On my way to Dunhuang, i passed by a town called Aksai Kazakzu, some 70km from Dunhuang. Took a day rest here and explored the town. Another peaceful town here, most of the population here are kazakh people, another descendent of the mighty Genghis Khan. Theyre mostly muslims, everywhere i go here there are both chinese and arabic writings. People here dont speak mandarin language, but they speak kazakh, similar to Turkish language. Very hot in here, some 38-40 celcius. Even tho im from KL and used to our very hot weather, i still cant stand the weather here. That means… the weather here is very very hot! At least back in KL, when its hot, we can stay inside an aircond room. Here, there is no escape. They dont even have a fan!

Im not really sure what are the kazakhs doing here, because kazakhstan border is still very far, and u can only find them here.. not in any of the neighbouring towns. In the evening, me and Nancy walked around the town and came across some horse racing festival in a stadium nearby. Yup… they have a stadium here. It is so much different than the horse racing festival i came across when i was still in the tibetan plateau, their dressing is so much different than the tibetans, and theyre carrying swords with them, unlike the tibetans. It is rather boring for me, didnt stay long to watch it, and i told nancy that i wanna walk around this town alone. While walking, the local kazakh kids were curious at me and start talking to me. Unlike the local chinese, these kazakh people can speak a little english, enough to carry a conversation. Im guessing theyre so much different than the kazakh people in their home soil in kazakhstan.

Theyre proud to tell me that theyre kazakh people. Theyre proud to tell me theyre the descendent of the turkish people. They were so excited when i told them that i will ride in kazakhstan soon after china on my way to russia, telling me kazakhstan is a beautiful country. But when i asked them wether they have been to kazakhstan before, they say no. Hehe. Im guessing it must be very interesting history in this town, how the kazakh people came down here in this town to settle down here. From what they told me, when they want to get married, the kazakh girl will go after a kazakh boy, and propose. Its the other way round… thats their culture. Hmm…. im not really interested for now, since Ill be riding in the real Kazakhstan land, few months from now… so i prefer to learn about the kazakh culture in kazakhstan… not china.