A man on a horse riding into Lake Salimu near Yining, Xinjiang on Friday, July 12, 2014. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

On the road from Shihezi to Yining, Xinjiang.

Located in the northwest of Xinjiang, the city of Yining, or Ghulja as it is known to local Uyghurs and other minority groups, is only 70 km from China's border with Kazakhstan. And it took us over 7 hours to drive from Shihezi, our previous city, to here. Along the way, we saw beautiful landscapes and tasted best Naan bread in the world.

Magnificent Mountains and Beautiful Lakes

As I have written about before, Xinjiang is geographically diverse and our journey so far has been a testament to that. While the city of Shihezi is bordered by the Taklamakan Desert and its climate is dry and hot, the area surrounding Yining is wetter than most of Xinjiang and has rich grazing lands. As we traveled north, sparkling lakes and green rolling hills appeared around us. Mountain goats climbed up and down steep slopes.

The scenery reminded me of what I have seen while driving through the Rocky Mountains in Canada. And Lake Sailimu is similar to Lake Louise in Canada's Jasper National Park. The surface is just as calm and the water, just as clear. One can see far away to the horizon where the mountains meet the sky.

Mouthwateringly fresh out-of-the-oven Naans

In northern Xinjiang, not only is the landscape beautiful, there's also more variation in food. Here is where you can really see the various ethnic groups in Xinjiang coming together. We had lunch at a small town on the side of the road and saw several Kazakhs making Naan bread on one side of the street while on the other side, what look like Uyghurs served us local noodle dishes.

The dough for the Naan bread of the Kazakhs were sprinkled with sesame seeds and put into a stove to be baked. Not more than ten minutes later, it's ready to eat. The soft and crisp bread is best to be eaten while it's still hot and you will enjoy the sweet baked dough melt in your mouth as you chew on it. From the desert to the mountains, I truly realized how big and diverse Xinjiang really is today and I hope in the time that we spent here, I would learn more about its various cultural and ethnic groups.