Backdate: Xinjiang Jun 2026 Day 7

18/6/26 Thurs: Ate breakfast at 9.15am, and the black fungus, cauliflower and the haird gourd were not bad. *They sell Kvass per litre too!* An hour later,阿力木drove us inside of 胡杨林for a while. The entire place reminded me of Tanzania and when he asked us to go down for a photo, no one wanted to because it was so hot lol. He also said the place is "dirty" at night.
At 2pm, we had a second break because in Xinjiang, drivers are supposed to rest for 20 minutes after every four hours of driving. I bought a box of desserts for RMB 10 (S$1.9) at a rest stop. The jellies were nice, but the orange was spoilt though.

阿力木then brought us to this restaurant for lunch and it was very good. From 3 to 3.45pm, we shared three plates of羊腿手抓饭 (RMB 50 each) and five卡瓦斯  (RMB 8 each). The lamb drumstick was soft and the meat tasted great. 

At 5pm, we had another break of 15 minutes and I decided to try a凉皮 (RMB 15), which was quite bland. 

It was a long day of driving before we finally arrived at Bole's艾比湖大酒店at 8pm. We checked into the main hotel but was arranged to stay in the building next to it.

Then, 阿力木drove us nearby for dinner. *We went into the wrong restaurant at first hence the photos lol~* He said he made reservation for us to have土火锅, but somehow the manager "lied" because they did not have土火锅in summer kns.

We settled down at阿凡提火锅at 8.30pm to have the usual steamboat dinner (RMB 423). We had beef, lamb and chicken meat, and the mushroom soup base was only okay. Nothing stood out for me though.

Finished eating at 10pm and back to hotel at 10+pm. *forgot to take my cap for a second or third time but luckily potato saw it and helped me hehe~* 

While PY was showering halfway, I decided to call the reception because our air-con didn't seem to be working and the room was warm. The technician came, said the air-con was not working and advised us to change room from 2013 to 2016, which was opposite our room. *felt like I pulled my left back while I was moving my luggage alamak~ but there was a huge difference in the temperature man...*