Music leads the way part three: Yili

Besides music, kazak people always like poem and call it "the king of the language", to be in a place like this, it is not so difficult to write a idyll right?|

Xinjiang is associated with Silk Road and camel caravan so often that most of people pictured Xinjiang as a place of vast desert and Gobi, dotted with some oasis. Driving around Yili region, northern Xinjiang will totally rectify that misconception.

Vast natural pasture here provides enough forage for livestock, and the lush forest offers endless quarry for experienced hunters. All the local Kazak people need to do is to move up or down the mountainous meadow according to the season in chasing after the warmth and forage.

Usually harbored by the mountainside, these yurts are Kazak people's summerhouse. Summer village with dozens of even hundreds of yurt forms here temporarily for the easy access to water and the forage. When you look for a camping spot to pitch your tent, the sensible choice is pull your car off at a place like this.

Kazak hospitality lies in the blood. Once you step into a Kazak yurt, even uninvited, you are treated with warmth and courtesy as a respectable guest.

Because I am a guest from afar, I got the special treatment. See, this is a cup; this is a "two-cups-in-one" cup. There is a hole inside... I dint know if I can finish it all though... it is sweet and sour, but a pinch of sugar would not hurt..."

Manizi is a local diary drink that is lightly fulminated but taste innocently alcohol-free. If you are among those self-acclaimed hopeless in singing and dancing, drink a few bowls of it will help you catch up with the spirit of the locals.