[原创][贴图] Beautiful Autumn Expedition in Lake Kanas

QUOTE:

以下是引用Galbie在2009/10/23 16:36:00的发言：

Then Siao Ma said to us," leave everything here, we are going with our horses for a secret excursion! I am going to show you the most beautiful place on earth"

To be continued................

 

Come on

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/10/24 1:17:43编辑过]

老白: OK OK ! Do you mean this Feiying?

Are you sure this is the same Feiying?........................

He did ask if we are friends of yours, and reminded us you went to Kanas in Summer some time ago....................

Obviously, you were in his thoughts .........

 

So we left our luggage and the tents, and tied The Spy to a branch of shrub by the river, and set off for our secret destination, "The most beautiful place on earth":

We climbed a really steep slope on a mountain, with loose rocks all the way. The rocks were green in colour, the colouration was not from minerals, but was due to lichen growing on each piece of rock. That showed us how clean and unpolluted this place was:

I then realised why short horses with sturdy legs were used in this region: they were stable and steady as goats, climbing up and down the slopes could be dangerous for tall horses with long legs. These short ponies were just the right type of horse in this terrain. At one point, Siao Ma's horse Chan Chan slipped and fell on his back side, as Chan Chan knelt on the ground with his hind legs, Siao Ma almost fell off:

Had Siao Ma fallen off Chan Chan, no one could have saved him, the slope of the mountain was so steep, it sent shudders down my spine even today. This was how steep the mountains were (what Doo Doo saw on the way):

Fortunately, everyone made it up to the top safely. After 30 minutes of climbing uphill, a magnificent view opened before our eyes:

This was the famous Lake Kanas, we were now at the Northern tip, where the 3 rivers joined and ran into Lake Kanas: river from the White Lake at the Russian Border, and river from Kazakstan:

At an elevation of 2700m above sea level, and with Lake Kanas  1300m above sea level, we have climbed some 1400m from Jardenyu all the way up here, this Peak was so beautiful, looking down past the haze, it was as if the gods actually lived here:

The heroes of the expedition and Little Red immediately took a picture at the Peak:

Siao Ma and Doo Doo:

Doo Doo and Chan Chan:

As Jason stood there admiring the beautiful bird's eye view, the two monkeys had climbed up a steep hill within seconds and started to smoke their cigarettes up there:

"Stop polluting the air! And come down safely!" We shouted at them. Meanwhile, Doo Doo and Chan Chan were also enjoying the nice view and taking a break:

We really did not want to leave this beautiful spot, but as time was running out and we still had a full day's journey to make, we made our way back. Doo Doo was chasing Siao Ma downhill like a gazelle. Honestly, I had never trotted downhill on a horse as fast as Doo Doo. Feiying later on told me,"you scared the hell out of me, I thought you were losing control and were going to fall any minute!"

By the time we made it back to the camp, The Spy was crying out real loud. I had never heard a horse whining so loud and sad.The poor horse thought we had desserted him and was actually crying for us to return and save him.

"I'll be the cargo horse for the rest of the journey........I'll do anything....anything..... just don't leave me to become dinner for the wolves!" cried the Spy.He was so glad to see us that he was in tears:

To be continued:

As we packed everything and got ready to go, it started to rain :

"It is snowing! hurry!" yelled Siao Ma. I then realised it was snow, .....snow was melting as it floated onto the ground:

As we crossed a river, the water was icy cold. How fast the weather was changing!

As we hastily trotted our way once again through the moors, with The Spy clumsily following Siao Ma,then followed by Fei Ying, me and Doo Doo, then Jason on Litte Red:

We crossed one icy cold river after another, and the snow got thicker and thicker:

When we got to the pasture where we came a day ago, the whole pasture was covered with snow,

"Hey, this is fun!" as I opened my mouth to speak, the snow melted on my tongue:

We were happily stopping to take pictures, when Siao Ma seemed very anxious to leave,"Let's go now, we better go, there's no time!" as he hurried us to move on:

Jason seemed to realise the situation and he asked FeiYing and Siao Ma," Do you guys carry with you a compass? a GPS? Anything ? Anything to show us the direction we are going?" "Nope!We usually find our way by recognising landmarks!" they both replied:

