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Mike was feeling tired, so the rest of us hired a car and went out of the city to Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake). The drive out took us past barren desert and rock, past some Kazakh Yurts, and a river until we arrived up in the mountains. From there we walked up many, many stairs, following a beatiful river, up to a waterfall, a gorgeous greenish blue lake, and up to a second larger lake with boats. We wanted to continue up to a small structure at the top, but ran out of time. We ended up walking around a narrow trail with a guide rail, around the second lake, before we started back to the bottom. It was a tiring walk, especially since we never really get a chance to fully recover before the next walk. There's too much to see and too little time. It was amazing to be up in such a beautiful place. We spent time on the way up resting at spots and just taking it in. The waterfall, the lakes and river were all very soothing, and peaceful.
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We thanked Tasawar for his hospitality then grabbed the bus back to the hotel for some sleep.