Friday, November 20, 2009

May 31, Talim, Korla, Lake Bosten

An easy day, began with a small mistake, against a big taboo. Just right outside the hotel we stay last night, each of us go for our own breakfast, Pook and I stop by a small restaurant run by Han, and we ordered our usual Chinese breakfast, bun, oil sticks, soy milks and etc. not particular delicious, but sure will past as a meal. Just about finishing our meal, Huangzhen and Neo came in, and quickly went out, a little odd.
When we all packed up, in the car, moving toward Lake Bosten 博斯騰湖, by way of Korla 庫爾勒. And Huangzhen told us what happened. Remember, this is Xinjiang, a muslin area, and Pook and me did not recognized at all we ordered some pork meat in our breakfast, which Neo can immediately know, and turn his head away (away from the the pork meat, not Poor or me, OK.), not serious, it is simply that pork is not a part of Muslin's digest, and to be honest, Neo gave me several reasons that almost convince me to abandon pork meat, almost.
We stopped by Korla, had a simple lunch, again some Xinjiang noodle, and continue our journey to Lake Bosten.And here we are, the lake is regarded as the largest fresh water lake in China, with surface area aroun 1,000 sq. KM, unless you are flying over it, really, you can't tell how big it is. We entered the scenery check-point, paid the admission - 30 RMB each, arrive at a small dock, hire a motorized boat (when will the electrical powered boat will be available??), then off we are. And come back to my point earlier, yes, we are riding on the lake, between several water path inside a rather dense of overgrown reeds, they are so much and so tall, 3-4 meters above water or more (Lake Bosten is large but quite shallow, its average depth is only around 7m), so we tried our best to try to visually gauge how big it is for this lake, but can only focus to the reeds just breath away, and reeds over the horizon. Good things is occasionally you see water birds, ducks, and some fishes, bad things is that the Yamaha powered motor of our little 6-seat boat really makes a lot of noise. But I guessed for the sheer size of the lake, paddling on the lake is not for us with a time schedule to meet.
There are also lots of lotus and water lily, a sea of them. Mostly small, Neo said we were a bit early to witness their full blossom, and also it is late, nearby sunset. But it is still a good boat ride, an experience.

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