a local boy who looked like russian.
we had a short argument with the Uighurs. they wanted us to pay for the photos taken with their camels but... we became friends after that.
complimentary camel photo taking from the Uighurs
yes, we were baked in 60 degrees celcius at the flaming mountains.
the flaming mountain (火焰山）
a simple designed TV remote control
took a taxi to turpan city. the temperature outside the car was 45 degrees celcius. we had a joyful train ride from beijing to turpan. armed with many instant cup noodles for meals and instant milk tea, we spent 2 nights on the train chatting with the local folks. one interesting chat was with 2 guys of our age or younger. they talked like street smart businessmen. one of them told us about his past working experience in the coal mines and in many other business opportunities, etc. all of them didnt quite work out for him.
there was a German student a few cubicles away from our beds. he was traveling around Xinjiang alone to study more about farming and agriculture activities. he was quite bored on the train (as no one can speak english nor german to him at that time) and slept most of the time until we noticed him and started chatted. we learnt from him that cotton farming is harmful to places like Xinjiang province as the crop requires lots of water to grow. Water is scarce in Xinjiang and cotton farming is a health threat to the people living in there.
the busy street
finally arrived in kangding at 6pm (12hrs bus ride) . wet and cold. 
