My first trip to Ili Valley

Friday, July 1st, 2011
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Plan your Xinjiang tour? Yining, or Ghulja is the capital city of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang. The Ili Kazakj Autonomous Prefecture (Simplified as Ili or Yili) is located in the Ili Valley ( or Yili Valley), administers 1 city and 8 counties: the capital city of Yining and with 8 counties including the namesake Yining County, Xinyuan, Gongliu, Nileke, Teks, Zhaosu, Huocheng and Chaxian County.

The city of Yining is about 78 km east of Huoergousi Port, 700km west of Urumqi. The Ili River passes through the city of Yining from East to the west, the only river in China which flows from East to West. Yining City borders Keguqin Mountain in the north and Tianshan Mountains in the south.

Ili (Yilin) is a green plain, a fertile delta of Ili River which is formed by three principal tributaries – Kashi River, Kunes River, and Tekes River. Yining is situated on the north of the Ili Valley in the form of an open trumpet with its big mouth facing the west.

Ili Valley
Driving on the Ili Valley
Lavenders begin to blossom around the valley
Visit Kazanqi (an old residential region in Rain ) by riding horse carts
Uyghur Kids
Vegetable vendor

Narat Grassland ( or Nalati Grassland ) is about 180km long from east to west along the river bed sandwiched by the mountains of Tianshan in three sides, the east section of Ili valley.

Narat Grassland is a typical river bed grassland and the alpine meadows. Narat Grassland is located at the sea-level of 1800 meters. It is inhabited by Kazakh minority (but ironically, here in Narat Grassland, we, Han people are the minority).

Further Readings


Further Readings


Top 10 Places in Xinjiang.
See Autumn Leaves in Xinjiang .
Sayram Lake .
Karamay Ghost Town .
Taklamakan Desert  .
Top 10 Attractions in Urumqi .

Any questions, just drop a line.

Sayram Lake

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
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Plan your Xinjiang tour? Sayram Lake is located between the Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture and the Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture. The lake takes an area of 457 square kilometers. The fault basin is at the sea-level of 2,073 meters. The lake has a depth of 86 meters.

The lake is an amazing natural water resource and is circled by green grasslands. Nestled in the mountains, it’s tucked away and misty occasionally. The mixed view of the surrounding snow-capped peaks and the dragon spruce plants on the mountains is very photographic.

In July and August local Mongolian and Kazak herdsmen gather on the lake side to do their traditional ethnic activities which include horse racing, wrestling and lifting sheep while galloping on horse-back.

Further Readings


Top 10 Places in Xinjiang.
See Autumn Leaves in Xinjiang .
Sayram Lake .
Karamay Ghost Town .
Taklamakan Desert  .
Top 10 Attractions in Urumqi .

Any questions, just drop a  line.

Karamay oilfield, the oil field in Karamay

Monday, June 27th, 2011

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A jumpjack using wster at dusk

Plan your Xinjiang TourKaramay Oilfield is one of the largest oilfields in China with a yearly output over ten million tons of oil. Karamay Oilfield was the first large oilfield in China. Its commercial oil flow was found in well named “Karamy No.01” on Oct 29, 1955. Ever since then, Karamay Oilfield has been developing fast and have made huge progress in terms of oil industrial upgrading and oil output.

From the city center of  Karamay to Karamay Ghost Town in Wuerhe District of Karamay City, on the both sides of the 100km National Highway, you will see several sectioned oil fields rife with pumpjacks.

I was told that there are two kinds of pumpjacks. For thin oil, people use special steam to pump out the oil; for thick oil, people use water to pump out oil. The jumpjacks for thick oil look smaller than those of the pumpjacks using water for pumping out thin oil.

Another factor to differentiate this two kinds of jumpjacks is to see the tubes crisscrossing the field. If no tubes around the jumpjacks, then they are pumping water for thin oil. If there are plentiful tubes around, they are jumpjacks for thick oil.
Smaller sized jumpjacks for pumping thick oil using the steam through the tubes fixed above the oilfield.

Smaller sized jumpjacks for pumping thick oil using the steam through the tubes fixed above the oilfield.

A big sized jumpjack using water to pump thin oil ( no tubes around).

A big sized jumpjack using water to pump thin oil ( no tubes around).