Sunrise, heading north on a sleeper bus somewhere between Urumqi (Wulumuqi) and Burqin (Buerjin). Those feet in the foreground belong to David Shallcross.

Our sleeper bus pauses for a morning bathroom break (not that there was a bathroom) in the middle of nowhere AKA the Junggar Basin. Lincoln, Xiao David, and Carrie stretch their legs.

The third and final bus drove us the last 3 hours from Burqin (Buerjin) to Kanas Lake.

Without much sun during our first two days at Kanas, the temperatures were downright cold. William and Zoe pose - in jackets - for a "couple shot" next to the lake.

Is that sun I see? Hooray. If you look closely at the top of the mountain you can see the little viewing pagoda we would reach (with extreme effort) the following day.

Finally, the sun breaks free and gives light to alpine splendor.

We started our supposedly one-and-a-half hour hike to the Kanas Lake viewing pavilion in the rain. Four hours or so later, we made it to the top. Along the way, I met this strange man dressed in plastic bags.

Hooray for "panorama mode" on my new digital camera. This is a three-photo shot of Dragon Bay on ther Kanas River. Look at that island of trees and use your imagination... the dragon's tale goes off to the right.

Three-quarters of the way up the mountain, I snapped this shot of Kanas Lake. Good thing, too, because the clouds soon came back to block the splendid view.

A view of Kanas Lake from the viewing pavilion. Damn you, clouds! Still pretty, though.

If you didn't know me better, you'd think from this shot that I'd climbed Mt. Everest or something like that. No suck luck. This snowy mountaintop was visible from the Kanas Lake scenic spot.

Me, with Kanas Lake behind.

A look back down towards the Kanas tourist village area. I was staying in that cluster of houses and yurts in the bottom right of this photo.

The alternating rain and sun created perfect conditions for rainbow viewing on our trip.

No sooner had we made our way back down the mountain than we were approached by this Kazakh guy and his friends. They wanted to take us on a two-day horse trip to Hemu. We said, "Sure. What the heck."