Xinjiang, Tian Shan; Trip to Snow Lotus Peak

[Tunafish]

Does anybody know how to save a map as a file in Google maps? I couldn't figure it out so this link will have to do:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...b5d96224&msa=0

I have been planning to and see Snow Lotus Peak (6627 m) for years, judging by it's location and photo's I saw in Google maps it might just be the most beautiful place in Xinjiang... Even surpassing places like Kanas Lake, Tian Chi, Nalati and Swan lake reserve... This summer I finally had a mate with a good bike and a licence, he wanted to take his sister along who came for a visit and he needed an epic destination so the idea for this trip was born. because 2 people would ride on his bike, my bike would take most of the luggage.

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The trip should take 6 days and the first stop would be Salimu hu, a high altitude lake in Bole county close to Yili...

My friend was riding a Qingqi 200 GY, I'm riding a Galaxy SUV 250. My friend has always been very positive about his bike, it seems to be powerful enough and well put together. I'm less enthusiastic about my bike, it's fun to ride, the amount of power is acceptable, it handles well when you want to get up a mountain, the suspension is mediocre, the fuel consumption is too high, the fuel tank is ridiculously small, the top speed was 110 km/h once but by now, if I try to push it beyond 100 it's literally out of breath... Still, I love the looks of it and as long as it doesn't leave me high and dry I simply love it... Both bikes were equipped with custom made luggage racks, ideal for some huge saddle bags... I further upgraded my bike with a windscreen, japanese made chain and xenon lights.

On the first day we didn't leave very early, in fact we were only on the road by noon... Todays goal was Salimu hu, a ride of about 450 km. The first part of the trip isn't the most beautiful part, it mainly follows the highway, which is being repaired at a lot of places, in the agricultural / industrial strip that separates the mountains of the Tian Shan from the Gurbantunggut desert in the north. As you ride along, there is always a beautiful view towards the south, snow capped mountains, most of them over 4000 m high... After Wusu, famous in Xijiang for it's beer, the industrial area comes to an end, and the landscape is mostly half desert

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My friend, in a previous attempt to ride to Salimu Hu on his own, tried to get there as quickly as possible... Going at maximum speed for hours turned out to be a bad idea... He basically blew up his engine which had to be transported back to Shihezi... Now, the engine's inerts, all being new, he didn't want to go too fast and regularly stopped to let his engine cool down... This slowed us down. Most of the time we were riding though we tried to stick to 80 km/h, that's what I do when I ride by myself as well... One of my other friends (Who is now doing a ride from Shihezi to Ulaan Bataar, the capital city of Mongolia, I'm looking forward to his ride report) also blew up his engine so I have become quite careful... I don't dare to push it too much over 80 for a longer period of time...

I had calculated before that my bike, on a full tank (about 8 liters) would get me a bit over 160 km. However, in the middle of the desert, my engine died... I also found before that if I turn the fuel gage up, I should get an additional 25 km's... Too bad, maybe there was only 10 km left in there and I was out of fuel... Here it comes in handy to not ride alone, I could get some juice from my friends tank in order to make it to the next gasoline station...

So I learned my lesson: Time to fill up the jerry can in the saddlebags... Holy shit, what? The fuel just came straight out of the saddlebags... The plastic jerrycan had just cracked right open... So I learned my lesson: Don't use f%@#ing plastic jerry cans for fuel... Thank god I firmly packed my sleeping bag in plastic bags, or else I could have thrown it away... Luckily solid metal jerry cans were for sale at the gasoline station so I bought a 10 liter one for 100 yuan.

By now it was getting dark, but we were dead set to make it to Salimu hu so we pushed on... After the intersection towards Bole the highway goes into a nature area, slowly changing from semi desert to grassland as you're climbing towards the lake... Over here the road was also being repaired so we had to race over a pot hole saturated b road... In the dark... Thank god I just installed those Xenon lights or else I would not have made it this part of the way...

As we climbed higher towards the lake the temperature plummeted... From hot to freezing cold, pretty amazing how extreme these temperature changes can be in the mountains of Xinjiang... At midnight we finally arrived at Salimu hu where we would stay at a Yurt of a Kazakh family my friend had stayed with previously...

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