Northern Xinjiang Photograpy Tour

Day 1

Arrival in Urumqi

Xinjiang Grand Bazaar

You can arrange your international flight to get to Urumqi. Our nice guide will meet you at the airport and then start your Xinjiang Photography Tour. City sightseeing in Urumqi. Visit Xinjiang Museum, Erdaoqiao Market & International Bazaar, and Enjoy the Uyger Show.
Erdaoqiao & International Bazaar: Here you will find a bustling market filled with fruits, clothing, crafts, knives, carpets, and almost anything that you can imagine. This is the largest bazaar in Urumqi, and is a place most welcomed by tourists, especially the ladies who will find they can buy some traditional Yugur cosmetics. On Sunday, there are more stalls and more goods to buy than any other day. The old streets around the bazaar are particularly worth seeing.
Xinjiang Museum: The Xinjiang Regional Museum is a large integrated museum and a centre for the collection and study of cultural relics in Xinjiang.  The museum was built in 1953, featuring Uighur ethnic internal decor style and has an exhibition hall covering an area of about 7,800 square meters. There are more than 50,000 pieces of various kinds of cultural relics stored in the museum, among them are the ancient mummies represented by the “Loulan Beauty”, manuscripts in Chinese, Karosthi, Qiuci, Yanji, Tibetan, Uighurian and other characters prevailing in ancient western regions of China, as well as silk, wool, cotton and hemp fabrics and folk raiment, etc., all items of great intrigue. The 'Loulan beauty' mummy in particular is a well-preserved mummy from 4000 years ago. It still has a reddish brown skin, thick eyelashes, charming large eyes, and long hair. 

Day 2

Urumqi Sayrm Lake (480kms, 7hrs)

Sayram Lake

After breakfast drive to Sayrm Lake and we will arrive at 6PM.
Sayram Lake, renowned as a pearl of the Silk Road, is the largest alpine lake in Xinjiang. It is located about 90 kilometers (56 miles) southwest of Botala Prefecture, Urumqi. In Mongolian language, the name of the lake means 'a lake on the ridge'. In Kazak, sayram means 'blessing'. Sayram Lake is a fairyland with wonderful natural scenery. The lake is like a brilliant emerald inlaid in the basin surrounded by Tianshan Mountain. The water in the lake is very pure and clear. Flocks of ducks and swans coast on its surface. Flourishing cypress and cedar trees cover the whole mountain range. Cottages scatter the foothills of the mountains. Horses and sheep call on the mountain slope. What a vivid and splendid picture!

Day 3

Sarym  Zhaosu (350kms, 5-6hrs)

Fruit Gully

After the morning photo, we will continue to Zhaosu and visit the Fruit Gully enroute.
Fruit Gully there are numerous pine trees, and rivers and brooks converge here flanking by numerous ridges and peaks. Known as the "1st scene of Ili", the gully has a pleasant cool weather in summer and autumn, and the ground is covered with flowers with bees and butterflies flying and dancing among them. Countless fruits hanging from the branches of the trees on the hillsides, pure white snow far and near, together with flocks of sheep and yurts scattering in the gully here and there compose a beautiful picture of grassland. Head to Yili, known as the "beyond the Great Wall Jiangnan," Drive across the Tianshan Daban and arrive in Zhaosu, known as the Home Town of Rape Flower..Overnight in Zhaosu County.

Day 4-Day 5

Zhaosu  Shate Valley

Shate Valley

Drive to Shate Valley, where you can enjoy the original nature and see many wild animals, beautiful flowers, the glaciers.
Over night in the Yurt. on day 5 You will spend whole day in Shate Valley to take the photo and experience the hot spring in the ingenious pastureland. Shate Valley is a off tourism place which is very pure and unpolluted. It is the world of wild animals. It is the world you can't find the words to make the description. once you arrive in this valley, you will feel this is the place that you are dreaming.

Day 6

Shate  ValleyTeks

Eight Diagram City

After breakfast drive to The Eight-Diagram City in Tekes is a young prairie town in Xinjiang. It was firstly built in 1937 according to the shape of the Eight-Diagram. Since 1951, the city has been expanded constantly on its former base and become more and more majestically and flourishing. And take the photo of the million mus of rape flowers. The layout of this city was made in the traditional eight diagrams or octagonal pattern. With the square as the center, eight equiangular thoroughfares extend toward eight different directions. Intersected by a number of ring roads, these streets thus form a clear eight-diagram pattern. The eight straight thoroughfares actually came from eight equiangular furrows ploughed by eight oxen when the city was first built. The eight equiangular furrows were later widened to become eight thoroughfares. Design work started in 1937 and construction started in 1939. It is the largest and most typical Eight Diagrams city in the world.

