Barkol | The Backyard Garden of Hami, Xinjiang

| Barkol, the backyard garden of Hami, Xinjiang. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, with meandering valleys across vast grasslands, horses, cattle, and sheep graze freely everywhere. You can even see local herdsmen taming and racing horses. 📷【Main Attractions】 1⃣ Tianshan Temple (Ticket 💰20 yuan) It takes about 1 hour to drive from downtown Hami to Tianshan Temple. The Tianshan Temple, White Stone, and Mingsha Mountain scenic spots along the way all require tickets (we didn't enter), but stopping for photos along the way is enough. 2⃣ Barkol Grassland (Free 💰) Located in Barkol County, it is one of the largest grasslands in Xinjiang. By the end of September, there are few cattle and sheep on the grassland, but you can see the grassland, Gobi, and snow-capped mountains, creating a beautiful layered landscape. 3⃣ Barkol Ancient City (Free 💰) We first visited Barkol Food Street, where we tried hand-pulled lamb rice and baked buns (the taste was average). Afterward, we explored the Barkol Ancient City Cultural Park, which houses the Qing Dynasty Granary, the Barkol County Museum, Songfeng Academy, and other attractions. The attractions are centrally located, so it's worth a visit if you have enough time. (PS: If you're not interested in history, you can go directly to Barkol Lake.) 4⃣ Barkol Lake (Free 💰) One of the four largest salt lakes in China (Chaka Salt Lake, Qarhan Salt Lake, Yuncheng Salt Lake, and Barkol Lake), with an altitude of 1585 meters. It's a forgotten scenic spot, but it's incredibly atmospheric, super photogenic, and very healing. Highly recommended! PS: From the entrance of the scenic area, there is a long boardwalk stretching towards the lake, requiring a walk. The scenery along the way is stunning. According to our driver later, horseback riding at Barkol Lake is very affordable, and the milk lumps sold there are both authentic and cheap. However, we were too captivated by the beautiful scenery at the time and didn't go horseback riding or buy any snacks (we were also a bit resistant to the commercialization of the scenic area), which is a slight regret. 5⃣ Gaojia Lake Wetland Park (Free 💰) A natural ecological park and a well-known spot in Xinjiang for stargazing and sunrise viewing. With an average altitude of 1600m, it's a huge natural oxygen bar. We caught a beautiful sunset (it's a slight regret that we didn't stay here, as I feel the sunrise and starry sky must be incredibly beautiful too).