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tian chi

Tian Chi

Pictures of Heavenly Mountains



Quite honestly, I don't think anything I could say in my entire life would really capture Tian Chi and how wonderful it was. Just like I don't think any picture in the world could capture how beautiful it was. I'm sure it was a lot nicer for our group because the other half of the group that had it at the end had a kid fall and break his back :( But he's doing all right now, thank god.
Anyway. First, leaving Urumqi. We stopped at an old museum, it quite seriously looked like a shack. It was sad though, they were building a brand new one and it was almost glaringly modern and almost painful to look at. But this little shack was fabulous. It was mummies. How random is that? Pretty interesting though. The mummies were in cases that were, no joke, held to the table by scotch tape, lol. Can't imagine how much longer those will survive. They were amazingly intact though. I've never seen anything like it.
Lunch was after that. We didn't have lunch. A group of us ordered food…but it never came. Which sucked.
The ride to Tian Chi was some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen in my life. It felt like it took forever, but it was beautiful. The desert is amazing, there are just so many textures in the desert, I love it. And of course the random camels in the desert. Wild camels, who would believe it?! As we traveled vegetation would slowly start creeping into the landscape along with some very, very primitive looking 'dwellings'. I think houses would be the wrong word for it, but they were really interesting to look at. And I loved watching what the people were doing when we would drive by. Very windy road to the mountains. I will always be surprised that these buses could take us where they did. It astounded me for the entire trip.
Heavenly Lake and the Heavenly Mountains were just….I can't even describe. Very aptly named. 45 minute hike to the campsite that we were going to stay at. No one minded. So many stairs, up and down and up and down, and very Disney-esque stops along the way with fake trees and mushroom chairs, but if you looked past all that, it was wonderful. More of a walk than a hike anyway, very well paved. If only the government would spend that much money on the roads -_- Once you started walking, you never really saw another tourist the entire way. Which was wonderful, because there were actually a LOT of them there.
Huge mountains on every side of you and a long cresent shaped lake in the middle. Huge snowy peak in the distance that you can see from miles away. Quite a view. People actually lived at the campsite we stayed at! They did rent out some of the yurts to tourists, but they were actually nomads! Almost right after we got there we went on another hike. I can't believe that there was anyone who didn't go on it. It was amazing. We went to the other side of the lake (tip of the cresent furthest away from the tourist area). Took about an hour to get there but it was well worth it. You step out of the wooded trail and there is just a huge rocky beach there with little creeks from the mountains running into lake. It was amazingly peaceful. After saying how much we loved it, people ended up going off by themselves and just relaxing and sitting around peacefully.
Don't let me start on the dinner. They brought out 2 whole cooked sheep Probably the ones we just took pictures of. I ate ramen :P It started to rain and everyone bolted to their yurts. It sort of slowed down and a few of us ventured outside….until it started pouring again. We ran into the nearest yurt, which happened to be the biggest one, thankfully. The people that lived there got out some instruments and gave us a concert with music and singing and dancing right in the yurt!! Our guide, Muhammad, who is quite possibly the coolest person I've ever met, let alone a tour guide. He was wonderful. Anyway, he was a Uiger, like them (obviously not a nomad though) and got up and danced and sang with them!! Fantastic :) It was so much fun. And what an experience! Uiger music and dancing in a yurt at Heavenly Lake. Woah.
When the rain stopped we attempted to make a bonfire to keep warm because it was FREEZING there. It sort of worked, but the group dwindled after a while to go back to the warmer yurts. Some of us stayed out and it was dark and the sky had cleared by then…and you wouldn't believe.
It was a full moon. The 10 or 15 of us that decided to stay up really got rewarded with a view. We watched the moon come up over the mountains on the other side of the lake. It gave off SO much light, and the reflections on the water. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. This place made such an impression on me. Most beautiful place on earth. We all just found rocks to sit on and chill for a while watching the moon. It was freezing and no one had really brought clothes for that kind of cold, but we stayed out there anyway. Worth it, so worth it.
God, and then the next morning! The sunrise! haha, listen to me. But yea, just about everything about this place was unbelievably amazing. The sunrise was beautiful, I took quite a few pictures of the sky, lol. We were up really early to walk back to the buses and while we were walking, the falcons were just waking up. The exact moment we got to this one spot, dozens and dozens of falcons just came swooping out of the trees on the mountain right next to us. Amazing sight.
The whole place was definitely worth the unbelievably gross bathrooms at the campsite…which was a big pit in the ground and wooden slats you stood on. Horrible. But, after using it once and not drinking water until we left…in the end, it completely made up for it. Wow.

No doubt about it, if I had to pick only one place to go if I only had one place in China to go…it would be Tian Chi.


It was rough picking out a picture for the top there. If you don't look at any of my pictures, you should look at those. That place. Wow.

~Nikki