May 31, Overnight nearby Lake Bosten

Back on Neo's Land Cruiser, we are on the way again, heading to the hotel. Neo told us earlier today, we will be stay by the lake, and we all look forward to it, not to mention some fresh fish from the lake.
But of course, our focus is still on getting good images, and we stopped by a farm land on the road, took some pictures.
This one, bundles of straws, taken with Nikon D3.The land around the lake is rich of saline and alkaline, this is an image of my step crack the surface of the soil. Shot with Nikon D3, with AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED.The saline and alkaline does not only leaves its mark on the soil, also on the surface of the steel on the small bridge to the farm.Moving on, we are approaching our lake view hotel. Ok, this may sound too romantic, but it is and it is not. Chinese government did a good job to make sure the decision from the central is strictly followed, so we were really not going to stay in a hotel with a beach front. but then nobody else did. The hotel we stayed over night there, in fact, were among the better ones in this entire trip, and of course a good dinner, it is situated on a small hill and within a very reasonable distance to the vast lake, and now, you really get the idea how big this lake is, with no end in sight. Make no mistake, China is 3rd largest country as far as land mass is concerned, it also stretch over a very dramatic landscape on earth, many leading landscape feature in China is most likely also world class. This image, taken in front of our hotel, a sunset view of Lake Bosten, with some horses and buffalo on the beach. With Nikon D3X + AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED. And what a fantastic way to get relaxed.And some dried land nearby the hotel, still reminds me the Taklamakan Desert. Shot with Nikon D3 + AF-S 24-70/2.8G ED.

May 31, Lake Bosten

On the boat, with Nikon D3X and D3 with me, I tried to get some shots of the lake. To counter the moving boat, the wave of lake, I set both of the Nikon to ISO 320-400, in order to get a reasonable combination of speed, and aperture, so not only to freeze the action, but also a little extra depth of field to get some images. I think about getting some blurring images, but quickly abandoned the idea because the overall contrast of the scenery is not my preference. Some of the images of the day at the lake.
This one, shot with D3X and AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED, of a distant nets. While we were cruising on the surface of the lake, the nets and the reflection form a nice pattern.Few more shots made on the boat. These two images of the birds, also taken with Nikon D3X and AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED.

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.