About Xinjiang

The hit reality show Goodbye Lover really put Xinjiang’s scenery on full display. I barely remembered all the twists and turns in the plot, but revisiting every place in Xinjiang that I’d been to before was genuinely exciting. If you’re in Xinjiang in summer, of course you go to Ili.

Urumqi is a little over 500 kilometers from Sayram Lake. If, like us, you don’t set out until the afternoon, then stopping for a night in Dushanzi, Karamay, is a great option.

Coming from inland China to vast Xinjiang, you need a little time to adjust to the region’s extremely long summer daylight hours. In Dushanzi at a little past 6 p.m., it was still as bright as mid-afternoon.

Besides being the starting point of the Duku Highway, Dushanzi is also home to the Dushanzi Grand Canyon. The canyon looks as if nature sliced a deep trench into the earth’s surface. Millions of years of river erosion have carved the canyon into countless gullies and ridges, like the weathered hands of an old herdsman.

After sunset, the temperature drops quickly, and the wind in the canyon is fierce. The Goodbye Lover group also arrived at the canyon at around the same time, and they still had to cook outdoors by their tent while keeping up appearances. I couldn’t help wondering whether they were internally falling apart in the wind.

At night, Dushanzi has a lively Pearl Night Market. Even though it has become increasingly touristy, it’s still a fine place for your first late-night meal in Xinjiang: pepper chicken and grilled meat.

The Real Star: Sayram Lake

Sayram Lake sits on the border between northern Ili and Bortala Prefecture. Even from Dushanzi, taking the expressway the whole way still takes most of half a day. On the road, you really feel how quickly Xinjiang’s weather changes—it’s as routine as eating and drinking. You often drive straight into a few minutes of thunderstorm skies packed with dark clouds, and just when you think your luck with the weather has completely run out, you suddenly see blue skies ahead again.

If you think of Sayram Lake as China’s version of Lake Baikal, you immediately understand how enormous it is. Its surface area is equivalent to 75 West Lakes, and driving all the way around it takes a full day.

The scenic area has given many viewpoints overly dramatic names like “Ice Bubble World,” piecing together something like the “Ten Scenic Spots of Sayram Lake.”

Honestly, none of that is necessary. Pull over casually by any wooden boardwalk and it already feels like a heaven-picked spot. From afar, the lake is a deep sapphire blue; up close, the water is crystal clear, shimmering in the sunlight. Walk a little way along the boardwalk, find a patch of grass to lie down on, and fully soak up the sunshine at Sayram Lake.

The weather over the lake changes just as quickly. A menacing cloud drifted over, and more clouds crowded in as if they were heading to a market, until they occupied half the sky in no time. The clouds brought rain, and while we stood in the sunshine, we watched cars in the distance pass through sheets of fine rain.

The massed clouds slowly loosened and thinned, spreading across the sky like a stage curtain being drawn into a veil of rain. It was the first time I had seen the boundary between sunshine and rain so clearly.

As the rain gradually faded, a rainbow appeared in the eastern sky. “Sun in the east, rain in the west” must be talking about a scene just like this.

Then, as if in perfect echo, a rare double rainbow appeared. Luck was truly on our side.

That very first glimpse on our first day in Xinjiang was already stunning and overwhelming. It really is a place that keeps you full of anticipation and surprises.

Following the lakeside road, the right-hand side is lined with dark green forest and rolling meadows. On the southwestern shore of the lake lies an immense expanse of Schrenk spruce forest. Spruce trees are natural reservoirs, with each one able to store more than 2 tons of water. The mist we had just seen over the lake likely owed a lot to these spruces.

Climbing slowly up through the grassland, nearing the tree line and entering the dense, dim woods, feels wonderfully exploratory. If you have the time, you could easily spend an entire day walking through the forest and along the ridgelines.

The spruces are incredibly tall. Two of them, rising dozens of meters high, stand like guardian deities at the entrance to the forest. Looking back, Sayram Lake was already far away.

Even above the spruce forest, a rainbow arched across the sky.

The clouds hang very low here, and the winding mountain road seems to lead straight into the golden evening glow.

Sunset then painted Sayram Lake in yet another color, before everything gradually settled into calm.

