Spending Summer in Altay

🌿 In my third month living in Altay, I learned to slow down

🚗 The beginning of getting lost
Circling around Jiadengyu following the navigation, only to drive into a dead end
Hesitating by Kanas Lake whether to spend 300 yuan riding that "photo-op only" horse
Standing in the early morning at Hemu Village, watching crowds of tourists raising cameras but only capturing the back of heads in front
Walking hungry through Burqin Night Market three times, still not daring to enter that restaurant advertising "wild fish special"...
Back then, I was full of disappointment and complaints about this place

💡 It wasn't until this trip that I truly encountered Altay
Only after choosing a private car tour did I discover—
Altay's beauty was never in the coordinates of check-in spots, but in every moment of immersing in local life

🌄 Those heartwarming moments
Having the entire Fairy Bay to myself at dusk after tourists left
Meeting nomadic herders during relocation when lost, sharing warm naan bread with me
Avoiding main streets to find an old teahouse, drinking delicious salty milk tea for just 3 yuan per bowl
Local driver-guide Bahetibieke taking me around checkpoints to find that sunflower field without any tourists
Aunt Guli inviting me to pick wild strawberries and honeysuckle berries, their sweet-sour taste like childhood memories

✨ These simple kindnesses dispelled my initial disillusionment
The driver-guide conscientiously retraced all the routes I'd previously gotten lost on
This time, everything became clear
Altay finally removed its "internet-famous" mask and, led by locals, laid out its softest felt for this clumsy outsider

🐎 Here, "slow" is the only shortcut
Thanks to meeting a reliable driver-guide, I truly saw Altay's beauty—
✅ No need to count steps at Fish Watching Platform - he took me to a closer wild hillside
✅ No worry about missing last buses - time was on my schedule, with hot milk tea and naan always ready in the car
✅ No fear of chaotic itineraries - he had the best route planning
✅ Even those summer pastures not on maps became our secret picnic spots

Sometimes I wonder, if I'd met such a guide on my first Altay trip
Maybe I wouldn't have missed that meteor shower at Hemu
Or been frustrated at Kanas Lake taking photos full of strangers' heads

🌙 Altay was never a docile fairytale
She's like the pebbles in Kanas River—
The more they hurt your feet, the more they deserve to be polished into jade by moonlight