We highly recommend a stay at Rashit’s yurt. Rashit approached us in the parking lot and invited us to stay. If you don’t see him in the parking lot, you should be able to find his camp on your own by walking around the lake to the right (West). The camp is less than half way around, right next to the lake, and has a big sign that says ‘Rashit’s Yurt.’ Rashit asked us for 50, but we paid 40. This includes three meals a day. The food is not very varied, but quite edible. It’s also vegetarian.

We were at the lake in the middle of summer, and it was chilly at night (less than 60ºF). We would have been cold, but there was a campfire at night, and the yurts at Rashit’s have thick blankets and little stoves to keep them warm.

Client's information:

Mr.Jerry 2008-3-25 16:56

I have information about crossing the Taklamakan desets and the cities along the southern rim:

If you want to completely cross the desert, you can visit the famed city of Hotan.

Between Urumqi and Hotan (1,509 km):
- There are two express, luxury air-conditioned buses, and they both cross the desert at night (20 hours, Y374).
- There is also an express, air-conditioned seat bus to Hotan which leaves in the morning and crosses partly during the day.
- And there are also six regular sleeper buses each day to Hotan, some of which leave in the morning and cross partway during the day.

But if you are going to Turpan, you may want to go to Korla to catch a bus across the desert to Hotan.

From Korla:
- Three luxury, air-conditioned sleeper buses go daily to Hotan (1,045 km, Y312), one of which leaves in the morning and, since Korla is 464 km closer to the desert than Urumqi, it crosses the desert mostly during the day.
- For the regular sleeper buses, there are two on some days and four on others, but in either case one of them leaves close to noon, which means you'd be crossing mostly during the day.

After seeing the sights, you can fly back from Hotan to Urumqi.
Or you can take one of several express buses to famous Kashgar (519 km), see the sights, and fly from Kashgar to Urumqi.

If your schedule permits, I would recommend stopping for a day in Niya / Minfeng, on your way to Hotan. From there, you can take an inexpensive taxi about 100 km into the deep desert to visit a famed shrine referred to as the Mecca of Turkestan and, while there, you can hike up on to the dunes surrounding the site.

Client's information:

Mr.Royan , China , 2007-12-21 16:35