115 km northeast of Urumqi at an elevation of 1980m, the small deep-blue lake is surrounded by hills covered with fir trees and grazed by horses. Scattered around are the yurts of the Kazakh people who inhabit the mountains; nearby are the 5445m-high Bogda Peak and some other snow-covered ones in Tianshan Range.

Labeled as a Chinese version of Swiss lakes, the area is frequently touristed in the summer months and offers a range of activities including horseback riding, hiking, boating and authentic yurt accommodation.

Red Hill

On the east bank of Urumqi River, 910m (3000 feet) Red Hill is located at the very center of the city, which resembles a mighty dragon. This reddish-brown hill is dotted with some small pavilions and atop stands a nine-storey pagoda founded in 1788 by Shang An-governor of Urumqi. Legend said that in 1785 and 1786 the city suffered river floods, which was considered that building a pagoda at the top of the hill could subdue the vicious dragon living underneath and prevent the floods coming again.

The Museum of Xinjiang Autonomous Region

Covering an exhibiting area of 7800 sqare meters, the museum, of Uygur and Russian styles, is constructed in 1953. A green-tiled dome tops 18m above the main hall and enormous mural relief decorate the walls, domes, and entrance. The exhibiting articles of this museum are mainly from two sources, archaeological treasures from the Silk Road and the local cultural relics. The museum is divided into different sections: a Mongol wing, a Tajik exhibition, a Kasak exhibition and a Dauer people and relics display.

Southern Mosque

Located near the south gate of Urumqi, it got its name as "Southern Mosque". Repaired in 1902 and 1987, it is a leading mosque in Urumqi city.

Embraced by four minarets, the vaulted mosque, grand and imposing, expresses the elegant characters of Islamic architecture. The main body of the mosque, taking the shape of a tower, consists of four stories, two underground and two above. The storeies underground are shops and living area of Moslems while the two overground used as prayer hall and seminary. Two walls of the passageway leading to the prayer hall are decorated with carved orchids, plums, bamboo and lotuses. The compound also includes a bathroom before prayers.

Around Urumqi- Turpan

About 46km east of Turpan are the ruins pf Gaochang, the capital the Uighurs when they moved into the Xinjiang region from Mongolia in the 9^th century. The city was burnt down around the 14th century, during a period of warfare that lasted 40 years. 

The town was founded in the first century during the Han Dynasty and became a major staging post on the Silk Road. The walls of the city are clearly visible. They stood as much as 12m thick, formed a rough square with a perimeter of 6km, and were surrounded by a moat. Gaochang was divided into an outer city, an inner city within the walls, and a palace and government compound. A large monastery in the southwestern part of the city is in reasonable condition with some of the rooms, corridors and doorways still preserved. The remains of another one whose outer walls are covered in niches, in each one of which a Buddha was originally seated.

The most impressive of all the sights around Turpan is the eighteenth-century building, just 2km southeast of the city. It's designed in a simple Afghani style and was built in 1777 by the local ruler, Emin Hola. Slightly bulging and pot-bellied, built of sun-dried brown bricks arranged in differing patterns layer, the minaret tapes its way 40 meters skyward to a rounded tip. The adjacent mosque houses a large, shady space and a lattice-work ceiling held up by wooden support. From the top of the mosque there's a stupenduous view over the green oasis in the foreground and the distant snowy Tian Shan Range beyond.

These underground channels rate as one of ancient China's greatest public works projects. The word "karez¡" means wells. The Karez irrigation system basically taps in on natural underground channels carrying water from source-glaciers at the base of the Tian Shan Range to the point. Strategically dug wells then bring water to small surface relied on this system, including those much farther to the west, in areas such as modern Iran: keeping the water underground for as possible was essential primarily to reduce evaporation, but also to keep it clean of silt and dust. Throughout Turpan there are over a thousand wells and total length of the channels exceeding 3000 kilometers, which are still partially in use.