So there we were: late afternoon, sitting at a desolate checkpoint somewhere in the far-flung Chinese province of Xinjiang. A few stray dogs and some confused Chinese policemen kept us company. How did we get into this mess? And where was that damn lake?
The plan was to head to Heaven Lake. The internet guides seemed simple enough: catch a shuttle bus from People’s Park. But a thorough search of the park turned up no buses.
Plan B was a bit more complicated – take a bus from the north bus station, swap buses at Fukang County. The second bus would take us to the park entrance.
The North Bus Station
The nice security man checked our passports, our bags were scanned and we walked through a metal detector.
We bought some tickets for a bus, hoping they were for the right one.
One of the friendly-looking factory we passed by.
The Bus
About an hour into the journey we were travelling down a long road. The area was desolate, except for the occasional factory. Then a traffic jam appeared ahead. Machine-gun wielding policemen ushered everyone out of the bus and through another security checkpoint.
Our bags were scanned and everyone walked through a metal detector. But when it came to the ID check, we were separated from the other passengers. I guess we didn’t look like locals.
A policeman took our passports. He seemed both curious and surprised that we had made it this far. His attention turned to our passports. As our fellow Chinese bus passengers returned to the bus, the policeman was admiring the passport stamps. Then he tried to take a copy, but his copier ran out of ink.
So he tried again… and again… and again; skilfully ignoring us pointing to the bus where our driver was beginning to lose patience.
But the policeman was undeterred. His important routine would not be rushed by some impatient foreigners. He manually copied down our passport details. When he finished, our bus was long gone.
Another bus eventually appeared. ‘Maybe it’s going to the same place’ we reasoned. The gamble paid off.
Fukang County Bus Station
Safety first: another passport check, bag scanning and stroll through a metal detector.
Our next bus took us to the park entrance.
Heaven Lake Park Entrance
The Park Entrance
Another security check – bags scanned, metal detected and passports checked. But we had made it and I was proud.
According to the internet guide: “from the entrance…you can either go by shuttle bus or take the spectacular one hour walk up”.
Very loud Chinese man with a microphone.
The park guides insisted we get on a shuttle bus, where we were subjected to a history of the region by a very loud Chinese man with a microphone (all in Chinese).
When the bus stopped in a market area, we took our chance and slipped away from the tour group and started our walk to the lake.
Coming up to the checkpoint.
The walk
2.5 hours of walking later and there was no lake in sight and water was running low.
Up ahead, a building appeared. It looked abandoned but was obviously some sort of checkpoint. A dog started barking as we neared. A few policemen came out of the building, confused. Who were these weird westerners?
And then it dawned on us: The guidebook said that you could walk from the park entrance in an hour.
What the guidebook didn’t say was that they had moved they had built a new entrance 20 kilometres down the road. Now we were now stuck at the old entrance.
The charm offensive
We tried to pull over passing buses, but the policemen stopped us getting on, saying something in Chinese.
So it was time to make some new friends. After a gift offering of Australian themed keyrings, they lightened up and started pulling over buses to see if any had room for 2 stupid foreigners. It eventually paid off.
Breaking cultural barriers, one Australian themed key-ring at a time.
Policeman pulling over buses to find a spot for us!
Heaven Lake
Heaven Lake lived up to the hype. It is a spectacular lake, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. But for all its beauty, there were no other international tourists. I wonder why?
