Travel Experience to Southern Pastures & Red Hill
Posted by ugfanfan on November 5th, 2014
Southern Pasture (West White Poplar Gully)
About 70 km (about 43 miles) away from Urumqi, the Southern Pastures lie in the Southern Mountains at the northern foot of Karawuquntag Mountain. Covering an area of 119 sq km (about 29,406 acres), the Southern Pastures are hugely popular with visitors as well as being the natural summer retreat of Urumqi people.
The highlight of the Southern Pastures must be the West White Poplar Gully. Walking in the gully, visitors can appreciate the snow-capped mountains decorated by tall, straight firs whilst horses and cows browse leisurely on the green grassland. Local Kazak in milky white yurts will entertain visitors with offerings of fragrant milk tea, mare's milk, cheese and roasted lamb. The local youngsters are happy to share their dancing and enjoyment of horses with visitors, being very welcoming. Other spots in the Southern Pastures are also wonderful. Chrysanthemum Tai, Zhaobi Mountain, Miao'er Gully and Daxi Gully are fascinating and amazing places to visit too.
Red Hill
Considered to be the symbol of Urumqi, Red Hill is located in the center of the city. The hill got its name because of its reddish brown color. The hill is 1.5 km (0.93 miles) long and 1 km (0.62 miles) wide from east to west with an altitude of 910 meters (2,986 ft) above sea level.
Urumqi River has run along the foot of Red Hill for hundreds of years while Yamalike Hill, which lies less than 1 km (0.62 miles) away from Red Hill, stands silently on the opposite bank of Urumqi River. Legend has it that in the past, an evil dragon fled from Heavenly Lake and was caught by the Queen Mother of Western Heavens in this area. The Queen Mother sliced the dragon in two with her sword. Then, each part of the dragon became one of the hills while the sword became the Urumqi River. Now the legendary Red Hill is a park opened to locals and visitors. Visitors can look out over Urumqi from the top of the hill.
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