mmm very cute kazakh girl... :)

As im going further to the north, i see more and more trees, and its grassland! No more desert for me… well at least for now. Because the route i choose after this is going south again after Urumqi, towards Bayingolin. I have a year China visa, and i only stayed 3 months here so far, hmmm… why not i just cycle aimlessly without  having a deadline? :) Urumqi is not far from Kazakhstan border, only few hundred kilometers away to the west, but suddenly now i decided to turn south :)

The landscape around where i am now is magnificent! It is something new to me after thousands of kilometers riding along the desert, the grassland here makes me feel like im more in Mongolia than China. Only thing is, the population here are mostly Uighurs and Kazakhs, instead of the Mongols. Besides that.. i feel like im now riding along the Mongolian grassland. Passing by countless windmills along my way near Urumqi, with snow mountains (Tian Shan mountain range) in the background… it was simply amazing. It was a good 90km ride to Urumqi, no ruthless wind slowing me down, the ride was peaceful. But i felt quite sad, its the last day of me riding together with Nancy. Her journey will end in Urumqi, then she will go to Beijing for a week to meet her parents then back to Guangzhou. After around 7 weeks riding together with her, facing the good and bad moment together, sure im gonna miss her… like sooo… much!! Uhh… ill be alone again… :(

Im finally in Urumqi while writing this. Will stay here 3 days before heading to Bayingolin. I guess ill ride fast to Bayingolin, which is around 400km away. Ill be riding south, and hopefully this northern wind that slowed me down all these while… will blow me fast towards Bayingolin. From there i might enter the Taklamakan Desert for the second time towards my way to Kashgar, the last town for me in China. From there i will see if the Karakoram Highway is open again. If its still close, then i will pass thru Irkeshtam pass to central asia, and the mountainous central asia adventure will begin :)