I then realised that the white snow has covered all the hills and landmarks , leaving a white curtain all around us. If we were to be left alone on this pasture, we would just wander all day in the snow, not being able to tell which direction we were going. "Just trust me,I will lead you to safety" Siao Ma reassured us:

So we trotted on, with me following Siao Ma closely:

The snow was getting thicker and thicker, " hurry! we have to make it to the pass up in the mountain before the snow gets too deep!" Saio Ma pushed on:

Would we make it in time to reach the mountain pass? We have been riding 4 hours in this snow storm now. What would we do if the snow is too deep for the horses to pass? Would we be stuck in the snow storm? In the mean time, Jason's Little Red was really falling behind. I could only make out a tiny dot in the far distance behind:

I knew we had to pushed on, and Doo Doo was following Siao Ma and Chan Chan faithfully, should I stop and wait for Jason and Feiying, or should I go on? I was tormented by these thoughts when I finally knew what to do: I took out a piece of chocolate bar with one hand and munched on it, boy did it taste good:

Would we make it to the mountain pass in time..............to be continued.......

It was close to 6:30pm and we were still trying to climb to the top where the mountain pass will lead us back to the lowlands to Lake Kanas. Jason and Little Red, now left far behind, could only see 2 tiny dots ahead in the snow ( Doo Doo and Chan Chan leading the way in front):

Alas, we made it to the top, and the terrain started to go downhill again, we saw some trees in the distance, where the altitude was dropping:

Everybody in the expedition team was wet, tired, and hungry. We had not eaten all day, except for a small bowl of noodles as breakfast in the morning. I took out some chocolate bars and offered them to Fei Ying, who now looked as haggard and worn out as Little Red. " No , no chocolate for me. I must not eat anything sweet.....I have gained 15 lbs since Summer and my leather jacket is getting very tight! No thanks!"

The sun was setting as we reached the lowlands, it was like the countryside of England, where the cattle and sheep were scattered in the distance with gold coloured trees. The air is tranquil and still, it was the most peaceful moment of the day:

Doo Doo, amazingly, did not show any signs of fatigue. He made his way towards a Kazakh village,head high,marching into the setting sun :

What lay ahead in the village waiting for us ?.............

To be continued................

What lay ahead in the village waiting for you ?

   老白:

Pl be patient lah! I will continue with the story tonight!

Thanks for tuning in!

As we were heading towards the Kazakh village in the sunset, we heard Feiying calling for us from the back:" did you say you had chocolate somewhere? I am so hungry and tired! Can I have a chocolate bar now?"

We quickly gave Feiying two bars of chocolate and he felt much better after devouring the sugar, "sugar is good!" he said.Obviously he had overcome the weight issue in his head! Now we had entered a small, yet mysterious Kazakh Village, with beer bottles all over the ground.The place seemed deserted except for some log houses. The Spy was very curious and he began to explore the village on his own. Unaware of the bulk of luggage on his back, he began to knock over fence and crash into obstacles in the village. It was funny but embarrassing:

And we came to some good looking goats in a wooden shed:

I was suggesting to Siu Ma that we should get off the horses and take pictures of the houses and goats, and take control of the Spy when.........:

...........it was so quiet that the whole village seemed very mysteriously, someone must be a very heavy drinker of beer, when suddenly out rushed a most unfriendly dog:

He was one of the biggest dogs I had ever seen in Xinjiang. He barked fiercely and barked non stop, at one point, I thought he was going to attack us all. All this time, Doo Doo was very calm and he stood his ground. With all this barking, we decided to leave the unfriendly village of beer bottles and went on our way. After a half hour of riding in the wood, we at last saw the small town of Kanas against the setting sun:

We were all so relieved, It had been a really long and hard day for all of us, we talked about hot water spa,hot food, good wine as we checked into this small inn:

The horses were untacked and they immediately lay down to rest their tired legs (from the photo, you can see how muscular Chan Chan is, these horses are really in good shape):

I was so thankful to Doo Doo, who carried me all the way from the top of Kanas mountain and now back down to the lake level. He had walked and trotted nonstop for 10 hours today, through the rain, the snow, waded across freezing rivers and marshland, rocky and uneven terrain, uphill over steep ridges, downhill over slippery rocky grounds, so fearlessly and diligently. My respect and love for this intelligent little horse, and his gentle friend Chan Chan, and the devious yet clumsy Spy who carried all our luggage, and there was the enduring  little Red, and Feiying's faithful Blondie......