Kalajun Prairie

After breakfast visit the ingenious Kalajun Prairie and take the photos there.
Kalajun Prairie is as beautiful as in a poem or a picture. There are springs densely distributed here. Every year, from May to September. The ideal place for people of the pasture to exchange materials and hold cultural activities. Kalajun, in Kazak, means "a dark wilderness". For generations, people on the grassland have lived a simple nomadic life. The traditional lifestyle exudes a unique charm. Over night in the Yurt.

Tangbula Prairie

After breakfast drive to Tangbula Prairie and we will stop in No 71 Corps and take the photo of the refreshing and fragrance of Lavender. Arrive in Qiaoerma in the evening.Over night in Qiaoerma Hotel.
Tangbula Prairie is situated in the Grand Canyon in the upper Kashgar River on the southeast 105kms away from Nilka County. In the pasture, peaks are cloud-capped through the North and South; forest are dense, rivers go through west and east consistenly. The scenery is extremely beautiful. Since the Qing Dynasty it is a shelter place for Ili Generals to hunt and kill summer times and it is one of the five long-famous prairies in Ili.

Naraty Grassland

In the morning head to Naraty Grassland.
Naraty Grassland Located at the important line of communications connecting Southern and Northern Xinjiang, the north part of Nalat Grassland connects to Gongliu and Xinyuan County Town，and west part to Hejing county．East part comes from Aikendaban of northwest Hejing and west part reaches to Wulandaban．It is about 150 kilometers long and 3,000-4,500 meters above sea level．The northern slope faces the wind and yearly rainfall is 400-700mm．A large stretch of wild apple trees have been found in Xinyuan County at the 1,500-2,000 above sea level．It was listed as a nature reserve．The No 218 National Highway runs across the Tianshan Mountains，along the north part of Nalat grassland．Furthermore, Nalat Grassland boasts sub-alpine belt, and it has been a famous pasture land ever since the ancient times，and there are wide river valley, high mountains，the crisscrossed deep gores，the flourishing forest and open grassland．It is crowned as“air pasture'’and“garden highway”.

Bayinbuluk Swan Lake

In the morning head to Bayinbuluk Grasslands and Swan Nature Reserve, The grassland stretches vastly and smoothly, and is rich in water and grass. High quality fescue grasses grow all over this vast grassland which accommodates and feeds flocks and herds. This natural reserve is abundant in birds，particularly water birds of various kinds in large quantity. Over night in the Swan Hotel
Bayinbuluk Swan Lake Natural Reserve lies in Bayinbuluk grassland，taking up 1,000 square kilometers. In 1986 it was listed by the State as the national nature reserve．It is a paradise of flocks of swan. The swans are like white sails wandering on the lake，carefree and contenting themselves．Therefore it is offered the name“Swan Lake”.

No.1 glacier

In the morning take the photos near Kaidu River, varieties of swan, wild yark. Then drive across the Mishen Daban which sea level is 4280ms, arrive in the NO 1 Glacier of Tianshan. is formed by glittering and translucent ice with a length of 2.4 kilometers, a width of over 500 meters. It’s an ideal place to observe and study the formation and movement of modern glacier. Into the glacier, there excavates a tunnel of 80m long and 2m high, and people can walk into the tunnel to appreciate the magic scene of an icy silver world. Arrive in Urumqi in the evening.
No.1 glacier is the nearest glacier to any city in the world, just 120km from Urumqi. With its typical sediments, the glacier is appraised as "living fossils". Until now it has been the best place for glacial observation in China, boasting one of the best preserved glacial records in the world.The Muslim testimony of faith is to assert the belief in 1 God, Allah in Arabic, Who is neither male, nor female, is One, without Partner, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. And to believe that Muhammad was the last in a long line of Prophets - including Abraham, Moses, Jesus; peace be upon them all.

Day 13

Urumqi  Your Destination

You will be transferred to the airport and take the flight back to your destination based on your flight schedule.