The next morning, I woke up and pushed open the RV window. Sayram was still bathed in gentle morning light. The warm-toned dawn looked especially like an oil painting, reminding me of the Russian paintings I had seen along Lake Baikal—perhaps even more beautiful than Baikal itself in those moments.

Workers protecting the lake were already out in small boats cleaning the water’s surface. In the distance, the snow-capped mountains, veiled by mist and cloud, seemed to float above the lake.

Heavy clouds hid the sunrise behind them. By the time we returned to camp, the sky was fully bright, and only then did we notice the graceful curves of the grassland behind us from the night before.

On the southern shore, we finally saw the legendary two swans—and today there was also a baby swan. Before they grow up, cygnets really do look like ugly ducklings. We had the swans pose for a photo with the big yellow rubber duck we brought along.

Near the South Gate exit is the now most popular Sailimu Lake “S Bay.” If you get good weather, it really is an incredibly photogenic spot, and my travel companions spent quite a while here.

Where to stay at Sailimu Lake?

Generally speaking, it’s best to plan a two-day, one-night itinerary at Sailimu Lake. On the one hand, it makes the trip feel less rushed; on the other, seeing the stars by the lake at night and taking a walk early in the morning is a rare kind of leisure.

If you want to stay inside the Sailimu Lake scenic area and rule out the more hardcore option of camping in the wild, that leaves 4 RV campgrounds and 1 yurt camp inside the park. By coincidence, the RV campground we stayed at was the same one featured in the show Goodbye Lover. When I watched the variety show, I really had to praise my friends for their good taste.

Although it’s called an RV campground, it’s actually more like a hotel made from RV trailers that have been semi-permanently fixed in place. So the indoor conditions are excellent too: wifi, TV, and hot showers are all standard.

Of course, the prices are just as “beautiful.” At Dianjiangtai RV Campground, generally considered the best overall, peak-season rates are about RMB 3,000-4,000 per night (around RMB 1,000 per person). The others are also around RMB 2,000-3,000.

At the time, the two of us guys were actually staying somewhere else. Our friends could see how much we wanted to stay here, so they said we might as well lay out two extra floor beds in the living room. That night we watched the UEFA European Championship, and seeing Christian Eriksen suddenly collapse on the field was absolutely heartbreaking.

The campground was very quiet at night, and we got the same-style wooden boardwalk photos too. Also, near both entrances to the Sailimu Lake scenic area, there are some local inns and hotels to choose from, with peak-season prices of roughly RMB 300-500 per person.

What is there to eat at Sailimu Lake?

Sailimu Lake’s cold-water fish, especially the peled whitefish, are quite famous.

That evening, we tried the local peled whitefish. Every few kilometers along the lake, there seemed to be a fish restaurant shaped like a box truck.

Because the lake water is very cold, this type of cold-water fish grows slowly, which makes the flesh firmer and high in both protein and fat. A few years ago at Lake Baikal, I especially liked the local cold-water fish, and even bought a full dozen cans of fish preserved in oil and ate them all the way to Moscow.

We basically ordered one of everything: sashimi-style fish slices, pan-fried fish, scallion oil fish, fish soup over rice, and so on. The taste was just so-so, but it was still worth trying for the experience. After wiping our mouths, we realized it wasn’t cheap. Although RMB 200 per person is pretty routine in places like Shanghai or Shenzhen, I still had a slightly unrealistic fantasy about prices in Xinjiang.

There are also a few restaurant options at the main entrance to the scenic area, most of them attached to lodging properties. Xinjiang cuisine and Sichuan cuisine are the most common. After a long journey, a plate of laghman-style pulled noodles and a steaming hot big plate chicken tasted absolutely amazing.

Sailimu Lake Guide

Tickets: For self-driving visitors, the one-day ticket is RMB 145 per person (for each person in the car), and the two-day ticket is RMB 190 per person. However, based on our actual experience, after buying a two-day ticket, nobody checked when leaving from the South Gate the next day. For non-self-driving visitors, admission is RMB 70, and the full-line shuttle bus is RMB 75 (there are also several branch routes at slightly lower prices).

Lodging: The best experience is staying at one of the RV campgrounds inside the Sailimu Lake scenic area. The best one is at Dianjiangtai.

About the Author

This article originally came from my friend’s WeChat public account. If you’re interested, feel free to follow it.