Lake in the Sky

this is day 2 of my program's week-long trip.

Believe it or not, this lake, Lake Tian-Chi, is at the top of a series of mountains! To get here, my group took a bus up a twisting, winding path to the Heaven Mountains. Due to to the steepness, every time the bus made a hairpin turn, we almost fell out of our seats! 
Lake Tian-Chi, or The Lake of Heaven, is on the north side of Bogda Peak and rests at an elevation of 6,435 ft. 
It was absolutely frigid the morning we went there, but we were still able to appreciate this natural wonder.

Later that day, we visited the Urumqi International Bazaar. I had never been to a bazaar before, but my friend who has been to many of them in Dubai said that we could've easily been there instead of China. Wandering around was pretty cool because the shopkeepers kept trying to talk to me in Uyghur language. It was a toss-up between Uyghur language and Mandarin Chinese, and I guess I look more Uyghur than Han. The bazaar had countless items such as dried fruits, metal pieces, fur, carpets, etc.