And the members of the fearless expedition team once again took pictures in front of the little inn:

..........then we began to smell burning wood in the stove, hot boiling mutton in potatoes, carrots and onions...and yogurt.......dinner was almost ready............

To be continued................

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/11/17 18:22:38编辑过]

We were so hungry that we forgot how tired and wet we were and all four of us rushed to the kitchen and crowded over a hot plate of boiled mutton in potatoes, onions and pumpkin:

Everything was devoured in 15 minutes. Then a fire was set up in our room and we were able to dry our wet clothes and riding gear over the fire.Feiying had promised us a hot water bath, but later on, he found out that the whole little town of Kanas had run out of electricity, and so the idea of a luxurious hot water bath can only be realised in our dreams.

The next morning,Siu Ma and Feiying were already up and packing everything on our horses. This was the fifth and last day of our expedition in Kanas. We decided to take it easy and just ride back to Booerjin leisurely:

The beautiful lady who ran the little hotel came out to bid us farewell.She was the one who cooked us our delicious meal last night. We sensed that she was quite fond of Feiying (but aren't they all fond of Feiying? sigh! It would take a whole book to write down the names of girls who were or are still fond of Feiying along our journey......some lucky guys are just borne more attractive than others!)So we took a picture together but I had to stand between the lady and Doo Doo,she was afraid of horses, she told us quietly:

So we left the nice little cozy hotel and went on our way. It was warm and sunny, and the town was quite deserted due to the cool weather. As we came to "Duck Lake"(there must have been plenty of ducks living here in Summer, but now they had all flown to the South), we let our horses cantered free on the grassland next to the beautiful Kanas River. Siu Ma and Feiying were very happy and relieved to reach the end of the journey, so they chatted happily:

I saw a Kazakh man with an eagle. He asked if I wished to take photos for 20 Yuen.

Surprisingly, the eagle was heavier than I thought! He was such a magnificent creature, so majestic and yet strong. He must be over 12 pounds (same weight as my Shih Tsu at home)and as he climbed up Jason's arm, his talons were sharp as hooks of steel! "ouch ouch!" Jason yelled in pain, soon he realised all he had to do was raise his hand and the eagle would move up the a higher level of his arm:

This is a beautiful picture of Kanas, a picture you will see in every book on Kanas. Do you have to walk for miles to see this nice view?

Not really, it is beside the driveway with loads of tourists in buses and is really very convenient, hee hee:

You could also ride your favourite horse and trott down to the edge of the water like us:

The water was a mix of white / blue / and turquoise:

This was one of my favourite photos taken with Doo Doo by the edge of beautiful Kanas:

The rest of the journey was made in the forest beside River Kanas, with numerous wooden bridges:

and scenes of the beautiful autumn forest still haunt me today:

As the river got wider and wider, Siu Ma said we need to cross the river to the other side to reach Booerjin.How could we cross such a rapid river..? It would be too dangerous for horses and humans........

.......to be continued.............

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/11/17 18:21:59编辑过]

As the expedition team was wondering how they could cross the rapids (equivalent to level 4 in the Zambizee River in Africa):

Doo Doo made a gesture and beckoned us to follow him, as if to say, "come on guys, follow me. I know the way!"

