Xinjiang: Sayram Lake, Jun 2024

By Beatrice Wong
September 2, 2024
7:30 pm
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Sayram Lake (赛里木湖), the largest and highest alpine lake located on the western section of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, is often referred to as “the last tear of the Atlantic Ocean”. So called because it is the last place that the warm and humid Atlantic air lingers. Sayram means “blessing” in Kazakh. Legend has it that it was formed by the tears of a pair of Kazakh young lovers. The beautiful young girl jumped into an abyss to escape from a devil who kidnapped her and her lover, in order to be reunited with her, also jumped. Their tears flooded the abyss and formed Sayram Lake. June and July are the best months to visit the lake when the wild flowers on the verdant prairies surrounding the lake are in full bloom contrasting with the sapphire lake, bright blue skies, and snow capped mountains. We drove around three quarters of the lake and the scenery, as well as the weather, are continuously changing. Apparently, the flowers on the northern shore are mainly purple, the western shore yellow, and the eastern shore blue, but I didn’t seem to notice the difference. For the night, we stayed at 伊宁睿柏云大酒店 hotel in Yining city about 2 hours away.

伊宁睿柏云大酒店 hotel in Yining

Sayram Lake is very windy, perfect for these wind turbines.

I noticed that the clouds here are especially three dimensional. One can just sit by the lake and observe the clouds changing shapes and patterns.

The weather around the lake is constantly changing from sunny to overcast to rainy to windy.

The lake is said to display different colors at different times of the day.

This lighthouse is a favorite instagram hotspot.

These riders apparently get dressed up and ride around the lake all day for visitors to take photos.

Sayram lake is home to a dozen or so swans. We only spotted two close to the shore building a nest.

Gravel path going around the lake.

Many locals come here for photo shoots and we believe these two ladies are twins.

One one side of the lake are these pine forests which remind me of Switzerland.

Horses for rent to ride into the mountains.

Love how the trees line the top of the hills like hair sticking up on top of the head.

Curious camels

Often visited togther with Sayram Lake is Guozigou Bridge (果子溝大橋) which is Xinjiang’s first steel truss cable-stayed and highest bridge. It curves like a giant dragon and is an engineering feat in Xinjiang. After completion of the bridge, it made travel to Yili more convenient and reliable. It used to take two days by bus from Yining City to Urumqi and if the weather was bad, one would have to stay in Guozigou for a few days to wait it out. Now it only takes about 8 hours drive.