Advertisement
Published: July 17th 2005
Edit Blog Post
7:00am, Departure from Buer'Jin
We got on our tour bus and headed towards Kanasi Forest Reserve. On the way there, the view was magnificent. Kanasi is 3000miles above sea level so the trip there was filled with grasslands and mountains. Its located in the most northern tip of China and near the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. It took us 6 hours to get here. On the way there, the tour bus was playing Michael Learns To Rock, Titanic, Emily's 'Big Big World' and some Xinjiang music back to back. We passed more grasslands, a beautiful green river and many many kazakh yurts (tents). The Kazakhs are nomads and move here during summer to tend their cattle.
1:00pm, Kanasi Forest Reserve
When we got up there, it was raining really heavily. They say that in Kanasi, it's never summer. Summer is like Autumn and because of the rain, it was cold as hell. I rented a communist coat and looked like a regular communist especially with my Mao Zedong bag that i bought in beijing slung over my shoulders. The 'group' wanted to visit a Kazakh village and i realized that this was my opportunity to tell them 'guys, its
been great and all, but i'd rather be on my own'. The tour guide had a look of disappointment in her face. The belgium couple also told her the same thing and they went walking around. I paid 100 Yuan and rented a horse for the day.
2:00pm, On my horse.
I do not know how to ride a horse. But i didn't want to horse owner to know that because if he did, he wouldn't let me go on my own. So, he held my horse, and i got on it. I took the whip and kicked my horse. Shit. My horse would not move and inch. I shouted 'go!', 'giddiyup!', 'hia!' and many other shouts that could make the horse at least move. He was embarrassing me! Finally, the owner gave me a whip and i whipped the horse. He started galloping! I was afraid i was going to fall down but i couldn't let them figure out my act. So i casually made as if i knew what i was doing and headed towards a trail. The owners son followed me on foot and told me that he'd be waiting for me at this particular tree.
I went up the mountain and figured out myself how to ride a friggin' horse. 30 minutes later, i stopped by a river and got off my horse. I let her eat and drink while i took some photos. I got back on and continued up the hill. This was when i realized i had dropped my communist jacket and made my way back to find it. When i found it, i got off my horse and picked up my jacket. When slung it over the horse, the horse terkejut and tried to kick me!! I ducked and she started running with my jacket.. I chased after her. When she stopped, i slowly moved towards her. She constantly had her bum facing me as if ready to kick me when she had a chance. After 20 minutes of this, i decided to walk back down the hill and call the boy to help me. I found him, we walked back up and he took back the horse without so much as a sweat. I got back on and galloped higher up the hill. I swore to myself never to get off the horse again. After two hours of riding, through
a river, forest and up a mountain, i headed back to the owner and returned my horse.
6:00pm, Kanasi Lake
I took a bus and headed for the lake. When i got there, i saw white water rafting counter! It was expensive. Y150 but i had to do it. I remember when i was in New Zealand and did not have a chance to do it but my whole family did. It was extremely cold but extremely fun. After that, i headad back to my cabin and had some mutton with bread. After resting for about 30 minutes, i started walking by the river and hanging out by myself there till it was sunset. It really looked like Lord of the rings. The river looked like the one in fellowship where boromir died.
9:30pm, The party
I walked all the way to town and it was already getting dark. I bumped into my tourist group and the belgium couple and they invited me to a concert. There was a big bonfire in the middle and they had kazakh and mongol traditional performances. They got us to dance the traditional way and later they put on some feng-tau music.
Everyone in the tour group could not remember my name, so they called me 'MALAYSIA'. I felt like i was a participant in the beijing olympics. After a long night, we went back to out cabin and went to bed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.049s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0235s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
yakmin
non-member comment
woi.. MALAYSIA!
hahahha.. im laughing my ass off here reading your travel experiences!! what a brave thing you did with that horse!! hahahha!! with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE riding a horse. crazy!