Go 100 kilometers in any direction except South from Aletai and you hit a border: Russia is North, Mongolia is East and Khazakstan is West. A remote area of incredible natural beauty, Aletai in Xinjiang provice, is less well-known than Urumqi, but its surrounding scenery of evergreen forests, grasslands, rivers, lakes and isolated mountain ranges easily rivals its more popular sister city. 

The Kansas Lake Nature Reserve is the favorite attraction in the region. Located 1374 meters above sea level, Kanas Lake is China's deepest freshwater lake with about 117 different kinds of birds living in the area.

Many travelers enjoy the day hikes around the Lake, visiting Tuvan and Bai Kaba villages, stopping for a few days in the small village of Hongqi, taking a two-day horseriding trip to Hemu, a trip to the Kazakh border, staying overnight in a yurt, nightly barbeques, campfires and Kazakh dance performances in summer.  While hiking thorugh the area it's not unusual to pass semi-nomadic Kazakhs, who are either on their way up or down the valley, depending on the season. 

Camping, by the way, is not officially permitted, but the vast areas of wildernes in the region are hardly policed. If you do camp, follow the backwoods code of honor and leave your site cleaner than you found it. It's wise to bring your own food, as supplies are limited and over-priced. And while Aletai has an airport, the only destination you can fly to is Urumqi.

 

Xinjiang's history is one of pastoral nomads, Silk Road trade and the internal influences  of sharing borders with eight other nations. Though well north of the Silk Road and other traditional trade routes, Aletai has seen a number of different ethnicities and cultures pass through, settle down and move on. 

Today, Mongolians, Kazakhs and Tuvans dominate the thinly populated area. The latter two are nomadic Turkic peoples, with features far more European or Middle Eastern than Han Chinese—you'll even find the occasional blond with blue eyes. For the past thousand years in the area, cattle-breeding Turvans have been tending to their herds of goats, sheep, camels, reindeer, cattle and yaks. They traditionally lived in yurts covered by felt or chums covered with birch bark or hide that they relocate seasonally as they move to newer pastures. 

You'll also find Han settlers, Uighurs and a sprinkling of Russians. Many of these people live in a fashion quite similar to that of their ancestors, living largely off lake fish and hardy mountain livestock pastured in alpine valleys. Modern ways are, however, making inroads, with the small city of Buerjin (population 60,000) can look in places much like other Chinese urban areas and Chinese pop music as likely to feature in Kazakh or Tuvan celebrations as traditional instrumental tunes.

The practices of the Tuvans and local Mongolian ethic minority, and Altai Mountain rock-paintings have been attracting explorers and travelers to this area for decades. 

For a place so remote, it's fascinating to note that up until 1990, Aletai was closed to foreigners because of its close proximity to the borders of Khazikhstan, Russia and Mongolia. 

 

 

From late October through late April, only the most intrepid—and well equipped—adventure travelers brave the trip to this little piece of Siberia dipping into China. Spring and fall are great times to visit, though they can remain very chilly and spring often has sandstorms and cloud cover, and summer is the obvious high season. Even in summer, you should be prepared for very cool weather, especially if you plan to do any hiking on your own. Most visitors come with tour groups and are guaranteed a warm bed at night, but if you're even thinking of roughing it, make sure you've got the layers to keep warm in an alpine environment.

Aletai experiences hot and dry summers with average temperatures in July at 26 ºC (78 ºF) and damp and cold winters with average temperatures in January of -15 ºC(5 ºF). It's a good idea to pack for extremes if you plan to hike and sleep in yurts, as temperatures can vary greatly with elevation and time of day, even in summer.