After the hot tiring haul from Urumqi, it was a relief to climb up to the cooler temperatures of Lake Sayram, or Salimu hu as it is called in Chinese. On Monday we arrived at Santai, a tiny village on the lake shore, and found an idyllic spot to stay with a Kazakh family, overlooking the unbelievably blue expanse of water. The horses were able to relax and graze on the rocky hillside behind.
Here is the lady of the house making fresh nan bread for our delectation. One the right is one that she made earlier, and which we consumed later. The brown lumps of fuel are the usual dried cow dung - but they sometimes mixed it with coal dust. There is a nan cooking in the receptacle to the front of her.
Sitting on the kang to tuck into a midday meal of spicy lamb stew and noodles.
The next day we rode on along the shore of the lake to Zhagan Modun, where we met up with Wutzala of the Chinese Equestrian Association.
He was accompanying a group of equestrians on a long weekend riding trip to the Tian Shan. This involved a certain amount of partying in a yurt on the lake shore - below is an earnest Wutzala and jovial Singaporean setting the world to rights with the aid of a bottle of wine.
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