So the whole team followed Doo Doo and trotted into the forest, Little Red was very thirsty and he drank from the clear water from a spring in the ground:

The journey in the forest was as beautiful as ever:

The trees were gold in the sunlight,with little leaves shimmering in the warm Autumn sun:

We trotted past small brooks and streams through the forest:

And came to a flat piece of picnic ground. It was already 3:30 in the afternoon, and we decided to finish what's left of the picnic snacks in our saddle bags:

Soon afterwards, as we went on our way,the Spy was getting impatient. "I want to go home, I want to go home, these bags are just too heavy for me!" He grumbled to himself:

Finally, a small hanging bridge lay before our eyes. Doo Doo has indeed led us to this very old bridge:

Courageous Doo Doo and me were the first to cross, the old bridge swaying back and forth under our feet:

Next was Little Red and Jason, the Spy decided he would not be left behind, and he followed Little Red closely:

Jason decided he would like to take more pictures on the other side, so he turned around and walked back:

The Spy decided he would have none of this picture taking non-sense, and continued with his way across the bridge alone. I have never seen a more stubborn horse than the Spy:

As we continued on the other side of the brige, it took us 45 minutes of walking on the hard-paved carriageway. We took care not to canter as it would be bad for the horses's legs. Soon we arrived at the carpark of Jardinyu, and we knew it was time to say good bye to Siao Ma and the horses. Little Red , with his big eyes, seemed to say to Jason," You know, I used to run so fast, no one could stop me! But after so many winters, I am getting old, and the metal they put in my mouth hurt me more and more each year! But I know you are a kind man, you never pulled my mouth very hard. I hope you will come back every year to see me, and we could make another journey together. Kanas is my home, and I love this place!"

Tears came to my eyes as I bid farewell to Doo Doo, Chan Chan, the other horses and Siao Ma. Doo Doo had been carrying me for 5 whole days non stop, so faithful and yet so gentle.The feeling of being with a horse for 5 days is a very strong bonding between the horse and the rider.He was the smartest and courageous little horse I have met. As I handed him back to his owner Siu Ma, I felt sad at parting with Doo Doo, but at the same time i felt relieved that he had a good owner who loved him and would take good care of him (unlike many horse grooms who used the horses merely as a tool):

Would i ever see Doo Doo again?

................to be continued..............

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/11/18 18:14:41编辑过]

Little Red is so cute!

好美的景色！

在云中漫步: You mean you are still up and reading the posts at 3:05 am???

Feiying had already paged for a car waiting for us in the parking lot of Jardenyu. It was time to say good bye to eveyone and the horses. I shook Siao Ma's hands, thanking him for taking us on this wonderful trip, and wished him a safe journey home with his beloved horses (he has to make another 100Km to Chung Fooer on horseback). He said he might just walk home with his horses. We asked him to take it easy and make the journey the next day.

In the warmth and comfort of the car, I began to miss Doo Doo, and wondered if he and Chan Chan would be OK in the coming harsh cold Winter of Kanas. Tears came to my eyes as I kept thinking about the courageous little Doo Doo:

" Hey........don't feel so sad! You can always come back next Summer to Kanas to visit Doo Doo!" Feiying was trying to make me feel better. He even insisted on buying us dinner that evening.This was a photo of Feiying in his home with a garden of organic vegetables ,fruit and tomatoes:

And the very delicious dish of chicken, another famous "Hui" dish:

Not only did he buy us dinner, he even bought us breakfast in Booerjin. It is a nice little town with interestingly colourful buildings, with a bit of a Russian feel:

The next morning, Feiying made sure we boarded safely on the bus to Urumqi:

"I cannot think of a better Tour Leader and Groom like Feiying and Siao Ma!" said Jason on the bus :

"Scenes of the beautiful journey with Little Red! He is a good horse!" said Jason:

"And I cannot forget The Spy and Little Red" I joined in:

It's been two months since we came back to the R&D Riding Club in Weizhou, Southern China, we have our own horses, me on Boogie and Jason on Big Boy:

And this is Jai Jai, my horse from Ili, Xinjiang. He is a stallion and likes to bite and boss around a lot:

Jason on another Thoroughbred, and me on Jai Jai.

We would practise riding every weekend at the Club:

We kept missing the horses and our friends in Kanas..........so much so that we decided ...............to secure ownership of Doo doo and Chan Chan,and keep them in the care of Siao Ma, so that every year we would go back to visit and make another expedition in beautiful Aletai Region............

........................story to be continued next year! Thanks for reading our post!

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/11/19 18:20:56编辑过]

无限向往喀纳斯......